June 2009
Been speaking to a Chinese person , and this is how car insurance works in mainland China ( may differ in Hong Kong ) ; You go into an office, ( or very often their rep will call at your home or office to suit you ), explain the situation , then purchase the policy , keeping the rep's card in your wallet.
If you have a crash or claim , you call your company's 24 hour landline, which after office hours diverts to the mobile number of on - duty assessors who aim to be with you asap, often within 15 - 20 mins , though not if no damage inflicted to third parties. So if you are involved in a prang with another motor , you will get your company's assessor on the spot , and if it's your fault and the damage is minimal , they will dish out cash to the other party there and then to settle the claim . If you are unhappy with the company's service , you call the guy who sold you the policy and get them to try and help.
Another interesting fact , due to the fast expanding market , there is no claim history for drivers , so if you have a big claim, by switching to another provider when the policy ends , you ' lose ' that claim and start afresh.
There is a lot of commission paid between insurance companies , salesmen and the body shops , and lots of dodgy claims . Consequently , motor insurers are losing money hand over fist, and the number of them is conversely increasing !!
Having visited China , I can attest to poor standards of driving in general . Some drivers beep their horn at least every 20 seconds , just to let others know they are there .
Worryingly, mainland Chinese can swap their licence for a Hong Kong one , which in turn can get swapped for a full UK licence... I wonder how that would stand up to scrutiny by a UK court / police in the event of a serious claim , where the policyholder - like my source - , informed the Ins. Co when buying the policy that they have a ' Full UK licence ? ' ?
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Hi All I have yet another query regarding my recent purchase
Mods: I didnt know whether or not to merge this with my Registration Question, if i should of done please feel free to move, thanks :-)
I have in the last 3 weeks bought a second hand Vectra.
Ive just been reading through the service books, and when i was buying it, it never occured for me to check, and now i feel rather foolish i just saw the dealer stamps and took it as gospel
The car (ex mobilty) has not had its Pre-deleivery stamp placed in the book, does this mean it hasnt been done, and will this be a problem?
Also it has got a service stamps for its last 3 services however although this has a dealer stamp they havnt ticked in the boxes what has actually been done, and all ive got is a internet printout whih is very vaugue in its description the web address on the printout is mfldirect the mobilty company.
Im thinkking about sending a email to the original Vauxhall dealer asking questions but do you think i have any cause for concern or am i just been paranoid?
Many Thanks Read more
Cheers, everyone thanks for your replys
Hi, ive a 1.9 dci master van, had problems with orange glow light coming on and van grinding to a slow speed and lack of power. Had it on diagnostic machine, three faults,EGR,Boost pressure and glow plug relay.
Changed EGR, and fault code erased, but fault still there, van seems to be black smoking, it has 64k on it and has just had a full service.
Does these 1.9 dci even have glow plugs, as i dont have to preheat to start?
The fault is cured by switching on and off ignition. Read more
I have just bought a Mondeo and have steering wheel wobble at low speeds 10-30mph and a shuddering over 85mph... What would cause this? from reading up it looks like a wheel balancing issue. Is there anything else it could be? and how much should I be paying for wheel balancing?
Cheers Read more
A low speed wobble is usually an out of round tyre or a tyre with an egg in it. If the car then vibrates at high speed, 70-90 mph that indicates it's a rear tyre, if its the fronts they usually cause a vibration at about 60 mph
Hi all, a quick question
I purchased my Vectra about 3 weeks ago, and I still haven?t had the registration documents through from the DVLA I sent off the yellow slip on the day I got the car.
Before ring them, does anyone know roughly how long it would take. I?m just worried that possibly I?m driving a car that technically in the DVLA?s eyes does not belong to me.
Many Thanks
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Don't rely on a dealer;tell them yourself.Twice,I have been contacted by the DVLA asking if I had sold my car when I left it to the dealer to tell them!!.The DVLA contacted me because someone had applied to register the vehicle in their name and the DVLA had NO record of the sale.
