Hi.

Renault master 2.5dci 120 54 plate... Read more

I am currently sat in a modern car dealerships waiting a service and I can’t get my head around the amount of staff.

So far I’ve worked out there are 5 sales staff, 1 senior sales staff, 2 people working the servicing and repairs department, 1 finance manager, 1 receptionist, 4 other people who I’m not sure what they do, 1 chap who seems to be the full time valet and cleaner, plus all the technicians, mechanics, etc in the back.

And yet there are no customers, only me in the waiting are.
No one is using the phones to find sales, they seem to be waiting for mug punters to walk through the door.

Respectfully, why do dealers need such large staff?
I understand it’s March plate change but I don’t see any 23 plates and my chat with one of the sales staff confirmed all the 23 plates have been picked up.

Mind you, on current new car margins, they can afford to hire and entire army of staff. Read more

I put my dog in a standard body harness attached to the seatbelt on the back seat with one of those straps (it plugs into the seatbelt and attaches via a clip to his body harness.

I’m not sure that this would offer him much protection and he’d almost certainly smack against the back seat due to the length of the strap. Does anyone have experience of a safer set up please? Read more

Doesn’t anyone happen to know the current lead times for a Skoda Octavia?

My neighbour visited 2 dealerships yesterday and neither were able to confirm a lead time regardless of what version they ordered (they want a petrol engine non VRS hatchback/saloon version if that helps).

Thanks in advance Read more

Not much on here these days, so having read about sunflower oil in a thread here I thought I'd start a new topic. For those of use who keep their cars till they die, painting stuff onto the exposed bits underneath is advisable to avoid things like corroded brake pipes, cracked springs, rusty subframes etc. What, if anything, do you do? I had never thought of using sunflower oil.

I still have an old jar of lanolin grease I inherited thirty years ago which when heated becomes liquid enough to paint onto things but almost solidifies at room temperature. Excellent for brake pipes. I've always just painted old engine oil on springs and subframes every three years or so. The only mechanical immobilisation I had on my first Audi (100 2.0E) was when the front anti-roll bar broke. On inspection the fracture site had developed from a corroding micro crack. I had a spring break once; likewise it had been weakened by a longstanding crack - corrosion was visible half way across its diameter, the other half was a clean shiny fracture. So, rightly or wrongly, I've thought it sensible to occasionally apply something oily or painty to such items. Perhaps biennial sunflower oil in a power sprayer might be the way to go? Read more