November 2020
Hi guys, so recently changed a rear wheel bearing on my focus, once that was done my OH noticed it was making a noise on his way home from work. I get the auld boy back and yeah he sounds like a cross between a tractor and a space ship. So my OH jacks him up at the weekend takes the drums off and replaces new shoes and spring kit as he noticed the clips on the old one were broke and thought this could have been making the noise.
Anyone who has had the sheer joy of owning the old focuses will know that any job requires the good old trusty hammer, after much bashing to get the drum back on we figure we are good to go.
Now before we replaced the shoes when we turned the wheel by hand we could hear the noise, after we replaced the shoes and turned the wheel you couldn’t hear it. So take the car a run around the block and couldn’t hear anything. But later while going to town the minute I get to the main road the noise is there, but now I have an abs light and handbrake light having a disco. I parked up stuck the handbrake on and tried reversing, the handbrake is working fine it is holding the car. The light goes on and off when handbrake is released and engaged, it’s just decided it will come on while driving and the abs light has decided it wants to join in too. Brakes appear to be working fine as well, havnt felt any changes to them.
The wheel bearing was a abs bearing (made that mistake with the front ones, this idiot bought non abs ones then wondered why the light was still on) does anyone have any ideas? This car honestly will be the death of me with it’s many ‘issues’ ????? Read more
I have received my annual insurance renewal quote with a leading name insurer, the premium is 28% up on last year. To add insult to injury since lockdown I have driven less than 5% of the declared mileage, I usually drive 20,000 miles, with lockdown in the past 6 months I have driven well under 1,000! Clearly I need to call them to complain, and to discuss the mileage situation. Surely a reduction would be appropriate - I have looked around and there are better quotes out there for the accepting.
What is happening in the world of motor insurance at the moment, is this increase a typical try on or are rates generally higher than 12 months ago? With this second lockdown and as an extremely vulnerable person I need to continue to work from home, the way things are going the car may not be used until Christmas. ... Read more
Speaking of Esure, they came up cheapest for me on the comparison sites this year.
One thing to bear in mind though - even though all my details were the same on all comparison sites, the policy was £60 dearer on that Meerkat one, but the same price on the other big three comparison sites.
So I've been looking at purchasing car insurance about a month prior to actually having it started with 1 year NCB attached. What I am curious about however is that at the point of having purchased this policy I would not have yet secured my 1 year no claim, however when the policy actually starts I would've, and therefore curious on where I stand with this on a legal basis.
I am aware that if I was to have an accident in that month, I would have to disclose it with the company who I would've just purchased this policy from. Read more
Despite the inaccuarices in the term, it would be the maximum time you can set up a policy in advance for.
Also I'm aware of how much extra it is, because I have gathered quotes via comparison sites with the details as they would be when I look to take out the insurance, with quotes that start a day later, and those that start the maximum difference you can have your policy start in advance, which I believe is either 28 or 30 days, and each time I have seen the difference in prices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fw5SdnCr1A with Tiff and some newbies.
I also liked the ‘old geezer’ type motoring programmes - Shaw Taylor road testing the latest iteration of the Cortina which now features a heated rear windscreen (crikey!). I find that catered for these days on YouTube. There are so many car reviews, some excellent, some not so good and some only superficial. There are also YouTube videos on motoring related matters (I watched one about dismantling a DSG gearbox and understood about a tenth) so the old geezer market is catered for elsewhere than on TV. That only leaves Top Gear type programmes as the way to go as far as I can tell. Personally, I find them rather tiresome; grown men behaving like louts. With four impressionable sons, in the Clarkson/Hammond/May days I wasn’t entirely happy with some of the content.
Severe overheating on first Inspection attempt, which was aborted.
Direct connection to fan got me home, and a (somewhat hidden) manually switched substitution for the relay got through a second inspection. Always-on is, however, extra wear on the old radiator fan and I'm likely to forget to disconnect it and flatten the battery ... Read more
Thanks. The piggy-back fuse things may be available with other connectors. I'll have a look.