My car went for a new clutch under warranty. As soon as I picked the car up I noticed the steering felt 'odd' (as if the tracking was well out)
I know that replacing the clutch involves removing a good part of the suspension (subframe etc) so I reported it to the garage. They asked me to bring it in for another look.
However on the way to the garage, the front suspension collapsed on one side, damaging the wheel, suspension, bodywork, sill and other parts. The recovery mechanics instant assessment of the situation was that the lower balljoint hadn't been correctly seated after the clutch replacement. It had basically popped out and the whole front strut was loose and therefore collapsed.
Car is now at garage awaiting assessment. I'm not sure whether to ask for a replacement car, refund or just repair the damage, if indeed the garage even offer to do it FOC. Anyone been in a similar situation to this, and what did you do?
Only had the car 3 weeks as well, not the best start to ownership. What worries me most is that this could have happened on the motorway, and I would not be here to tell the tale! Read more
Fair comments - I'm not the suing type anyway!. But the consequences of some poor workmanship could have cost lives - not the sort of thing you dismiss so easily.
I know enough about cars as well to see that the lower balljoint had simply come out of the pinch bolt - it either wasn't in correctly or wasn't tight enough. Nothing had broken or snapped (my first thought was the spring, but this is fine)
The guy who had a look was actually a ex-SAAB mechanic, so fairly well qualified to make a judgement I suppose.
can anybody please tell me if changing the timing/cam belt on a rover 200 is a tough job or not....? Read more
Should be within the capability of a competent home mechanic, 8v easier than 16v.
Last Saturday we traded in the Fazer for an XJR from a Bike Dealer 60 miles from where we live in Cambs.
It rode home perfectly. We didn't use it at all on Sunday but on Monday my other ( better?) half rode it to Addenbrookes in Cambridge and then on down to Dagenham.
On leaving Dagenham he got as far as Rainham and oil was pouring out from behind the crankcase around the clutch slave cylinder area.
He phoned the Dealer who pointed out that recovery wasn't covered under the waranty, so we called the AA and they got my other half, and the XJR home, and then collected it the following morning and took it back to the Dealer in Market Harborough.
It hadn't even used it's first full tank of petrol.
We did a bit of research and have found some complaints online about this particular Dealers reputation ( cart and horse, I know!)
However we decided to ask for the deal to be cancelled, the return of the Fazer plus the £700 paid on top for the XJR, on the basis that we have now lost faith in both the bike and dealer and it wasn't fit for purpose.
The Dealer has refused and states that it was just a badly fitting oil filter O ring that they had fitted at the pre sale service.
We have a stand off at the moment until we get home at the weekend and have to go and fetch one of the bikes back.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as it's not easy to research this from a lappy in a lorry cab after a 2.30am start!
Pat
Left in General Discussion as it won't really get the audience in Bikers' Caff Read more
That worries me too SteeVee, so whichever bike we get back on Saturday morning is going straight on Ebay:)
We've found a very nice GSX 1400 just around the corner and a private sale as well!
Pat
A friend has just bought a 1.6 with the zetec engine and asked if i would change the cam belt.Without a haynes handy i would like to know if the pully is held in position with a key and bolt or like my 1.6 focus which is just the bolt which is a pain at the end to tighten. Read more
Yes i was changing the lot kit is £47 at my local factors.Have changed a few in my time I did have a pulley break up on my mk2 mondeo was lucky, started to sound noisey switched off got a tow home stripped down belt was just starting to fray on the split plastic pulley
I have never been able to work out why some drive with arms outside of the vehicle doing the roof, even grabbing and holding the roof rack rails or door holding thing.
Is it just the, 'Look at me, I'm in a car looking cool' pose, or is there more to it?
Hardly ever see lady drivers doing this.
Must be a knuckle dragging male testosterone thing! Read more
>>...and then swing out to the right hand lane when turning left?!<<
Happened to me today,left indicator on,as I prepared to pass he swung to the right!But it was a taxi.........
Browse
my Chinese contact converted his HK licence within the last 2 years to a full UK one .