August 2023
I plan on taking the local authority to small claims court for rejecting my claim against them for a pothole that caused a little under £400 of damage to my car. The pothole was reported to them 18 months before the accident. The council quietly removed this report from the website after they rejected my claim but I have a screenshot of the report. They said the pothole was not considered dangerous and it's impact was graded as "negligble" despite dsshcam evidence showing my car entering the hole. I'm not here to discuss the specifics of the case though happy to if asked, buts it's been raised on another forum that I should have told my insurer? Apparently it's classed as an accident and any accident you have to report. I did not know this as I did not believe it to be an accident, if I called my insurance every time my car went over a pothole (plenty of them about) their phone would never stop ringing.
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Been browsing Autotrader which tends to be one of my favourite pastimes.
So I see a 2018 Golf Gti 7.5 5dr DSG with £16k miles for £24k. Next Feb will be 6 years old. Seems mad to me but they all a similar price or above!
I can’t imagine it would have been much more new.
Alternatively you can get a 2022 Polo Gti facelift with 12k miles for the same price. Same engine and gearbox with a few less horses.
Is the Golf Gti that good or are you buying into the Ikonic dream? Read more
Holset?
Indeed so: bought by Cummins in 1972, but convinced existing customers Volvo, Scania etc that their secrets were safe and continued to receive engines to test for matching purposes.
For variable geometry turbos the first customer was Iveco, I think.
My Torque wrench is a cheapo torsion beam type. Not very precise but they are more robust than the “clicky” type, which is why I brought it back from the Yook. Cant get them in Taiwan, according to the Ktown tool shops.
There isn’t clearance to use it on any bolts on the front end of the engine when its in the car, apart from the crankshaft pulley bolt, which is accessible through a port in the wheel well. I cant get a ratchet or a breaker bar on them either so its likely any torque wrench won’t fit.... Read more
An experienced mechanic will be able to judge this with practice, but for the diy amateur mechanic who wishes to avoid an expensive helicoil experience (which fortunately I have never yet had), it's wise to use a torque wrench.
Heres Mr O, torqeuing a spark plug like a pro, 6.20 in...
ICE manufacturers played (and some still play) precisely the same tricks over software updates, licensing of component manufacture, replace not repair etc. No surprise that EV are no different.
As already noted - independents will emerge, higher volume spares will be available from other suppliers, copies of manufacturer software will be traded (initially on the black market), supply of s/h parts from written off vehicles will increase....
I am a named driver on partners ins , he had an accident.
It's time to renew our policy and we need seperate ones this year, I cannot get a straight answer asto wether we both need to declare the claim or just him as he was the policy holder ? ... Read more
As I'm reading this your partner had an accident and claimed on his policy.
You are/were a named driver on that policy but had no part in the claim. ...
We had this a while back on the A12 near us. It is scary with the potential of a combined speed crash of 70 ish MPH meets 70+ MPH head on.
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>>what it should not be is directing a human being where to go,
I think that horse has bolted. I drove from west Herts to Cromer and back yesterday. I could have found my way there unaided, but I followed Waze for the most part because it knows where the congestion is.
I did overrule it a couple of times.
Of course a large goods vehicle or a caravan outfit is a different case.
I still see the technology as near-miraculous even without route planning. The amazing bit is having a map with a dot on it at your location! Pre-GPS, vast amounts of time were wasted trying to work out where we were.
Why the limit has to move from 30 MPH to 20 MPH and not to 25 MPH?
If we see numbers in km/h then... Read more
The only variance I’ve seen from the current convention is when there’s a coned off lane on a motorway and site traffic is limited to 11mph.
I’d assume that’s the critical speed at which truck/pedestrian interfaces become a whole bunch more serious.
We have at last a new car, one of the last of the previous generation Kia Sportage.
It's ok but Insurance for the car is £234 fully comp, with endless years of ncb, maximun discount.... Read more
We have two Westies - 8 & 15. Self insured. They're Westie number 4 & 5 for us. No. 3 was diagnosed diabetic @ 9. Lived for another 5 years with injections twice a day and after he pegged it I did a quick totting up of the cost - about £4,500, but it wasn't really noticeable at £50ish a month for insulin and needles. And the occasional day at the vet for blood sugar tests.
I can see why some owners like the reassurance of having insurance in place, but dogs are more likely to become ill (as opposed to accidents) as they age and that's the time premiums rocket, just as with humans. The 15 year old (16 next month) has probably cost us around £1k excluding routine servicing. A lot less than the insurance premiums would have been.
As Elekie Doc says, measure them yourself.
Worth the time removing the pads and stencil them by pressing both sides onto cardboard....
It looks as though the UK is going to end up with 3 plants Nissan Sunderland another on Teesside Freeport and the latest at Bridgewater. Here is a brief explanation of what goes into a battery from an Australian non political press.
Australian National Review - You Dig Up 500,000 Pounds of the Earth’s Crust for One EV Auto Battery!... Read more
It doesn't take long on the web to see this article is of questionable accuracy.
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If there was damage then to me that's classed as an accident - hitting a pot hole day to day is just on of those things so if no damage then no accident. But in this case I'd call it an accident - although not sure if you have to report it to the insurance company.