June 2009
Hi Folks,
My insurance comes up for renewal in early July. Thought I'd shop around to see if I could get a quote cheaper than my renewal quote from Bell insurance, one of the Admiral Group.
Went to moneysupermarket.com, entered all my details including a speeding conviction from June 2006.
Up comes the quotes, most over £100 cheaper than the renewal quote. No suprise there, I hear you say.
I see that one of the cheapest quotes, £100 cheaper, is from Admiral itself - the insurer I'm with for the last 7 years.
I phoned them, asked if they could match the Admiral quote (same group!).
"Yes. No problem. All hunky dory. Just check some of the details" - they have my on-line details from moneysupermarket.com.
"We notice you didn't declare conviction in June 2006. We need to backdate it on our records. You owe us £300!!!"
Can they do this?
Is the amount excessive?
Do they seriously expect me to re-insure with them ever again? Read more
Just back from Kwik Fit where they've confirmed I need new brake discs and pads front and rear. It's a Ford Focus 2.0 Zetec first registered April 2001. They've quoted £302 to do the job and I nearly fainted.
I've been looking around to see how much it would cost to buy the parts and a Haynes manual to do it myself. The cost of discs and pads varies massively depending on what site you like at. Discs range from £20 a pair to £110 a pair and pads range from £10 a pair to £70 a pair.
Can anybody please guide me on which brands are the best value as I'm sure the cheapo ones will be a pile of dust by the time I've driven to the shop and back! Read more
Good old caring sharing Kwik Fit eh !
I can tell you for a fact that I am about to do the front discs and pads on our 53 plate Focus and the cost of new discs and pads from the local motor factors is about £65 and thats before you look on Ebay for discs.
The problem these days is that the new non-asbestos pads are so hard, they ofeten wear the disc out of spec before they themselves are wornm out, especially on performance cars such as BMW's etc.
Our Focus had drum brakes on the rear which are still like new so I won't be touching these.
Changing the discs and pads isnt rocket science on the Focus, you should be able to give it a go if you are methodical I would have thought.
Not much, if you ask me.
The CC3 was delivered with six miles on the clock, so there can't be much of a road test.
I think the reason for that is new car buyers want their car to have as few miles on it as possible.
So a PDI is probably little more than what it says, an inspection.
(For non-motoring enthusiasts: PDI - pre-delivery inspection.) Read more
My late father picked up a shiny new Renault (4?), and within not many miles the engine had completely siezed. Reason? No-one had bothered to put water in the rad. This model didn't have a temp gauge, just a light - "why didn't you stop when the light came on?" asks the angry dealer... turns out that they never fitted the light bulb at the factory either...
Another vehicle from the same dealer, a Simca this time I think, nearly ended up as toast when the battery started smoking. The factory had wired up the regulator wrong so the dynamo / alternator just kept charging and charging.
He then changed his company car again to a Datsun - again same dealer. He did this after he'd had so much trouble with the other cars, and because the dealer showed him a store room chock full of Datsun spares "I don't know where to put all these things, they keep sending parts over, but nothing on these cars ever goes wrong" :)
My first new car I picked up in 1990 - a Cavalier. Got just 400 yards down the road and realised it had a massive misfire - annoying since they'd kindly driven it 50 miles to get the alarm I wanted fitted! Dealer replaced one spark plug, but there was still an intermittent misfire, and the dealer didn't want to know. Had to take it to another dealer who found out that the YTS mechanic replacing the faulty plug had yanked on the leads (exhaust side, so hot) and broken the insulation in at least three. The engine was so new, there were no lead sets even in the country - so they very kindly manufactured a set until a proper set could be found!
In 2001, I complained to MB that the fuel filler on my brand new C-class wasn't locking. Feedback from dealer - "sorry about that, we'll have to order the parts in... it looks like the parts were never actually fitted at the factory, Sir".
hi ,have had my i30 for a year and have been pleased with its performance, untill the wife while sitting in the car was locked in accidently by yours truly .[must have pressed the remote ] she could not open the doors from inside and was getting to panic a bit when i returned from the shop . i wrote to hyundia and they claimed the car was meant to be like that to prevent people from breaking a window and opening the door from inside.i am now considering buying a remote without the key to keep inside the car as the wife is reluctant to go out by herself. any other make of car like this ? ithink the new panda has a switch inside in case this happens. Read more
security ,doors boot bonnet alarmed and engine immobilizer and if you are fit drop the back seat down and release boot door and crawl out , seeing the wife is in here 60 s its a no go cheers.
