Posts by big jim
201 - 219 of 414 Posts
I’m happy with the mini price, a lot less than I thought it would be but it appears to be industry standard about the No claims, something they don’t mention when you take out a multi car policy, it’s no doubt in the small print
thing is I could shop around but I don’t have the time or patience to phone up various companies listing all the mods etc so that’s why I’ve stuck with flux for the last few years, to be fair I can’t really fault them other than I do begrudge having to pay £35 if I do any changes on the policy or swap cars etc
I paid for the mini policy in one go rather than monthly, doing that and getting rid of the Touareg has reduced my direct debit by £80 a month as well as the saving of the £30 a month tax
Hopefully my wife won’t be in a huge rush to replace the Touareg with another 4x4
EDIT: I’ve just revisited the cheaper policy via their website rather than through meerkat and put the details in again as it allowed me to put her as having been a named driver on another policy with 5+ years NCD but it came back at £610 so more expensive than flux so I’ll just stick with them for the skoda now
I won’t be doing multi cover again, false economy when it comes to stepping away from it and wanting to insure elsewhere as it’s now costing me more in the long run
Flux have just phoned me to see if I’ll be reinsuring with them this year despite doing it yesterday!
I mentioned the no claims mirroring/honouring again but they said as a broker they can’t do it, not ideal but the price I’ve ended up paying for the skoda with no no claims is cheaper than the price I got from other companies with 5+ years mirrored
Gonna be fun when I get a car to replace the Touareg and have to insure that too, hopefully I can find a company that will mirror my no claims on the mini (or reluctantly I’ll have to do a multi car again)
I mentioned the no claims mirroring/honouring again but they said as a broker they can’t do it, not ideal but the price I’ve ended up paying for the skoda with no no claims is cheaper than the price I got from other companies with 5+ years mirrored
Gonna be fun when I get a car to replace the Touareg and have to insure that too, hopefully I can find a company that will mirror my no claims on the mini (or reluctantly I’ll have to do a multi car again)
Used the car to get to shrewsbury for work yesterday, quite an enjoyable little drive, not so much in the dark in the evening with driving rain though!
Not really noticed until last night how much it pulls to the right because of the tracking being out so I’ve booked it in for the track rod ends to be done, they can do them tomorrow, I may as well get both done while it’s there to be safe, I can then get it booked in for the 4 wheel tracking in Buckley tyres next week with any luck
Not really noticed until last night how much it pulls to the right because of the tracking being out so I’ve booked it in for the track rod ends to be done, they can do them tomorrow, I may as well get both done while it’s there to be safe, I can then get it booked in for the 4 wheel tracking in Buckley tyres next week with any luck
The car is all done now, paid for and keys picked up while passing in my hire car so it’s not stuck there all weekend
New complete track rods fitted, inner and outer etc, also sent it off to be tracked elsewhere so that saves me a trip over to north wales unless I want all 4 wheels tracked in the future
hopefully collect it tomorrow and see how it drives
New complete track rods fitted, inner and outer etc, also sent it off to be tracked elsewhere so that saves me a trip over to north wales unless I want all 4 wheels tracked in the future
hopefully collect it tomorrow and see how it drives
Just had a short drive back home from the garage with the new track rod ends and the tracking done, only covered about a 1.5 miles but j didn’t realise quite how bad the tracking was before!
hopefully get it out for a proper drive later in the week but it’s not pulling to the right now
hopefully get it out for a proper drive later in the week but it’s not pulling to the right now
Just realised I’ve had this car for 2 years now, picked it up off Sean the first week of December 2020
In that time I’ve not had many major issues with it other than failure of performance bits such as the Tomcat falling apart, rattly janspeed centre box and an MOT failure due to emissions caused by the sport cat, other than that I think engine wise it’s only needed a new chain tensioner and pulley tensioner bolt and mechanically new track rods
still got to get the janspeed manifold put back on and have a new tomcat made up by 1320 at some point as despite saying I’m going to sell it every few months I’m keeping it (for now!)
