October 2018
Hi
A family member is going to look at a vehicle shortly being advertised privately on Gumtree.... Read more
On these engines it is easy to misfit the oil filter - it has an inbuilt valve to stop oil draining back overnight and another that releases when loosening the filter during the service allowing the oil to drain back to the sump. If a new filter is fitted and overtightened it prematurely triggers the drain back valve which significantly drops the oil pressure. This causes predictable results with an oil pressurised timing chain tensioner especially if worn. ...
Wow! They've only just realised this?
This has been going on for DECADES, and is rife across many 'subscription' or 'contract' style purchases we make such as:
1. Utility providers - Landline phone/ISP, electricity and gas;
2. Mobile Phone providers (including insurance);
3. Insurance of all forms - motor, home building and contents, motor breakdown (especially);
4. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions (including online);
5. Shop services, e.g. dry cleaners, purchasing of regular orders, premium online shopping services;
6. Website memberships;
7. Satellite/cable TV/phone/ISP services.
Firms value new customers far more because most believe that long-standing ones are mugs who you can treat them poorly and, for the most part, get away with it because they can't be asked to change to a competitor, often because they know that competitor's customer service isn't any better, or that changing is a real hassle ([IMHO] e.g. SKY) - whether long, complicated processes, or ones invliving lengths/numerous phonecalls or use of complex web services that not everyone can understand (e.g. many of the elderly).
My parents are in that last group - they haven't even looked into changing ANY of their utility providers since they moved to their home in 1975.
Unless and until we treat firms like the Americans do, which is to demand great products, customer service and reasonable prices otherwise we're off straight awya and will TELL EVERYONE about how rubbish they are in detail, then this sort of thing will continue. Read more
Re using comparison sites - it is difficult to use them for multi-car policies. My advice is, if more than one of you at the address need insurance, look at the providers that do multi-car, and don't rely entirely on the comparison sites.
My wife's policy expires at the same time as mine. We originally had a multi-car policy with Admiral but have been with AXA more recently. This time around the renewal premiums were unacceptable, which gave me the incentive to look around....
Recently my regular rush hour plod around the M25 has been (further) spoilt by two incidents of cars charging along the inside lane with blue lights and sirens going, forcing those of us driving in the lane to pull left very quickly, or even pull right, perilously close to the central reservation. One was a BMW and the other was a small white fiesta-type van. I suppose they were both unmarked police cars (unless they'd bought their blue lights at Halfords!) I feel it is rude arrogant and dangerous for these drivers to weave between lanes like a motorbike, when the hard shoulder exists for this very purpose.
This happened last week in the evening, somewhere between Junction 22 and 20 on the anticlockwise. Does anyone know why this is happening? Read more
As a 'big yellow taxi driver', I would only use the hard shoulder if the main carriageway was crawling or at a standstill. Maximum 40mph whilst on the hard shouider; with lights and sirens activated.
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In today's Times Law Reports there is a judgement from the European Court of Justice that the owner must insure an off road car in a member state of the EU if capable of being driven. (In Portugal, it seems driveable SORN cars must be insured, unlike here)
In Portugal, the son took his mother's off road car from her back yard and crashed it, killing himself and two passengers. The Portuguese equivalent of the Insurer's Bureau, having paid compensation, apparently has the right of subrogation against the uninsured car's owner, even if they knew nothing about it and the car was taken without permission! So if any Brits have an 'off the road' car at their Algarve property thinking it doesn't need insurance and it gets stolen and kills someone, they could be ruined! Read more
About time the UK insurance industry was compelled to wake up I reckon.
Can you give us a figure that you pay for your comulsory cover for your car?
Help!! Daughter in law's KA StreetKA has been overheating /boiling. Fan was not working so we did the following:
Checked state of oil for head gasket leak and as there is no water loss as such are reasonably sure H/gasket is fine, so we:... Read more
Some cooling systems bleed easily without the need to remove anything, and others may need to have the highest component in the system which is on the engine side of the thermostat removed to allow air to escape. The coolant being heavier than air will force it out through the open point. Running the engine whilst filling does nothing to aid bleeding, and so fill the system completely before starting.
