February 2010
This comes from something called the eGov Monitor...
"ANPR was introduced to tackle vehicle theft and to cut the number of vehicles on the road without proper insurance
According to figures last September, ANPR logged around 32 million "reads", or records, in the 18 months covered by Laser One and Two, the two pilots of the new system.
However, there are concerns over inaccuracies when the data is linked to DVLA records.
According to police figures quoted in parliament last July, ANPR data held by the DVLA has only a 40 per cent accuracy rate."
Read more
My son has an Astra... It's a 1600, 16V, Ecotech sports manual. W reg.
It froze up...he didn't check the coolant. I think he must have tried to tow start it, thinking it was just the starter clicking or battery flat. It seems certain the belt has slipped, because the valves are broken and some are embedded in the head and pistons.. I'm sure a conrod has gone as well. Engineer got the head off today.
So, the rest of the car is mint, new tyres, battery , exhaust and he does really look after it .
We got it cheap off a friend of his. Now I'm in agreement with my man with the torque wrench that the cheapest option is to source an engine out of a write-off and fit it. There are some available around the country.
Question. I'll have to get the engine code off it tomorrow, will there be any electronic implications fitting a replacement, will a 2 litre be the same engine , there are a few of those on the market as well although I'm not bothered about upping the size for any reason but availability.
I think the last engine swaps I did ,apart from the Jowett, were an old Mk 1 Kadette and a couple of Ladas. No ECUs or anything there !......Points is points !
Thanks.
Ted Read more
Thanks O. We'll sort it between us. It's an old car but it's in very clean condition. I've noted a few lumps out of write offs with 40 to 50K on the clock...Will give it a new lease of life, it's got about 120K now. Hope U R well.
Ted
Hi,
I think I've found a replacement car which i should get in the next few doors from private seller.
I'll be putting my old car on ebay ,with no reserve so hopefully a sale in 10 days or so.
What is the best way of staying legal regarding insurance for the short period while I have 2 cars ?
Both cars are pretty cheap so I'm not too worried about the level of cover but do wish to stay the right side of the law.
Supposing I transfer my currrent policy which expires 23 March to the new car , will my current company offer short term cover for the old one , or do I need to try a specialist ?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Read more
thanks for the replies.
My insurance company insure.co.uk gave me cover, but not a freebie.
I paid £63 for 28 days , cheapest option was £26 for 7 days.
I could have probably found something cheaper but instant cover was the way to go on a busy day.
At least the car change on my insurance wasn't too bad , £37 to change from a Focus to a Mondeo.
Oh and first impressions of Mondeo are favourable and the Focus got through its MOT without costing a fortune, just a replacement brake pipe and track rod end.
I bought a 2005 deisel xtrail from a main dealer in 8< snip, had it 4 months and clutch has gone. I am single mum and though this car was not new it cost me £8500 and to me that is a lot of money. I went to dealer as I had a two year warranty, they told me it was wear and tear and not covered, I had only done 2000 miles in the 4 month I had it, cost me £750 to get fixed and staff and manager were very rude and couldnt have cared less. I relly like the xtrail but am now so dissapointed, it has done 55000 miles and am now worried to death at what else may go wrong, so expensive!! WILL NEVER BUY FROM NISSAN AGAIN AND WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THEM!!!
{No naming/shaming - ta!} Read more
I also have a 80,000 mile 2006 X-Trail where the clutch has started slipping but only in 6th.Gear!! especially if accelerating up hill in this gear - talking to friends in the business they say that Dual Mass flwheel will also have to be replaced at a cost around £1000. Not happy with this and need to decide what to do!
Hi
my car did not start , it use to turn over but would not fire anyway i have got a machinc to tow it away and have a look at it which is going cost me £60 he had said to me that primer bulb is very hard and it should be soft? but thought it should be hard because it has fuel in it ? anyway he going to tell me 2morrow how much is going to cost to get it fixed , is he ripping me off , i thought it was the glow plugs. any one have any ideas about the primer blub?
Edit/Delete Message Read more
Just done some rough calculations and rounded up for errors. Over the 10 years I have been driving, it comes to;
7 cars - £3225
Repairs @ £500pa - £5000
Fuel 193,000miles @ ave £0.10/pile - £19,300
Totted up comes up around £2,800pa or £230ish a month. I read that drivers pay an average of 3k per year so again roughly avarage. The car figure is total expenditure out. The first 4 cars I sold for almost as much as I bought them and result was only £25 pound spent in the first 3 years. The average age of each car at purchase is 11 years old. I cheated by having a lot of mechanic friends who have helped me keep motoring. In ten years I have been stranded 4 times (clutch failure, distributor failure and 2 flat batteries).
I understand some people will spend less/more, just a bored moment so I decided to tott it all up. Read more
Without wishing to turn into an anorak, I've been trying to make allowances for the changes in the price of petrol since I started.
In 1975 I was paying about 37p per gallon; in today's terms that converts to about 8p per litre. (I'll be corrected by anyone if that conversion is wrong).
So, for example, in my first year I spent around £55 on petrol - using about 3 gallons a week at just over £1. Today, still on fairly low mileage, I spend around £15 a week which gives me a yearly figure of around £800.
i have an annoying fault that when i go above 3000rpm the engine warning light illuminates and stays on until i drop back to 2500rpm or take my foot off accelerator altogether, then the warning light goes back off. fault code logged is P1372, so i have renewed the crank sensor, cleared the fault code, but if i go above 3000rpm the warning light is back on with same error code. i am now on my 3rd sensor this week and having no joy. any suggestions welcome Read more
thanks topbloke i have spoken to vauxhall and they are being vague about this remedy and whether it is aplicable to the Z18XE, so i will do some further digging around as they are wanting to strip the engine and crank
BBC reports
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8493...m
It is said that the favourite currency for crime groups is ?500 euro notes (biggest $ is $100) but obviously some others are suspected of using cars as they are even more valuable. Read more
I have changed many of the ?100 and ?200 notes, and maybe 10-12 ?500 notes over the last five years travelling into France from outside Europe where the banks don't have so many of the smaller notes. Carrefour and Auchan supermarkets will accept the ?500 provided it is cleared with either the duty security guard or the main reception desk/caisse. Otherwise I have found them useful for placing deposits or pre-paying a rented flat when the sight of the cash swung a good deal. Admittedly, I would probably try to avoid them now because the no ?500 notices have begun to proliferate and French banks are often not customer-friendly even if you have an account with them. .
I assume that if I took my car to Germany during the winter months I'd need to get winter tyres fitted to abide by German laws. Or am I mistaken? Read more
Here's a link from the AA that covers it
tiny.cc/70tD7
Hi i have a 52 plate astra 2.0 dti and the engine management light is on all the time and i have no power, it wont let me rev past 3000 revs i have taken it to vauxhall, and they said it was the egr valve but iam not convinced there is no excessive smoke just normal but just no power, so can someone please help me.
thanks Read more
Presumably Vauxhall read out the fault code? What was it, and why don't you agree with their diagnosis?
Browse
Thanks for that Brompton.