IIRC the connection to the temperature switch (long gone) was a bullet connector,. I improvised something with the spring from the inside of a ball point pen which seemed fairly secure but may be part of the current problem. (NPI)...
Usual sensationalism by a sub editor. How can it be a secret when voluntary termination has been in law for decades?
I VT'd car in the mid 90s, it was painless, but it was HP, not PCP. Finance houses and dealers have caught up and you need to be very careful when requesting VT on a PCP vehicle as they often send a new agreement to sign....
The search for a replacement for my A4 goes on and a car has come up.
V70 D5 2011 110k Full main dealer service , new tyres but unusually manual transmission. ... Read more
I’m not saying it’s a bad car, far from it and I’m not saying it won’t carry on for another decade and 100k but an older DPF equipped diesel can become a costly money pit very quickly and for every positive story you hear there will be another with plenty of expense involved. These are great cars and the D5 motor has great command over the body with loads of go but don’t buy it if you can’t afford the occasional big bill. You may be lucky and it’ll run and run without worry but I’d err on the side of caution and go petrol. As you probably know I own a D5 XC60 but mine has 45k up and sees a regular long(ish) run.
Is there a place on Public roads for a car to be Drifting ie controlled sliding. Manufacturers have introduced many safety features on vehicles over the years and now VW appears to be going backwards in a big way. VW say there is a double prompt on the function to prevent I presume accidentally going into this mode. Feel assured that some drivers will delight in using this! Read more
Before Sunday trading put a stop to it, I used to take my children onto local supermarket car parks to teach them skid control, opposite lock etc. Worthwhile in my opinion.
I was taken onto a skid pan during my Fire Appliance driving course.
I recently returned my lease car at the end of the three year period. Due to covid restrictions (I'm currently self isolating) I wasn't able to deal with the guy who came to collect the car directly. I have since been invoiced by the finance company for excess mileage. The contract mileage was 30,000 and the inspection report states a mileage of 33,394. I stupidly didn't take a picture of the mileage whilst preparing it for inspection, but know that mileage was around the 23,000 mark. I'm assuming then that the guy carrying out the inspection has incorrectly recorded a mileage of 33,394 rather than 23,394.
I've received an invoice today of around £200 from the finance company, which is when I first noticed the mileage that had been recorded in the vehicle inspection report.... Read more
You must have copies of service invoices. These should show the mileage at and between services and also crucially how many miles you averaged per annum. Although not proof, that with a request for the finance company to delay the case until the vehicle is MOT'd should do the trick. They must know they are dealing with a normal decent customer who is pointing out an error, they can surely cut you some slack. Good luck.
Cheers Concrete
I'm looking to buy a used van/truck above 3.5T, and have found a suitable example on Ebay, through a small business seller. The van came from a local furniture shop who certainly would have been vat registered, I'm not sure how this seller acquired it, directly from them or what. The van is for sale without vat, I'm just wondering why that is, as it came from a vat registered company, I tried asking the seller and he didn't seem sure, but said 'the agent it came from might not have been vat registered'. That rang alarm bells for me as I guess it could have been bought by a small man and van sole trader like myself, I don;t earn enough to have to pay charge VAT yet, and I thought he might have bought it, realised there was a problem with it and quickly sold it on. Or am I being paranoid? A Little help please, i am a struggling man & van, desperate for a van with a much bigger payload so next time I get stopped on a Vosa weighbridge, I won;t be overweight. Read more
There's no VAT because a previous owner has paid the VAT on the vehicle.
VAT can only be charged once on vehicles. If someone claims the VAT back on a commercial vehicle, the VAT amount will be added back onto the vehicle. And round it goes until someone paid the VAT and doesn't reclaim it....
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Well OH checked handbrake cable, there was some slack so he’s tightened it back up and run the car and said the lights never came back on, I’ll find out myself this morning. As for noise it’s still there. Nothing more can really get done till weekend then it’s wheels off again and strip it back down.