In that time I’ve not had many major issues with it other than failure of performance bits such as the Tomcat falling apart, rattly janspeed centre box and an MOT failure due to emissions caused by the sport cat, other than that I think engine wise it’s only needed a new chain tensioner and pulley tensioner bolt and mechanically new track rods
still got to get the janspeed manifold put back on and have a new tomcat made up by 1320 at some point as despite saying I’m going to sell it every few months I’m keeping it (for now!)
Had a bit of a panic yesterday, used the car to get to work on Saturday night and parked it in the railway yard, got asked to work Sunday night too and used the hire car to get there, was talking to a friend when I realised the mini had gone from where I’d left it, had a look round but couldn’t see it before having that sinking feeling that it had been stolen!
Up and down the car park and just about to head to the supervisors cabin to report it and see if he could access the cctv when I remembered I’d moved it to the far end of the yard about 1/4 mile away nearer to where my train was parked!
Glad I didn’t report it to the police!
In other news I’ve bought my wife a Mazda cx7 as she wanted a 4x4 type car again, phoned up Adrien Flux to get a quote to add it to the skoda policy, bear in mind late last year they wouldn’t mirror her no claims from our multi car policy on anew policy with themselves so the quote was with zero no claims, they wanted £650 for it as an additional vehicle
I then got put through to the new policy department to see if they could do it cheaper, they started to ask me my wife’s details to which I said they already have them as she has a policy with them already but they couldn’t find any record of her at all so I suggested that maybe I should stop paying the premium on the skoda as she didn’t exist, no doubt they would soon be in touch if I did that!
To top it off in the previous call to add a vehicle to the existing policy they said she is showing as the registered keeper on both the skoda and mini, she is in fact neither, never has been or never will be so where they have that info from i don’t know, no doubt if I needed to claim they’d be quick to say the policy was invalid!
While on hold I went on compare the market and got a quote for the Mazda, when eventually I got off hold I was told by Flux they would insure the Mazda for £750 as a new policy, compare the market was £295 so you can guess which one I went for!
After the poor service I got in October regards the no claims and this today I’ll be glad when the mini policy is up (if I keep it) so I can move elsewhere, similarly the skoda that’s got a while left but I’m seriously considering switching to a new provider before the end of the policy so I don’t have to deal with them any more, of course I’ll get stung for a £35 ‘admin fee’ but the sooner I move away from Adrian Flux the better, they used to be helpful but now they are simply terrible, poor customer service, almost feels like they don’t want to keep hold of existing loyal customers or if they do simply fleece them for as much money as they can, how can they justify £750 when others, even the top end prices for super douper all singing all dancing everything covered policies on ‘compare’ are around that price, the £295 policy actually has a smaller excess and better ancillary cover
Up and down the car park and just about to head to the supervisors cabin to report it and see if he could access the cctv when I remembered I’d moved it to the far end of the yard about 1/4 mile away nearer to where my train was parked!
Glad I didn’t report it to the police!
In other news I’ve bought my wife a Mazda cx7 as she wanted a 4x4 type car again, phoned up Adrien Flux to get a quote to add it to the skoda policy, bear in mind late last year they wouldn’t mirror her no claims from our multi car policy on anew policy with themselves so the quote was with zero no claims, they wanted £650 for it as an additional vehicle
I then got put through to the new policy department to see if they could do it cheaper, they started to ask me my wife’s details to which I said they already have them as she has a policy with them already but they couldn’t find any record of her at all so I suggested that maybe I should stop paying the premium on the skoda as she didn’t exist, no doubt they would soon be in touch if I did that!
To top it off in the previous call to add a vehicle to the existing policy they said she is showing as the registered keeper on both the skoda and mini, she is in fact neither, never has been or never will be so where they have that info from i don’t know, no doubt if I needed to claim they’d be quick to say the policy was invalid!
While on hold I went on compare the market and got a quote for the Mazda, when eventually I got off hold I was told by Flux they would insure the Mazda for £750 as a new policy, compare the market was £295 so you can guess which one I went for!
