My son's new car (2015) that he has had only a week, has been hit by a flying pub sign which was blown from it's 2? fixings. You know the type, black chalkboard sign with the menu or whatever painted on. Slight ding in the door, right on the coachline' in the metal which will require slight filling I suspect, plus a couple of scuffs to the door paint work.

What are his options please? eg. he does not seem to want to report to his insurers, but it's still under warranty with Landrover, this is an expensive Range Rover BTW. Does he report to his insurer and hopefully after getting details - pass them on to them to sort.... Read more

Faced with a dull night watching brain rot TV I thought a wee visit to my nearest car auction would be worth the fuel and time, I knew at least the canteen is worthy of my attendance anyway.

Nice cheap dinner in the belly I started sniffing round the metal on offer, two in particular that I'd came to view. One a lowish mileage blue 60 plate Nissan Micra and the other a 57 plate Hyundai i30 in red, both sounded good in descriptions but I should've known better when no pics were posted by the auction house who were clearly desperate to get bums on seats. Both were wearing too much battle damage for me, it would've cost a fortune to fix properly, even the usual botch em up boys weren't biting and both slunk back to the yard unsold.

Time wasted for me but it was as always an interesting experience watching what goes on at a car auction. The cars were all either ex lease nearly new stock with ludicrous near retail reserves which no one even bothered to bid on, in fact one Auris Hybrid estate was set £1,000 more than our local Toyota dealer has one on at right now!!! Or they were too up in the miles or too tatty to retail, the big dealers are hanging onto anything that can be retailed even if it's 12yrs old. The days of finding a nice clean 7-12yr old car with decent miles and a history at auction are largely past certainly up here anyway.

I watched the usual dodgy Joe's bid strongly for any heavy mileage stock with one next to zero history 58plate 120,000 mile Fiesta diesel make the guts of £2k including fees despite having an engine management light on and being three different colours, the only way he'll make out of that is if the mileage or history is fiddled. I'll be watching to see if it's reloaded, they often do with mysterious full histories being magically produced from thin air.

Another a 100k 2007 Honda Civic that needed a load of paint went for over £1k but to fix it right would cost more than it cost to buy. The only way he'll make from it is to botch it on the cheap which will rust and flake in no time but to an inexperienced eye on the forecourt might look good for a while.

I could go on but to sum up everything was there because it was unsellable garbage. The dodgy Joe's of the motoring world then snap them up, cheaply botch them up then flog them on often with faked service histories and a story about last owner being a wee old lady. This is the truth of the smaller dealer or trader. Unless they have a new car franchise or sell a lot of nearly new ex lease stock against which they'll take in decent older trade ins then it'll all be bought at auctions like this and the public would be horrified if they knew the real state of what they're selling.

I'm very fussy, won't sell something unless it's right and despite row upon row of older stock there tonight there wasn't a single car I would bought to sell on. Yet the bulk of them did sell, bought by small dealers who'll fleece some poor sod. Buyers beware! Read more

Hello all looking for some advice on what car to get next, looking for something thats sport, can get early to mid 30's mpg when taking it easy. Budgets £6k, insurance group isn't an issues as I am 31.

Currently driving a civic gt type-r. It's a great car but no mater how I drive it just won't hit 30mpg lol. I love my 3.0ltr z4 and taking it easy would hit 33mpg marker but just need the option of rear seats, even if they are uncomfortable shelf seats they will only be needed one/twice a year for relatively short people. ... Read more

Hi, I have a real puzzle. Going down the motorway my rear indicator started flashing double time, I have checked and definitely the back one is not working. But when I slow down it starts working again. I have done a few test runs and have narrowed it down to something I just don't understand.

If the car is doing over 50mph the rear indicator does not work. But slowing down to less than 50mph it kicks back in and works normally.

Does anyone have any possible explanation, it is wrecking my head as i have never seen anything like this?