Is it me….
I have been considering buying a replacement car and like the majority these days I have been searching for my ideal car on the web.
Now I came across this site Carsite.co.uk which on the face of it sounds a good idea, no hassle or pressure selling, reserve your car for £75, fully refunded if not happy and all cars fully inspected by the RAC. Sounds good?
They say that the cars are direct from a leasing company and as they are cutting out the middle man, other Car dealers I presume, then they can save you money.
Well I searched on the site and found a car that met with my initial criteria, it looked good value and when at a glance I compared it to my local dealer, it was a couple of hundred pounds cheaper, so better in my pocket than theirs I thought.
I was discussing this with a friend who took a closer look. They pointed out to me that yes the car was inspected by the RAC and you got a full report on any wear and tear issues and minor damage to the car, but they did not actually make the car cosmetically correct, so in fact you would be buying a "new" car which looked a little tired possibly. Also, I had not looked at the mileage and this was 50,000 on a 3 year old car, 20,000 more than average and while fully maintained by the leasing company it had done that wear and tear on its components.
So, on reflection the car at Carsite was cheaper but it had higher mileage and minor scuffs and scrapes. The car is not fully service prior to deliver, unless it needs one.
I decided to go visit a dealer of the brand I was looking ot buy and they too had a car similar in mileage but this had been either well looked after or had some corrective paintwork done. It came with 12 months warranty and was fully service prior to delivery, but it was £200 more expensive or so I thought.
After being able to have a test drive in the car, see the file on the vehicle, previous owner service history etc, I tried my luck and said “if you can knock £200 off the price I will buy today” they agreed straight away! (Maybe I should of asked for £300!)
So, do you buy a car on-line with the odd scuff and scrape without being service and high mileage, or do you go to your local dealer and get what you deserve, a new shiny new car and a good deal?
Or is it just me?
Is it me….
has the last few days supply of Grit or Rock Salt is about to be used, I have been listening on the radio to the heated debates on whether or not we should have had more supplies stockpiled and as the Government has now taken over the responsibility for allocation of future supplies, what is going to happen.
The Government recommendation to local councils is to keep only 6 days supply in hand. Now thankfully most council’s kept more than this, but the argument is how much should we hold.
Now my rant is not about whether we should have 12 days or 120 days, no, my rant is on the argument by politicians that this weather is so severe it is a once in 30 years ocurrance and we should not be preparing for such low risks.
Now my problem with this is that successive Governments have invested Billions of pounds in secret underground facilities for key ministers and the important and no doubt “pretty” people to safeguard them in case of a Thermal Nuclear Attack.
Now I have not been down to Ladbrokes to check the odds, but I suspect you could get 1000/1 on an attack this year. SO my rant is, the so called bleeding politicians will argue that we should not complain about the salt stock levels as it is a 1 in 30 chance of it happening, but they invest Billions on something that has never happened other than 2 atomic weapons discharged in 1945 and they expect us to accept they are right!!!
Or is it just me?
Is it just me……
or are the drivers on the roads with cars completely covered in snow, maybe with the exception of a small clearing on the windscreen and side windows, complete Dick’s!
I mean, they are a danger to themselves and others, should they break suddenly and the 6 inch blanket of snow on the roof slide forward, which would clearly be too much for the windscreen wipers to deal with, and before you know it they are driving either in to a pedestrian on the pavement, or an oncoming vehicle.
But these Dick’s don’t give a sod about you and me, no they are all “me, me, me” and they are not the least bit concerned for the safety of others. Also, they are driving around in the early morning or early evening with snow covering their lights, so they are otherwise invisible to other drivers, other than you see what is a mobile snow sculpture coming towards you, driven by a Dick!
Or is it just me?
Is it me….
Or are you fed up of reading about how the “Snow and Ice” have caused all the travel chaos on the UK roads?
Well I am sorry to have to correct the great British reporting system, but it was not a “snow man” driving the car in front of me today at 10mph! Now, before you react, I fully understand and support that you have to at all times drive to the conditions of the road, but in this instance 20mph would still have been extremely careful.
If the blithering idiots who clearly cannot drive in these conditions, and I do accept that might be as a result of them owning a rear wheel drive car which is about as manoeuvrable as a shopping trolley on an ice rink, then stay of the bleeding roads!
I have to fully praise the public transport bus drivers in my area, as they have done a great job trying to keep this method of transport available, but sadly, too often an abandoned car blocks the route and sadly spoils the day for everyone.
If you or your car is unable to deal with the conditions on the road, DO NOT try to get there with a “come what may” attitude, stay off the roads for those who are competent, including our fine public service drivers and let the roads be free of you. If this was at all possible, I believe you would see that the UK is no different to other Countries who deal with this type of weather on a more frequent basis.
Or is it just me?
is it just me…
or has the Government come up with another “bash the motorist” plan to raise funds for another daft idea?
As I understand it, currently since 2007 a £15 surcharge has been added to the fine of all people convicted of a crime, to raise money for the cost of support services which aid the victims of crime.
Now the big contention around motorist is that the majority of fines imposed are victimless “crimes” such as speeding offences and driving while using your mobile phone etc.
Therefore this is clearly a quick way for the Government to increase the size of the pot?
Well I have news for the Government. If you actually had sufficient Police resource in the first instance, you could make an additional £1M A DAY by just catching the bloody idiots who still drive around with a mobile phone to their ear and are sticking 2 fingers up at Authority.
But as always we can rely on the blithering idiots who are MP’s of all parties to take the easy route to raising funds and that is to tax, tax and further more tax on the those unfortunate motorists who get caught speeding at 34mph in a 30 zone!
They must really feel good about themselves those MP’s!
Or is it just me?
is it just me…
or is the Motor Industry living in cuckoo land? SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) are asking the Government for financial support to boost the sales of new cars.
The FACT is that for the past 5 years at least, the 2.3 million new cars registered in the UK have been “laundered” in to the market through heavy discounting to dealers, short-term hire companies and even though the back door to Used Car Supermakets.
The FACT is the market is not 2.3m cars but probably a natural 1.5 to 1.8m cars. Manufacturers accept this is so and reduce the build volume and number of dealers, of which the vast majority are making no money.
If car prices need to go up due to lower volumes, so be it. But stop trying to blame the problem on someone else, and stand up and accept your current distribution model and volume expectation is not fir for purpose.
Or is it just me?
Is it just me….
or is there absolutely NO sympathy for the cold hearted “wheelers and dealers” who “bet” on the prospects of a companies share price going down, anf they caught a massive and costly cold!
I have speculated for some time that these people have been responsible for driving the market price down, regardless of the impact it has on others, whether it jobs, loss if investment and pensions, all for their individual greed.
What’s more, how did they get caught out on Porsche buying in to VW? even I knew that they had been increasing the share holding, what did they think they were going to do about it?
It is about time the UK Government followed the US and made this activity illegal.
If it was not for the fact that us normal everyday citizens of this great country will end up picking up the cost of this error at the end of the day, it would be funny!
Or is it just me?
Is it just me…. or do I remember when the motorists of the UK, accepting that it was driven by the haulage companies, showed there collective resentment at the price of fuel in September 2005, when the average price in the UK for petrol was 94.8p per litre and diesel 97.4p, by staging a number of blockades and protests?
So why, today, has the price hits up to £1.20p per litre for diesel are we doing nothing!
The Government must be rubbing their hands at the Treasury with all that additional tax being collected, while us poor drivers continue to pay through the nose.
Or is it just me?