Following on from my posting about the Peugeot 307 'brushing past me' on the pavement at 30 mph on 19 March, my wife and I have recently been the victims of yet another example of the increasingly popular 'sport' of 'pavement surfing' carried out by drivers who are impatient and wish to avoid slowing down or stopping under momentary traffic congestion conditions. We were lucky to escape serious injury whilst walking back in the dark from our local supermarket at 10 pm on Monday 2 June. In response to a vehicle coming towards us, moving into the centre of the road to turn into Asquith Gardens on the Rayleigh Road in Thundersley, the driver of a silver Nissan Micra Reg No EF05 E?N, mounted the pavement, as we were walking back with bags of shopping from our local supermarket. He proceeded to drive around the nearside of the turning vehicle and drove towards us at 30 mph + with his two nearside wheels on the pavement . With only the street lamps for illumination and with at least one defective lights both to the front and to the rear of his car, the 'pavement surfer' narrowly avoided 'mowing us both down' on the narrow pavement as he swerved back into the road as soon as he had passed the turning vehicle. I cannot be certain of the reg plate details as his rear number plate lights were both 'out'. On this occasion I did not have my trusty camera with me so I was unable to pursue the rogue driver on foot and attempt to get a photo to support my report to the local police. However if their response is anything like the disinterest shown when I reported my previous daylight hours 'pavement surfing - near miss' - then I shall be very unhappy. Read more

I'm thinking of buying a Skoda Octavia vRS around 2006 to 2010 model year and don't know whether to go for a petrol or diesel.

The twist bit is that I get a company fuel card so although the fuel isn't free due to tax on beneft in kind, it's greatly reduced. However I have to fund all the maintenance costs so need to think about reliability, servicing and costs of repairs. I'll be doing around 35,000 miles a year, the vast majority of which will be motorway miles.... Read more

Hi all, I really hope someone can help us :-(

Bough a car for my wife off eBay three years ago. The car was in great condition, drove lovely and had all the relevant history - MOT's V5, nothing to suggest there was anything wrong with it.

After three years of fully insured, taxed, and MOT'd driving it was involved in an accident last week.

Today the insurance company phoned to say it was a CAT B write off and should not even be on the road!!!

I have never had any problem insuring this vehicle or getting it MOT'd during the time we have owned it!

I've had a mechanic look over it when we got it who is also a friend and he said it was in good condition!

As it stands now I'm at a loss of £6500 and have no idea where to turn!

I would be most grateful if anyone could advise me as to what I do?

Thank you so much Read more

Are the government going to pocket the value of a car being taxed twice every time a car is sold on? The remaining road fund licence is no longer going to be transferable with the sale of the vehicle - so if you sell your car, presumably you’ll get a refund for complete unused months, but the buyer will tax the vehicle covering the month of purchase?

As I understand it, if a car is taxed until the 31st of April and you sell it February 15th – you will be reimbursed March and April and will swallow the days “lost” in February; The buyer will have to tax it for the current month onwards (February) so the government will receive the VED income for February twice for the same car – how can this be fair? A sneaky stealth tax or is the system going to be cleverer than that? Perhaps the new system will no longer run in complete months but will go from date to date? Does anyone know how it’ll work from October? Read more

Please help! Vauxhall have conducted a diagnostic and cant seem to find the actual problem. As this is an Isuzu 3ltr engine inspection at Vauxhall concluded it is not an engine they are familiar with and responded that it "could" be the DPF. Mileage is 57,000. The engine managment light comes on almost immediately after 2nd gear. It struggles going up a hill big time.

A little bit of history....The oil light came on a few months ago and it resulted in a new oil switch, which was duly repaired. An oil change and filter was done at the same time. Since then, this problem has arisen. The mechanic has insisted the correct oil was used and even flushed the engine out and replaced the oil again. The engine struggling has not changed since, Cleaning agent has been used but has made no difference. ... Read more