After the poor service I got in October regards the no claims and this today I’ll be glad when the mini policy is up (if I keep it) so I can move elsewhere, similarly the skoda that’s got a while left but I’m seriously considering switching to a new provider before the end of the policy so I don’t have to deal with them any more, of course I’ll get stung for a £35 ‘admin fee’ but the sooner I move away from Adrian Flux the better, they used to be helpful but now they are simply terrible, poor customer service, almost feels like they don’t want to keep hold of existing loyal customers or if they do simply fleece them for as much money as they can, how can they justify £750 when others, even the top end prices for super douper all singing all dancing everything covered policies on ‘compare’ are around that price, the £295 policy actually has a smaller excess and better ancillary cover
REALLY!
To be honest I think you’ve got a cheek to post this, it’s probably so expensive as my wife has zero no claims thanks to you not honouring or mirroring her no claims from the multi car policy that we had for years with you, 20+years no claims gone like that with nothing but a ‘tough luck, there you go’ attitude from yourselves
i since discovered other companies will take a renewal offer letter as valid proof of no claims for a named driver but I think it’s too late for the new policy for the Mazda now (needed to be within a certain time frame) not that it mattered as even doing it with zero no claims was still over 1/2 the cost of yourselves
it feels like they are taking advantage of existing customers who can’t be bothered with the hassle of phoning round giving other companies their details, especially with modified cars having to list all the mods etc, (im guilty of that with the mini every year) and they just pluck a figure out if the air and see if the customer ‘bites’ and agrees to pay the made up price, I know it’s not the case in reality and it’s far more complex than that (I hope) but from a layman’s point of view that’s how I’m feeling about the whole situation, insurance is a necessity and unfortunately the companies call the shots and if you don’t like it tough, look how great we are, let’s off your multi car policies to save you money, oh you’ve lost your no claims despite paying us a handsome fee every month and not ever claiming, never mind eh, live and learn, no compromise, no help, we’ve got your money and will continue to do so so we’re alright Jack
rant over for now!
Just dropped it off for it’s MOT tomorrow morning, can’t see a reason it would fail, still got it’s ‘temporary’ standard manifold and cat fitted from the last MOT and it’s got new track rod ends fitted, it’s only done 1500 miles since the last mot too
notice the power steering seems a bit heavy though, no leaks anywhere I can see but I have been driving a newish Audi A1 about for 6 months which has lovely light steering so getting in the mini is a bit of a shock!
notice the power steering seems a bit heavy though, no leaks anywhere I can see but I have been driving a newish Audi A1 about for 6 months which has lovely light steering so getting in the mini is a bit of a shock!
Passed it’s MOT, just need to work out when I can go back and collect it!
mine if the advisories is power steering pump has slight seepage and pipe corroded so something worth looking at i recon given I mentioned the steering felt heavy
mine if the advisories is power steering pump has slight seepage and pipe corroded so something worth looking at i recon given I mentioned the steering felt heavy
Seeing mention of the sale at Whiteline on another thread I’ve ended up buying a 20mm rear ARB for the car, with the 25% discount and a further £20 off for being a new customer and signing up for emails I’ve got it for £135
Sorting out with carsorbikes to get it to him for fitting along with having the janspeed manifold and sport cat refitted, I’ve been meaning to get that done for the last 12 months since the previous MOT, once that’s back on I’ll get it to 1320 for the tomcat and a retune
Booked in on Wednesday for the tracking to be done properly, after the new track rod ends were fitted the garage I use dropped it at a different garage to get the tracking done, anyway I was happy with it despite the steering feeling heavy so used the same garage to sort the tracking on my wife’s ‘new’ Mazda CX-7 as it was tramlining badly when I got it, it wasn’t until I went to get the Mazda done I realised he just used the old style mirrors and lasers on the floor jacking it up to align then going for a drive to ‘see how it felt’ admittedly it was an improvement on how it was before and supposedly ‘spot on’ but my wife said it still didn’t feel quite right so yesterday I took it to somewhere else who did it on the ramps and discovered one of the front wheels was 4 degrees out! I suspect the minis ‘spot on’ alignment may be similar so it’s going to Buckley tyres to be done properly as they have the geometry setting from when Sean took it to them before I bought it and they did a great job on my R56
I’ve definitely decided to keep it now, it’s got 12 months test, insurance paid for for the year so other than the tax and fuel it owes me nothing and I’ve no need to sell it, I’ll try and get a bit more use out of it this year if I can!