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Read more
Some lenders will let you keep your current mortgage, for a while anyway. Some will insist you transfer to a (more expensive) BTL mortgage. Ring 'em and find out; only way. (And don't be tempted to "forget" it, as a criminal conviction may await.)
And: what do you know about
1. HMO legislation
2. Gas safety
3. TDS
4. s21, s8 and eviction
5. Tax
6. Landlord's insurance
etc. etc. etc.
This is an odd problem. When i unlock my car with the plip, the rear wiper starts working on its own for about 10 seconds. It then stops, but does not 'park' back in its original position. It works normally to use, but this fault only occurs when unlocknig. Any ideas anyone? Read more
I too have this problem on my 52 plate 1.4 HDI. Mine also does it when I open the boot. I've tried that reset procedure with no success. I'd like to know if any other further problems are likely to occur if the BSI problem isn't rectified. i.e. is it worth the £310 to get it fixed if all the car is doing is wagging it's tail as if pleased to see me?
Hi people, please can anyone help me? Please excuse this post being a bit long winded, but I am desperate to get any advice, and this forum seems more receptive.
I have a Peugeot Expert 2.0 HDI on a 51 plate. The van has started blowing black smoke and there is no acceleration up hills etc. It starts first time every time and will drive on the flat ok (Limited power though), but will not climb hills.
I've looked through countless forums for nearly two weeks now and I keep reading about the EGR valve and turbo problems. My problem is that I don't know where the EGR valve is located, the engine is so tightly squeezed into the engine bay that I can't really see anything, I have clambered underneath the van too, but it's very difficult to see anything.
Can anyone provide a link to some piccys or have any guidance as to where I will find the EGR valve? Also, I have a spare turbo to fit (If that is the problem), but I would like to check the pipes first, but how do you remove one of these things, have I got to drop the engine?
I have replaced the MAF sensor, Air thingy, but no difference. The van doesn't smoke until I accelerate slightly, and now its blowing thousands of little sooty particles out of the tail pipe..I really am desperate for any help or suggestions, no matter how trivial, otherwise I'm going to have to cut my losses and scrap the van, which would be a shame. There are no fault codes showing on the diags readout, but originally it did indicate a MAF failure, this has been replaced and shows as functioning on the diag readout.Thanks for reading everybody.
Duplicate posting removed and shouting in subject line changed Read more
im no diesel expert but i would suggest its the turbo, have you not being thrashing it every now and then because your ment to in order to clean out the turbo and pipes, ide suggest you rev the beans off it whiledriving and if still no joy after say 10 minutes of boy rcer stlye driving itll problies be your turbo
Hi my in laws have a C3 and it has started beeping every so often. There are no warning lights coming on with it.
I have tried to replicate it and took it a run round the block. Nearly every time I pressed the brakes, it beeped. But not everytime.
When I was sitting in the driveway and elected reverse it beeped.
I have checked and all bulbs are working.
Anyone any ideas?? Read more
We would like to take our 2 adult mountain bikes when we go on holiday to the Dales next month, but i am not sure what is the best way to carry them.
If i go for a rear carrier it would have to be a high lift one as i don't have towbar electrics to plug a trailer board in, and to be honest i really dont like the way they seem to fit, with a bar resting on the rear window and straps under the back bumper etc. Has anyone had problems with them causing damage to their car ?
The other option is roof bars and mount cycles carriers on them, but this would work out much more expensive and the bars dont look that easy to fit to my Cee'd, but would it be the better choice ?
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Added in make/model as it seemed appropriate to the question. Rob Read more
Jono,
A couple of folding bikes for the adults would ease your carriage problems.
Something like a Brompton would do the reservoir run with the youngsters, although it's not suitable for anything rougher than a well laid cinder path.
No doubt those with greater knowledge will point out some compelling reasons why they do, but on a motorcycle I never used the back brake at all except when it was very slippy and I used it instead of the front, the same applies when I am riding on a bicycle. Many racers on both powered and unpowered two wheelers are of the same mind, the theory being that the rear brake is pretty useless as when you apply the front the rear wheel goes light, locks easily and contributes nothing to the stopping power.
The same dynamics must apply to cars, so what have I missed?
Read more
>>Do modern braking systems know when the car is travelling backwards ?
Without an electrical signal from the reversing light switch, the ABS controller doesn't know - the wheel sensors only produce a waveform, the frequency of which is proprtional to speed in either direction of rotation.
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All calls to insurance companies are recorded. Tell them to check their tapes, and your file which should have notes of your past conversations. Windscreen replacement companies automatically contact insurers to claim their money.
If what you say is true then you have declared everything as required. Put it in writing and if they wont budge, ask why and seek help from the Ombudsman or the small claims court....