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Post by ChrisM on Jan 22, 2024 21:43:35 GMT
^ I also like the 1, 3, 5, 7 (each 2 digits apart) of the clock :-)
and reversed numbers of 12, 21 (temp and date) Congratulations !
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 22, 2024 21:40:46 GMT
T-Cross renewal received overnight by email: Last year £360, this year £520. Shopping around online I can't get it any lower. I know I got a good deal last year but this is somewhat ridiculous, more expensive than the Kuga which also has class 1 business use on the policy but is about 20 insurance groups higher up the scale
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 18, 2024 22:33:35 GMT
Whilst we love the i-Pace there is no way we would want to own one personally. I find this very telling...
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Cardle
Jan 16, 2024 19:43:10 GMT
Post by ChrisM on Jan 16, 2024 19:43:10 GMT
In 1 today, previous trips to the Far East having helped, plus I vaguely remember this from before as I was sure it was a repeat
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 15, 2024 21:52:56 GMT
If you like the I-Pace but not its current new version, why not buy the one you have at the end of its lease/PCP and stick a non-dating (or other "private") plate on it? Colleagues etc may think you've got a new car rather than disguising your existing one
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 15, 2024 21:43:12 GMT
I've had this response from the DVLA when I used the "contact" form to ask about missing reminders in the post:
"Thank you for your enquiry. We appreciate you have taken the time to contact us in relation to this matter.
It may be helpful if I explain that V11 renewal reminders are printed and given to the Royal Mail® approximately 6 weeks before the current tax expires. This is to allow time for them to be sorted and distributed through the Royal Mail® network. An application to obtain vehicle tax can't be made prior to the 5th day of the month in which the current tax expires. Therefore, we instruct the Royal Mail® to deliver V11s after this date.
The process of issuing V11 reminders is a service we provide to make the taxing procedure more efficient for our customers. There is no statutory obligation for the Agency to produce the V11 form. It is the responsibility of the vehicle keeper to ensure that a vehicle is correctly taxed at all times it is used or kept on the public road. However, in cases where a customer has not received a V11, or if it has been mislaid, the V5C Registration Certificate can be used in its place.
The system is unable to issue duplicate V11s or issue to an address other than the registered address."
So it looks like it's down to Royal Mail losing the reminder letters.....
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 14, 2024 21:12:38 GMT
^ I think at the time my late father bought them, tobacco was seen as highly profitable and it was before the sort-of backlash against tobacco companies started. It's only in the years since he passed that I gained online access (they are in a HL account) but I still struggle soemtimes with working out how you get a sale irrespective of share value.... seems you have to put in a value lower than current so that they sell at a minimum price, or else a value above surrent value where they sell the next day of they exceed that value. Terms like "fill or kill" are lost on me.
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 13, 2024 18:00:00 GMT
^ How did you find the previous owner's details? Were they in the receipts with the car? In the old days you used to get the name and address of at least the most recent owner on the V5 but that has stopped due to "data protection" :-( The last time I wrote to the DVLA requesting info on previous owners I never heard anything back but I thought they were supposed to provide it
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 12, 2024 18:49:08 GMT
No idea about investments or shares. I still do not understand how I am allowed to be in charge of my SIPP when I have had no financial training and no real knowledge of the subject.
Was just looking today - my late father bought several of us £10k in shares ISAs about 20 years ago. All my "holdings" have gone down in value, some significantly. So much for the long-term picture. BAT has gone down over 30%, Sainsburys about 25%. A few years back I sold some (can't remember what) and bought Ashtead when I read an interestinmg article about them. Best deal yet as the £1000 has grown to just under £3000
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 12, 2024 18:42:11 GMT
^ Put a pair of Marigolds on, and get the bucket and sponge out ! (other brands of washing-up gloves are available)
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 12, 2024 18:40:47 GMT
The T-Cross's reminder has appeared in the post....
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 12, 2024 18:40:01 GMT
Having started to look at possible destinations this lunchtime, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere on holiday this year. Prices of travel and hotels have gone up significantly and most of the "deals" I looked at do not seem good value for money (and many are unaffordable)
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 11, 2024 18:53:45 GMT
Was it Merc that proudly demonstrated their auto braking system to journalists where the demo car promptly ran into the back of the thing it was meant to be stopping for? That would be around the same time I think rather embarassingly it was Volvo:
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 11, 2024 18:48:32 GMT
"Cars that cost £40,000 or more (after options) are subject to a further £390 annual supplement (up from £355 in 2021/2022) that runs for five years. This kicks in after the first-year’s CO2-based charge, so you’ll pay the supplement from years two to six of the car’s life."
Do you still have to pay the £390 supplement if the car is SORN'd in the first 6 years of its life?
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 10, 2024 21:52:52 GMT
^ From memory, VW cruise control has worked from as low as 20mph for at least 25 years
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 10, 2024 21:52:05 GMT
Give my regards to Penang - it's where my mum was born when it was part of Malaya (before independence).
