September 2009
Received a letter from my insurance company today:
"A claim has been intimated against you following an incident alleged to have occurred on 19/06/09"
Now it seems to me that two months is quite a while to report an accident, especially since they have the "number plate" of the other car. Now I know for a fact that I wasn't involved, so what's likely to happen now and how long is it likely to take to sort it out? Anyone have any experiences they can share? Read more
In my little town there are residents only parking bays monitored zealously by a private company. Don?t even think of stopping in one without a permit. Between these bays the streets have double yellow lines.
We have no traffic wardens. And the police have much more important things to do.
Therefore, if you need to stop for a few minutes you do the counter-intuitive thing and park on the yellow even when the resident?s bays are empty.
Is it me that's mad? Read more
And round here, its wonderful, I can now get a space if I want to!
Driving through Hammersmith this afternoon I was rather surprised to see Hammersmith & Fulham Councils choice of car.
It had 'Estate Warden' written down the side and had a CCTV camera poking out of the roof. I assume the car is used for patrolling estates in the area making sure the proles are behaving themselves. Now often cars with CCTV cameras poking out the roof are Smart cars - ideal for the urban environment, such as that found in Hammersmith & Fulham. So what does Hammersmith & Fulham use?
Only a hulking great Land-Rover Discovery. You know - the type of car that most councils castigate us for, lest we dare even think about driving one.
The words pot, kettle and black sprung to mind. So remember when you next pay your Council Tax, that really, honestly, councils do not waste our money! Read more
They must need a 4X4 to survive their speed bumps.
A colleague's been quoted £1500 to 'repair the crankshaft' for this. She and her husband know nothing much about cars and I fear a scam.
Apart from being a bit overfull with [clean] oil the car seems fine. At 80,000m it's just run in, I think. I took it briefly up the road and it drives OK, apart from a slight wheel hub-type noise, unrelated to engine speed. It does not overheat. The rev counter oscillates a bit around 3,500 - 4000 but becomes steady at 5,000. There is no misfire. She said it seemed to lack power up hills but it seemed pretty smooth and powerful to me.
Has anyone any ideas about this? Could it be some sort of sensor? This is a big thing for her because the quote is more than than her very-well-looked-after car is worth, I guess! Read more
It does sound like the engine management light which is to the left of the ABS light at the bottom of the rev counter.
I don't know but wouldn't have thought that it would be a fail, providing it does not cause higher emissions.
An MOT centre should be able to answer.
A stretched chain may snap or cause the car to be awkward to drive. I am not sure to be honest.
You might try asking the same questions on npoc.co.uk (VERY helpful and friendly). You may have to wait until Monday for a reply as a lot of the members will be at the Jap car show.
By independant garage in my previous post, I mean a proper mechanic. Not any nationwide chain that sells tyres, exhausts, bicycles or roofracks!
I want to service my daughter's C2 at home but then is there a DIY way to cancel the service reminder which comes up on the dash at startup? Also I wonder if there will ever be a manual produced by Haynes or the like? Certainly haven't found one yet.
Thanks in advance.
Howard Read more
i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj62/davidhadalittlela...g
if there is a button where the arrow points
hold it down
put the ignition on
keep pressed till spanner goes out
job done
hopefully
During servicing last month main dealer advised that I need to change brake discs. My car has done just 31,000 miles.
Is this normal to change at this mileage?
Brake pads were changed at 24,000 miles following recommendation of same dealer.
Read more
Cannot understand how factory fitted disks can wear at the same speed as factory filled brake pads.
Because since pads are no longer made from asbestos, they are as hard as the discs.
With the recent unveil of McLaren & Noble's new super cars, people started shouting that British auto engineering is far from dead.
Yet, we can't produce a decent family car.
Is it easier to produce a super car than a family car. I can never ride a super car, so won't know how good they are actually [have to rely on motoring journos to test them] but I can test any family car to its limit. So, probably producing a mass market car is more difficult then?
After all, it is always easier to please only 100 people than a million people.
Read more
So probably producing a mass market car is more difficult then?
If people pay £100,000 for a super car they seem happy to take it back for a £ 2000 service every six months where all those things that weren't sorted in the original design can be dealt with.
If they pay £10,000 for a family car they object to paying more than £200 for a service every two years.
So yes it is more difficult.
Hello all,
I'm having a bit of a problem picking up my new Alfa.
We put an old Peugeot 106 in for scrapping about 12 weeks ago, got told everything approved a few weeks back and we went to collect new car yesterday.
Unfortunately it turns out our address on Peugeot logbook was slightly wrong (We didn't notice and why would you seeing the registration document came to our house) and Alfa dealer saying they can't release new car.
We spoke to DVLA and they first of all said not their problem because the Peugeot doesn't exist any more. But then they said send a V888 form requesting access to original paperwork sent in two years ago. I don't know how they input details sent in by post but whoever typed our address from registration document got post code wrong but anyway.
In my opinion it just seems really petty, everything else in place, finance etc.
Just wondered if anyone has had similar experience?
Cheers
Read more
We were told by the dealer before completing the forms that everything had to be EXACTLY as it says on the log book of the car being scrapped, wrong or not.
Seems they deserve credit for pointing this out as it obviously causes problems.
I have 2 hubcaps from my old car, Focus Ghea 1.8, can't remember if it had 16" wheels
Hub cap measures 15.5" across outside face and 15" across wire bit on back
16" wheels fit ?? Part number 98AB-1130-MC Read more
Mine's a 99 1.8 Zetec with 15" alloys. They measure 16.25" across the extremes of the rim.
So I'm fairly sure yours are 15" too.
Hi,
I am a new member of this forum and having read a number of posts before joining, it occurs to me that all you knowledgeable chaps (and chappesses where appropriate) may be able to help me.
I have spent many hours on the internet trying to find a manufacturer and/or supplier of multi electrode spark plugs (such as Bosch Super4) for my car. Can anyone help me? Read more
Don't bother. You won't notice any difference if you do find some so stick to platinum originals.
seems that what your wife did was unwittingly interrupt a fraudulent insurance claim, so the crooks turned their attention on her