So number one son has found a set of alloys online to replace the standard steel jobs currently fitted to his pug 107 and we've agreed to buy them for him as his Christmas present.
He says he intends to get the tyres swapped from his old wheels onto the new ones ( tyres are reasonably new and mid range budget),I've advised him to save up and buy a new set of tyres and keep his originals as back up, personally I'm not keen on fitting second-hand tyres even as in this case those with a known history......any thoughts? Read more
On other thing to check before re-using the tyres and that is the age. On the sidewall there is a 4 digit code normally near the DOT details down near the rim. An example is 2513 which would translate as week 25 year 2013.
Some manufacturers say tyres should not be used after 6 years, others say 10 is OK. Personally I go with 10 years but I keep a close eye on them. Had a set of Michelins in about 2013 that had bad sidewall cracks after less than 3 years of summer mileage, they still had 5mm tread (Michelin kindly contributed £200 to a new set)....
My 12 year old (2006) Vauxhall Signum 2.8 V6 will, from April 2019, be targeted with an annual VED rate of £570. Assuming VED rates do not change over10 years, a 2019 buyer of a similar "over 255 (g/km) CO2 emmissions" vehicle will pay £3440 in VED whilst I will contribute £5700 to the Treasury. Same amount of pollution per kilometre, but the new car driver pays less? Hypocrisy? Perhaps. But I know for certain I'll still be as proud of my Siggy10 years on from now, and paying the punitive tax will still be a pleasure.
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I thoroughly agree. I have a nine-year-old Audi A3 and I am not going to change it any time soon. Think of the metals, materials, electricity, water etc. consumed in building a replacement for it! It's still on its original battery, exhaust etc [and through laziness I haven't even changed its keyfob batteries - it doesn't seem to have noticed].
WOW - glad mine is a petrol phew... Read more
Thank God I left Britain it has sunk into evil government tricks to rule without EU aid
Hi guys im after a car for my partner, I need a car which is high to make it easy with kids. 1st type of car was a SUV, my budget is 6/7k ultimate max8-9k. upto 6/7 years old decent economy max mileage 60k.
my options in mind were ix35, and sportage which would get to the max budget.... Read more
We have a current shape Jazz CVT and i highly recommend it. I was a bit wary of the CVT auto as i had read pretty much nothing positive about them, but i needn't have worried. I don't think your budget would get you into the current shape, which has a 102bhp n/a 1.3, so you'd be in the previous shape which has a 1.4 with slightly less power (though arguably better looks?). Extremely reliable, buttery smooth when you want it, but very responsive with a surprising eagerness to rev and turn of speed when you are in the mood. The transmission has 7 electronic steps in order to feel more like a conventional auto. This can be left in drive, or you can shift manually (in sport mode) using the paddles behind the steering wheel. Very spacious for it's size, with a boot volume of around 340 litres, and the 'magic' seats in the back give extra flexibility. This is due to the fuel tank being under the front seats instead of the rear (where it is in most cars), allowing the rear seat bases to be flipped up against the backrest giving a deep space across the width of the car. I have no experience of the hybrid, but have no doubt it will prove unfailingly reliable.
As for the Altea, i hired one on holiday in Majorca for 10 days a couple of years ago, i think it was the XL version. Spacious, fairly refined though otherwise unexeptional to drive, taking a while to get up to speed but holding it well enough once there (i think it was the n/a 1.6 petrol, but there was no exterior badging to indicate). As i said, i think it was the XL as the boot was enormous(!) whereas the standard size model has a decent sized boot but not spectacularly so.
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DoC cover covers the driver of a car not belonging to him /her.
BUT the car needs to be insured....