Sorting out with carsorbikes to get it to him for fitting along with having the janspeed manifold and sport cat refitted, I’ve been meaning to get that done for the last 12 months since the previous MOT, once that’s back on I’ll get it to 1320 for the tomcat and a retune
Booked in on Wednesday for the tracking to be done properly, after the new track rod ends were fitted the garage I use dropped it at a different garage to get the tracking done, anyway I was happy with it despite the steering feeling heavy so used the same garage to sort the tracking on my wife’s ‘new’ Mazda CX-7 as it was tramlining badly when I got it, it wasn’t until I went to get the Mazda done I realised he just used the old style mirrors and lasers on the floor jacking it up to align then going for a drive to ‘see how it felt’ admittedly it was an improvement on how it was before and supposedly ‘spot on’ but my wife said it still didn’t feel quite right so yesterday I took it to somewhere else who did it on the ramps and discovered one of the front wheels was 4 degrees out! I suspect the minis ‘spot on’ alignment may be similar so it’s going to Buckley tyres to be done properly as they have the geometry setting from when Sean took it to them before I bought it and they did a great job on my R56
I’ve definitely decided to keep it now, it’s got 12 months test, insurance paid for for the year so other than the tax and fuel it owes me nothing and I’ve no need to sell it, I’ll try and get a bit more use out of it this year if I can!
Took it out for a proper drive today, had to go to the Lowry centre and Macclesfield this morning so decided to blow some cobwebs off it, even treated it to some 99 Ron V-power petrol!
ran well but still has a bit of a flat spot when pulling away from a stand, also at one point the revs got a bit lumpy at idle on the way back after a spirited drive down windy roads between Macclesfield and sandbach, fluctuating between 800 and 1200 revs while sat waiting at a junction
Be interesting to see on Wednesday how much the tracking is out as it did feel heavy going again at times today
Remembered today I also need to change the centre console switches over as I’m still missing the ASC on/off switch!
ran well but still has a bit of a flat spot when pulling away from a stand, also at one point the revs got a bit lumpy at idle on the way back after a spirited drive down windy roads between Macclesfield and sandbach, fluctuating between 800 and 1200 revs while sat waiting at a junction
Be interesting to see on Wednesday how much the tracking is out as it did feel heavy going again at times today
Remembered today I also need to change the centre console switches over as I’m still missing the ASC on/off switch!
There were signs saying the congleton road was closed by the Sainsbury’s in macc so I went to broken cross and over to holmes chapel instead, prefer that way anyway, as good as the new congleton bypass is I wasn’t in the mood for all those roundabouts today!
Even worse in a taxi at 3am heading to peak forest!
The worst bit is the bit between rode and the Manchester road now, it would be awful living on that lane, since the bypass opened sat nav sends vehicles down there to get to the bypass toward sandbach, had many a hairy ride down there in a cab, hate driving my own car down there as it is
Back to the car, typically once I decide to get bits done to keep it stupid little things go wrong, this morning the drivers side door handle on the inside decided to stop working again, when it goes I can only open it from the key in the outside so I had to open the window and put the key in to lock it then unlock it again, once I’ve done it once it’s fine, I’m my gonna have to have a look at the boden cable again!
The worst bit is the bit between rode and the Manchester road now, it would be awful living on that lane, since the bypass opened sat nav sends vehicles down there to get to the bypass toward sandbach, had many a hairy ride down there in a cab, hate driving my own car down there as it is
Back to the car, typically once I decide to get bits done to keep it stupid little things go wrong, this morning the drivers side door handle on the inside decided to stop working again, when it goes I can only open it from the key in the outside so I had to open the window and put the key in to lock it then unlock it again, once I’ve done it once it’s fine, I’m my gonna have to have a look at the boden cable again!
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