October 2010
My son, who is not mechanically minded, has been given a Peugeot 307, 52 reg, by his father-in-law. As I live I a considerable distance away and can't check, could someone tell me whether it has a chain or belt cam, and if so, what the change interval is (I'm guessing it's belt). I know it's petrol, and AFAIK it's a 1.6 but there is a chance it could be a 1.4. TIA. Read more
My car was parked over the weekend in a residential area in Surrey. Upon returning to my car I found an Abatement Notice in respect of Noise Nuisance (Environmental Protection 1990, section 80) on my windscreen. It was dated September 4th 2010 and said that my alarm was going off and I had to disconnect it within 1 hour. The alarm was silent at the time of my arrival and no other notices were present, so I assumed that all was well and drove home.
Twenty days later (September 24th) I was shocked to receive a letter from Woking Borough Council stating that after the Abatement Notice was issued, an alarm engineer was called out to silence the alarm. It also said that the engineer was unable to gain entry to the vehicle without causing damage, so the alarm was not silenced by the engineer, but it did stop sounding shortly after and no more complaints from residents were received.
Woking Borough Council said that they would be seeking to recover the cost of the call out charge, along with a 20% administration fee, despite the fact that the contractor did not silence the alarm. Seven days later an invoice arrived for the sum of £210.09 for "Recovery of costs for disabling faulty car alarm" (despite the previous letter stating that they did not disable it). Payment was required within 14 days of the date of the invoice, so by the time it arrived in the post there were only 9 days left.
I completely agree with the fact that falsely triggered car alarms are a nuisance and should be dealt with by local authorities when necessary. However, I cannot regard the way this particular authority has dealt with me as anything other than extortion. My particular points of concern are:
1. Is £210.09 a reasonable amount considering they have not done anything? Is it fair to charge a 20% administration fee?
2. The original letter stated that the alarm was not diabled, yet they are invoicing me for disabling the alarm.
3. Is it reasonable to be given 9 days between receiving an invoice and having to pay it?
4. Is it reasonable for me to find out that there are costs involved as late as 20 days after the date of the incident?
5. Shortly after the incident I discovered that the radiator grille in my car was no longer present. I am sure that the engineer removed it in order to try to get to the horn, did not reinstall it properly and so the grille fell out later (my car only has a factory fitted alarm which sounds the horn when triggered). This grille costs £95.35 to replace. Do I stand any chance of recovering this cost?
6. I know that my alarm is not faulty. For £49 I can put the car through VW diagnostics and get written evidence that no fault is present. Will such document help me fight the case for not paying Woking Borough Council?
Any advice will be very much appreciated. Read more
The appeal date is from when the ticket was affixed. The appeal is against whether the alarm was going off and causing a nuisance (as defined above). But you would have a strong case if your car was being broken into.
The hearing does not normally directly address the costs issue but obviously if you can show that the alarm was not sounding and there was no nuisance then the chances are that the costs would not be payable....
There are several websites now which claim to offer your vehicle to a network of dealers and other trade buyers, the idea being that they compete for your car and make offers so you get the best (trade) price. Examples are dealerbid, matchthedeal and autovip. Has anyone had any experience of trying these, and do they deliver better results than the more common cash for cars sites?
We used the dealerbid one and were very happy. We had quite a few offers but was amazed at the difference in money ranging from 11k - 12500.
Deal was concluded quickly car collected and money put directly into my bank so would use again.
Webuyanycar were 1500 behind my final figure.
Hi,
I want to purchase a 2007 Ford Galaxy and I'm not sure which engine to go for. Which is more economical, the petrol or the diesel? Diesel fuel seems to be priced a fair whack higher than petrol these days, does that offset the better fuel efficiency?... Read more
And yet ironically the old i.e. 1998 vintage "Ford" Galaxy (& all but a VW except the name) was better than the VW varient.......... because Mr Ford opted to drive the water pump with an ancillary belt as opposed to Mr Vw's use of the timing belt to drive the water pump.
Its a funny old world....
i am about to leave my lexus rx400h at an airport for 2 weeks and i am told that it is commonplace to return and find the battery flat.i gather that the auxillery battery is only small but with the amount of "kit" on these cars the battery flattens quickly.i am also told that there is no bigger replacement battery that will fit this model.can you offer any advice.the dealers dont seem to be able to help and the lexus owners club correspondence indicates that lexus dont want to know.one of the reasons i bought the car was because of the rave reviews by "honest john"incidentally i agree with his views on the car but i see this as a really annoying potential drawback to the car. Read more
The only difference on lexus models ,is that the auto window re-learn sequence has to be carried out from each switch of the corresponding door .It cannot be done from the driver door master control switch.
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I had a major breakdown recently and i have had to have a bent con rod replaced. Also as the engine was in bits i had a new clutch and timing belt fitted as well as all the usual stuff replaced asociated with that kind of rebuild.... gaskets and alike... About a week after that i had an temerature spike and after further examination i found the thermostat was stuck shut so i replaced that.... But, i have since realised that the cooling system is becoming pressureised as the water isn't hot and the water resavoir releif stopper is releasing the pressure and the coolant is now a rusty colour..... ive taken the car back to the garage that did the work but he is telling me he cant detect a problem...... Read more
You should not remove a two-stage thermostat. It's purpose is to allow coolant to run round a by-pass when the thermostat is closed. This ensures even cooling and prevents hotspots forming. When the thermostat opens the by-pass is closed off. Coolant then has no option but to flow through the radiator. It is acceptable to jam the thermostat open as a temporary repair because to do so would close the by-pass, but to remove it means the by-pass is always open, and coolant will take the easier option of flowing via the by-pass rather than through the radiator. This will result in engine overheating.....
Hi my parking sensor's don't work, i was told it was 1 of my sensor's were faulty, anyway read up that to check if there faulty was to turn on ignition put into reverse and put your ear to each 1, if they tick they are working.
Right they all do that bar 1 so i purchased a new sensor still dident work then found out by swapping the sensors round that the working one dident work in that connection either and the 1 i thought wasent working does when its in a different connecter.... Read more
You have to be very careful when buying sensors kits for BMW's as there is very little room behind the plastic bumber and it requires 90 decree units.Spares are readily available on Ebay.de for both front and rear units.
I have an ongoing problem with my ST70 (over a year). The car behaved fine up until this point (I've owned it for 6 years).
The problems and history -... Read more
Its great when you find the problem and everything is ok again.
Hi My ford fiesta is 2 yrs old and i think the wheel bearings have gone/going. I have booked it into ford to be checked but i am concerned cos they are saying that if the wheel bearings aren't faulty and it's just wear and tear i have to pay. The car is 2.5 yrs old (diesel) and has done 49,000 miles I had a renault before that never needed wheel beraings done and that was 8 yrs old and had done 100,000 miles. Is it normal to have to replace them so soon? Seems strange to me and i don't want to have to pay for something like that every 2 yrs as it seems v experience. I brought a new car so i didnt have to pay out! Car was serviced in May and wheel bearings where fine by the noise was noticed in Aug. (yes i know i should have reported it earlier)
... Read more
I have looked in my servicing book and i can't see anywhere that says 3yrs/60K or under so what small print should i be looking for?
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Hi all, I'm hoping someone can shed light on a mystery prob with my Transit.
Its a 2.0 front wheel drive 125 TDCI model and its twice lost alot of fluid of some kind for no apparent reason.... Read more
It hasn't got airco has it?
That would be an obvious source, water off the condenser pooling in the bottom of the heater plenum and draining out when the vehicle moves off.
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