December 2022

IJG18

A neighbour reversed out of her garden and hit my car parked in the road whilst I wasnt in it. Her insurance company have dealt with me direct and due to the age of my car (ford focus 5DR 1800 zetec, Feb 2002) it has made two offers to me. 1) accept a price for the difference in value before and after the incident and keep the car, or 2) accept the pre incident price and loose the car. Is there any alternates here? Lastly do I need to inform my insurance as the other party has admitted full responsibility and liability, and if I do inform my insurance will my next premium go up and can I claim this from the other insurer? I have a crease in the drivers wing and paintwork damage, the car is roadworthy and driveable Read more

Xileno

Always worth asking the insurer to up their offer, what's the old saying - don't ask don't get, or something like that.

Aside from the personal attachment to the car, good MK1 Focus are getting rare so if yours is a nice one then worth keeping. The 1.8 Zetec was a good spec in the day. Rust usually gets them in the end.

privateinvestor

Most modern ford diesel cars are filled with Castrol Magnatec, in the Transit Ford have stated an oil change interval every two years or 36,000 miles with a 9 litre capacity fill. My question is since when was Castrol Magnatec long life? and 36k miles is crazy. Read more

edlithgow

4 to 5 litres is a fairly typical oil capacity or a family hatch with up to 20k between oil changes.

If a van has close to two times the capacity - does the oil degrade simply due to time elapsed, or at half the rate due to the greater capacity. If the latter, arguably twice the capacity = twice the length between oil changes....

Palcouk

FWIW I handle the paperwork for a BMW specialist who is authorised by BMW to service to their specs to retain any warranty, just processed 2 seperate services for cars within warranty that BMW had refused warranty repair as the drivers had had the vehicles mapped, not driven hard, mileage below 20k cost of engine rebuild for each +£21k

I often see other repairs of +£10k for low mileage vehicles Read more

badbusdriver

Mr Koenigsegg gets over 200hp per litre from his engines, but I wonder how long they are expected to last.

The Maserati Ghibli Cup was making a reliable (assuming it is maintained correctly) 165bhp per litre back in 1996. So 200bhp per litre nearly a quarter of a century later is not necessarily going to result in unreliability, depends on how well it has been engineered. ...

Will deBeast

I have a bluetooth battery monitor on the starter battery in my motorhome. When the battery looks a little low, I put a CTEK on it.

I noticed that the float charging voltage on my CTEK was a little high - 13.95v. Verified with my multimeter.... Read more

Cris_on_the_gas

So logically the higher current rated charger will have a higher output voltage on no load.

k-b

electricity is costing so much more there is little difference between electric and petrol when it comes to costs Read more

strickjumpers

Hello.

My abs light ans ESP warning lights are illuminated.... Read more

Big John

Get the car into a good independent garage to be properly diagnosed/fixed. Brakes are a safety critical item so random disconnection of safety features is not recommended as a diagnosis method. As there are warning lights on any faults will have been logged.

Henry V Lewis

I am applying for the renewal of my License.They are asking for a new photo, which is fine.On the form there is a space for the photo, as says 'back of photo here', but there is no way to mount it there.

No self adhesive sticky, and no other way of securing it. Has anyone any idea what I am supposed to do??... Read more

paul 1963

As far as I'm aware the little window for your photo is self adhesive? You have to peel off the cover paper, swapped my paper licence for a photo licence a few years ago and I'm sure that's what I did.

malct

About 4 years ago, I transferred my NCD to my wife who has only passed her test 2 years earlier.

at the time i was fully retired and my wife was using the car for work, So she was the main Driver... Read more

jp2021

Contact a couple of local insurance brokers - not 'computer says no ' price comparison sites.

We have companies who would give 5 plus years intro discount without altering your wifes policy- or transfer the ncd back. No problem car is in her name and you are marginally the main user- easy to note on policy and commuting by both no problem at all...

edlithgow

I'll be heading back to Taiwan soon, and (assuming it hasn't been towed) will have to get the car through its overdue 6-monthly inspection sharpish.

IIRC (don't have my notes here) I have 2/3 indicator lights (It has front, rear and side indicators) on each side working, with the circuit dead for the non-working light.... Read more

edlithgow

The hazard switch now works (didn't before I left). Activating this in the running light position gives a non flashing, but rather dim, running light on both sides.

That;s almost enough, but the inspection people may not agree.

ergerg

Hi,

I have a 2004 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCI that is having some issues:... Read more

elekie&a/c doctor

I’d be looking at an air leak in the induction system . Turbo boost and intercooler air pipes need inspection for splits/holes .