Chesterfield

To be fair, even if I strip out everything including the pillars, they want £3995+VAT for the gates and motors alone. Which given an underground set of motors with remotes and access pad etc can be had for £860, still leaves over £3000 +VAT just for the metal gates alone. Thats just bonkers.

It will call phones in order. No answer at the house, it switches to calling the mobile. Then the person at the gate can be let in (ie to deliver stuff when we arent at home), then with the exit loop they will be let out again when they drive up to it. Im just eventually getting round to a bit of security, and also want something to prevent the little man from wandering off round the garden and out of the gate etc when he gets to that age.

The breakdown also shows that a GSM intercom would be £899 + VAT. The keypad would be another £125 + VAT. So £1025 +VAT in all. Given that it is entirely possible to get keypad/GSM modules for £470 +VAT (clicky), then my thoughts are that somebody is trying to have my pants down quoting £1025+VAT for the same, installed or not. Looks like Ill be doing some of it myself, and just getting the bits done that I need the pros for, i.e. brickies etc and fabrication of gates. If businesses just provided realistic prices they may be a little more successful.

I wish, but how well you know me.

New built brick pillars, about 18 inch square 6ft tall, with a metal insert for stability. No connecting wall etc, it will be fence and hedge up to the pillars.

Well, its taken about a year on and off to finally receive a quote from a gate installer. One company came, measured, never quoted, Another I told that story to, made an appointment and then never turned up. The next one who I told that story to, turned up, measured, spent two hours going through brochures of gate designs etc, and then never bothered sending a quote. The fourth one tunred up, measured, and has quoted.... without going into detail, I think the quote to be a complete joke. £8600 for two pillars and metal gates spanning just 3.6m with associated automation. There is power already installed to the gate location. Does anyone know of any companies that can do this job without actually trying to take the p*ss?

Thats the very next car Im looking at buying Well not that exact car, but same make/model.

Seat Altea FR. It may be an oil burner, but its a 170 bhp, cheap insurance, NCAP 5, isofix, bluetooth, auto lights, wipers, cruise, heated seats. 2007, 37k, £7k ish. Oh and I have one I'm looking to shift

Maybe like many who pay stupid ammounts in tax each year, he got to the stage where he thought enough was enough. If I were on the jury Id have found him not guilty on principal that he's paid enough already, even if he had got the £180k in a bag with swag written on it.

What they ought to do, is deport him anyway. Then let the courts bring criminal charges against the home secretary for violating another persons "human rights", and good luck finding 12 jurors that would find anyone guilty of any offence for kicking out a racist, terrorist glorifying preacher. Job done.

Then I believe the other sites will be fibbing, or not include vat and transfer fee. If it is listed as available on the DVLA site, thats the price sadly. They have to come from the DVLA in the first instance.

Look for it on the dvla site. That will be the cheapest place to get the plates. http://dvlaregistrations.direct.gov.uk/ Currently mulling over another two for Tracy and I, but would require updating another car, or keeping one on retention for some time in the future.

In the case of a write off, you just need to make sure that before you send the V5 to the insurer, you get the plate put on retention, get your new V5 from the DVLA with the old reg or year specific reg on it, and then send that one to the insurers. They then write off the car on the old reg. Normally if a car has the possibiility of being written off, you need to just make it clear to the insurers that the car is on a cherished plate and you wish to retain it. Then the process above is followed to ensure that your car is not written off on its current registration.

I always go for plates that mean something to me, rather than the car. That way I can keep them for life and have them on whatever car I like (age rules permitting). Some people think they are a bit pompus, but I like them. One of the few things you can buy and have for life that are unique, and nobody else can ever have one the same. Latest one I put on the bus..

Similar for us, I dont mind a bit of lateness, time off for going to the doctors, dentist, taking the missus to the midwife etc etc... As long as the work gets done, and people dont take the p*ss, then I don't mind. The sales people also get paid extremely well too. In return, even if its snowed a blizzard, they make the effort to get to work. One even walked 3 miles in the freezing cold last year just to get here and do her job. Sick days amongst 13 people in one year can be counted on one hand. Hopefully we are fair with them, and they are fair with us in return. If they cant get to work because of the snow, then it is worth my time (and theirs) for me to take the 4x4 and pick them up and take them home. So that is what I would do.

The XF I had was the most useles car Ive ever driven in the snow. The zed would have been better, as it is manual, but still not brilliant. It "can" be driven in the snow, but I would not reccomend it. The first Zed we had, Tracy had no choice but to take it out in the snow, and even being very careful she slipped and hit the curb. It wasn't with much force, but it bent the wheel slightly under and resulted in part of the subframe requiring replacement. Went through insurance, and it was a £6k bill to fix. So if you do need to take the Zed out in the snow, be very, very careful. In Germany Winter tyres are mandatory, snow chains must be carried. Their drivers also have a lot more experience of heavy winter driving conditions. Unfortunately even if the Zed driver is safe, there is no way of accounting for somoene else sliding into them because they havent got a clue how to drive in snow

As above, there are many nice examples out there. There will be some cars on here that are of that age that are in almost perfect condition. The front ends are quite prone to chipping, so depending on mileage, expect to possibly see some form of road rash or a few chips to the front. Rusting damage anywhere would not be acceptable though. There may well be some bubbling of the alloys, it can be fairly common unfortunately, but by no means should it be extensive across all four corners.

Thats sadly true

Ah but does it have winter tyres? 4x4's still suck in the snow on summer tyres Smaller rims and vredestein wintrac went on in October

I barely clean the upper part of the car once every six months, so I doubt Ill be spending £80 to clean the underneath. However, it seems a very god idea. Though I wouldnt want it to be firing any strong jets and getting water into places it shouldnt be.

Having bought a 4x4 I want some proper snow dammit Its just been that light tiny powder stuff that has barely settled. Bring on the dinner plate size flakes for a good two days!

Unfortunatley members have to be deleted one at a time trough the forums software I believe. They could possibly be removed using a simple job on the database, but I dont know what that would screw up if it wasnt done using the front end, depending on what was left behind. As per most forums, we just leave the member list alone. Out of the 50,000 detailing world members, how many are actually active? We did recently do a lookup on ours and found just over 1000 different members had been active (visited or posted) in the last 30 days. Which I dont think is a bad statistic. And yes, for my sins I had a slow night on New Years eve 2005. Check my joined date. Thats when the club was officially built and went live. Its actually pretty humbling to look back and see just how many people have been involved with the club over the now 6+ years. I hope its given some people some fun over time

Need to work on the issue whereby a smilie without a space in front cannot be quoted properly. It bugs me no end.

Smilies re-organised.