Over the last few months I have experienced numerous irregular warnings for a fault in the lighting system; the warning shows on the central display for a few seconds and then stops. When I check the condition of all lights they are fine. On two occasions, when the outside temp was close to zero, the speedo/rev counter stopped working and the turn indicators would not operate - after 30 seconds or so it all went back to normal. I am now getting occasional warnings of low tyre pressure; tyres checked and pressures correct - this warning has to be reset via the iDrive controller. The main car battery was replaced recently and shows 12.6v using a multimeter. The alternator shows it charging at 14.9v at idle. A diagnostic check at an independent garage revealed no fault codes saved on the system. Any ideas? Read more

I recently scrapped my car because of corrosion. There are still three weeks of insurance cover left on the policy and my insurance company wants £75 to cancel the policy, the insurance was paid in full when I took out the policy, so I think this cancellation fee is a bit extortionate.

I now have a new car which I want to insure and I dont wish to use this company again because their annual quote is much dearer than the other companies using an insurance comparison website.... Read more

Reading all the disputes about left versus right-foot braking with automatics makes me wonder why we're still buying manuals in the 21st century, having disposed of manual chokes, carbs and advance/retard controls. Especially as cars seem to need so many gears now.

Could anyone with a technical bent explain why my Mk 1 Escort found four gears perfectly adequate with about 60 bhp but a Seat needs six with 150 bhp? Read more

So my wife was involved in a low speed RTA the other day. Nobody was hurt, no airbags went off, so that's all good.

However, there is an interesting question over liability here that is baffling me.... Read more

Original Q & A

After a bit of gap I thought I would return to the subject of driving an automatic using only the right foot. Our American daughter-in-law came over for Christmas and asked how my discussion with you was going? I told her that you cited a case of a 92-year-old killing people and she questioned as to whether he should have been driving at all. She also reiterated that driving schools in the USA teach you to use the right foot only. I have taken up the subject with the Institute of Advanced Motoring and got this reply: “I would teach and advocate the use of the right foot to operate the accelerator and brake pedals – with a bit of common sense we can figure out quite quickly we will not want to go slower and faster at the same time so will not be operating both pedals at the same time. A planned drive will make for a sensible bit of acceleration sense so we will be off the accelerator some time before we need to brake.” I then mentioned the case you cited of the 92-year old and he replied: “In the material I wrote, the only time I advocated left foot braking was in slow manoeuvring in an automatic. If that is where he is limiting his suggestion to then I would agree. Not for driving normally but acceptable when reversing or very slow manoeuvres. So his statement fits in with our teaching. I apologise if I was misleading but thought the original question related to normal driving (this is a practice which is creeping in).” So perhaps it is the case that it is Right foot only in normal driving and Left/Right foot when reversing. Is this taught?... Read more