Mum's health is giving cause for concern and I'm not sure at the moment about going away anywhere this year; a week is usually sufficient for me, much as I'd love to be able to afford two weeks in some exotic place such as Kenya on safari, something I'd like to do, or visit the Grand Canyon. Holidays still seem much more expensive than before the pandemic plus I get clobbered with the "single person surcharge" so I'll probably look for a European city break on special offer again this year, if I can find one.
I was planning on going to Brussels in 2020 but when I read in the Janaury of that year about some odd virus developing in China I decided against that, or going anywhere else. That turned out to be a good call. Maybe I'll get there this year? After several cheap visits to Berlin I'd like to get to Dresden and Leipzig - the German train driver's strike in December stopped me from getting to Leipzig on a day trip and as it's still not been settled I'm hesitant about going to Germany. I'll be 65 this year and it would be nice to celebrate by going somewhere memorable and affordable to me (and maybe taking 2 weeks off in one go)
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 9, 2024 22:24:38 GMT
Last July I never received the VED reminder in the post for the Captur. A few weeks later I remember reading in Autocar that Steve Cropley said similar about one of his cars and he had difficulty in locating the V5 in order to re-tax it. I've not yet received the reminder in the post for the T-Cross VED due in 3 weeks. In the past the reminder always arrived in the post with at least 3 weeks to go before expiry of the old one. Is this a conspiracy to catch us out and then fine us for failing to tax in time if we don't take the initiative ourselves? Has anyone else here also failed to receive a paper reminder in the post?
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 8, 2024 21:01:17 GMT
I'd probably take the Dacia. I'd like to try the Picanto and C3 first though
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 8, 2024 18:25:31 GMT
If you're aiming for car museums, WOlfsburg and the VW museum and Autostadt must be on the list along with M-B and Porsche at/near Stuttgart. The recent reference above to Mulhouse/Basel reminds me that there are some good musems around there too: Peugeot museam at Sochaux being one, musee de l'automobile in Mulhouse being another.
Don't let disparaging remarks by others put you off, the Yeti is a classic and an unscratched itch of mine, still miffed by how I was treated by my local Skoda dealer 10 years ago when I set out to buy one
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 4, 2024 22:20:18 GMT
.. and the ywant to put the "Police tax" element of council tax up again, even higher than the percentage increase for the council tax. Lack of police interest let alone action in the event of a real crime really grates
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 27, 2023 20:07:37 GMT
^ What beats me is that I thought it was the law in some European countries that you had to be able to change a blown bulb at the roadside. Why you should need to remove a front bumper to change a bulb is beyond me. few weeks back my younger daughter got a message up saying that one of her reversing light bulbs had blown on the A1. Checking on YouTube, you need a deep 10mm hex socket, 3 nuts to remove the rear lamp cluster from the tailgate then press a few clips to undo the light fittting from the cluster. Bit of a palaver and takes a lot longer than it should just to change one bulb. If it hadn't been raining I'd have changed the other side at the same time
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Cardle
Dec 26, 2023 11:39:35 GMT
via mobile
Post by ChrisM on Dec 26, 2023 11:39:35 GMT
In 1 again today
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Cardle
Dec 25, 2023 7:50:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by ChrisM on Dec 25, 2023 7:50:06 GMT
In 1 today, correct spelling too which surprised me. Have to say though that I've never seen this marque/model on the road in real life
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 23, 2023 22:13:57 GMT
For the last mile-or-so on my way home today I followed a Porsche 912. F-plate but with the "F" at the end, so from the 1960's. A quick google shows that it is a cheap 4-cylinder version of the 911. I don't recall ever seing one before; it looked in very good condition and from the way it was being driven, no doubt owned by an enthusiast
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 23, 2023 22:11:38 GMT
... but did you get any snow? The week I spent in Berlin at the start of December really put me in the Christmas spirit, with snow and ice on the ground and the temperature varying between minus 4 and zero. Plenty of Christmas markets everywhere helped too.
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 23, 2023 13:09:18 GMT
If VW really wanted to go down the "silly letters" route for their electric vehicles, why didn't they choose XY, YZ or XYZ ?
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 22, 2023 21:07:30 GMT
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Cardle
Dec 21, 2023 7:16:16 GMT
via mobile
Post by ChrisM on Dec 21, 2023 7:16:16 GMT
In 1 today 😀
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Cardle
Dec 18, 2023 18:03:51 GMT
Post by ChrisM on Dec 18, 2023 18:03:51 GMT
Marque in 1 and model in 2, for me
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 18, 2023 18:01:38 GMT
I wear my Smock on the way to the farm which is 5 minutes away along with wellies and waterproof leggings. I now have visions of a sort of waterproof Grayson Perry... Being older I envisaged a sort of waterproof Larry Grayson....
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