metcars

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Posts posted by metcars

  1. Posted

    20 hours ago, andymc1973 said:

    what level do you edit at? What I don't want is it to look like a magazine feature

     

     

     

    URL]

    http://media 12_zpsvezwug7m.jpg

    thats one i have been playing out, its just ran through adobe on the iphone

    No offence, just an observation. The problem is that the picture is 'over exposed' and the contrast is iffy; and a little out of focus. This is down to your camera. The bright sky against the black car is too much for your camera to process. Your roof, screen and bonnet have "blown out". Just a small observation. Don't use a cluttered background, all those houses in the distance, keep it simple. I often use my local country park. Watch reflections, it looks bad if you cast a shadow on a photo or you can see the reflection of a bus stop!. Also, watch the road surface, it sounds a small thing but that patchy tarmac doesn't look nice.

    Nice car by the way, those three door Astra's are smoking hot at the moment. They seem to be appealing to a certain group of young guys.

  2. Posted

    25 minutes ago, Mikey said:

    Surely that should be called the ''not so limited edition'' :P

    We still call white cars Essex handbags... I remember buying a white XR3i years ago and finding a pair of white stilettoes and a white whip in the boot!! :blink:

    You can talk! I thought with all the premier league footballers that live in Cheshire you'd be choked with white RRs?:D

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    30 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

    We had an 06 with 80k on it and I thought the same.

    put it on at around £1800 and it sold within 3 hours and could have sold it 4 times.

     

     

    Does colour matter with these things?

  8. Posted

    1 hour ago, tradex said:

    As a caravan owner I think that's a good idea, but it should include all trailers.

    Testing tow bar electrics is a good start, but yes I agree. You do some awful contraptions being towed about, usually in auction car parks. Plant trailers being used to transport cars etc

  9. Posted

    12 hours ago, betginge said:

    I am tester and run a VTS station, have to say we here this rubbish every year of introductions of new testing equipment and it never happens. To make this work a mot station would need to update its smoke head unit at thousands of pounds and the dvsa will not run this without resistance. If it was to be introduced it would be done with 1-2  years notice when the Euro Vi Diesel comes in as all the diesel testers will need to be updated then, can't see this coming into the test before 2019 and that's if they run with it.

    Department of transport used to issue these press releases threatening  mot stations to upgrade the testing equipment to fully automated lanes, saying they were going to make it mandatory to upgrade, many did at the cost of £20-£30k and now after 8 years of its coming in soon, turns out it's been dropped. I saved thousands as I did not believe their propaganda.

    Some more of Departments transports big ideas that never happened 

     Caravan testing to be introduced 

    kwik fit carrying out the mot training refreshers, lol yes this was looked into

     

     

    Testing caravans might not be a bad idea?

    What is your opinion on the idea of being able to levy fines for failure on some components as a precedent? If someone  "fudges" their ABS light wouldn't that be equally serious?

  10. Posted

    6 hours ago, Rory RSC said:

    Currently if I sold a car unknowingly (no defence I know) with no dpf internals what would be expected of us?
     

    "The DfT said: “Removal of a DPF will almost invariably result in a contravention of the Regulations, making the vehicle illegal to use on the road. Potential penalties are £1,000 for a car and £2,500 for a van."


    It appears that the details have yet to be hammered out, but it could be the thin end of an expensive wedge if VOSA are able to justify levying fines on vehicles with certain faults. God help us?

  11. Posted

    12 hours ago, metcars said:

    “Potential penalties are £1,000 for a car and £2,500 for a van.

    “The legislation makes the owner or user of the vehicle primarily responsible for its condition. “Whether the person who had removed the DPF, or had offered to remove it, had also committed an offence would be a matter for the courts to decide.”

    Just a small observation, and this is not my area of expertise. We're all men of the world and we all know the various wrinkles used to get through MOT's, especially where electronics are concerned. But being prosecuted for trying/doing it is a new power for MOT testers? I thought only roadside VOSA could issue fines/penalties for construction and use issues?

  12. Posted

    Some of you guys might find this interesting. MOT changes to be introduced in May following DPF investigation
    New methods to better detect the presence of DPFs are under development, Department for Transport tells GW Research to better detect DPF removal through emissions follows fears that the current MOT is failing to identify many cases of DPF removal because it only includes a ‘visual inspection’ of the hardware.Research to better detect DPF removal through emissions follows fears that the current MOT is failing to identify many cases of DPF removal because it only includes a ‘visual inspection’ of the hardware.
    Changes are to be made to the MOT as part of a revised Roadworthiness Directive which comes into force from May 2017 and new technology is being developed to detect DPF removal. In a statement obtained by GW, the Department for Transport (DfT) said: “Alternative methods of detecting the presence of particulate filters are under development and we are examining their suitability for use in an MOT.

    “Further research is required to ensure potential methods accurately determine a pass or fail.”

    The government investigation followed urgent calls for reform with claims that the current MOT is failing to identify many cases of DPF removal because it only includes a ‘visual inspection’ of the hardware, which can be welded back together. It is an offence, under the Road Vehicles Regulations to use a vehicle which has been modified in such a way that it no longer complies with the air pollutant emissions standards it was designed to meet.

    The DfT said: “Removal of a DPF will almost invariably result in a contravention of the Regulations, making the vehicle illegal to use on the road.

    “Potential penalties are £1,000 for a car and £2,500 for a van.

    “The legislation makes the owner or user of the vehicle primarily responsible for its condition. “Whether the person who had removed the DPF, or had offered to remove it, had also committed an offence would be a matter for the courts to decide.” Speaking earlier this year, Dave Garratt, chief executive at the Garage Equipment Association (GEA), said: “[DPF removal] has been going on for a long time and it is probably getting progressively worse. “The biggest hole in the MOT is that they don’t really check it. “[Visual inspection] does not actually tell you if there is a core in the canister.”

     

  13. Posted

    4 minutes ago, tradex said:

    .....but I always seem to have a collection of all blues,...........

    Hopefully not "doom blue":D

    I think that 'white' is going to go down kicking and screaming. I can't see all those big luxury Mercs/BMW looking good in bright red, like a line of fire engines:D

  14. Posted

    In my neck of the woods white is still 'red hot'. Lots of prestige high end dealers are obviously focusing on white as 'the' colour. Some of these same 'high end' dealers are making small features of white cars, gathering them together on the front like a line of big expensive fridges. A Ford dealership near me has done exactly the same with 'red' cars, do they know something we dont :D

  15. Posted

    10 hours ago, andymc1973 said:

    i tried sticking unwanted swoppers on an ebay auction but the buyers just go AWOL, complete waste of time and ebay aren't interested in stopping them

    I agree with you. Ebay need to make non-payers liable for sellers relist costs.

    And while I'm here, and bearing in mind the nightmare I'm having with Hermes losing "two" parcels this week, courier companies should have a seperate feedback system as there is no accountability for them.

  16. Posted

    I used to 'block' a lot of cars with Manheim, but even though the trade selling rates (negotiable if you have the numbers) were pretty good, it became too expensive. It's a really fickle platform and sometimes cars just don't/won't sell when they should! Many, many years ago I knew two guys who did the "buy from one auction and sell at the next" thing. I used to see them at Manheim Colchester on a thursday evening buying a dozen or so cars, then run them up the A12 to Chelmsford auctions for the Saturday sale (which was brilliant for me back then, shame they stopped the Saturday sale). I think they did alright but it wrong in the end, I still see one of the guys.

    Today, if I needed out of a car it would go on ebay, especially if it's something really special. 'Blocking' bread and butter cars isn't worth it any more, at least for me.

    Just my opinion;)

  18. Posted

    Probably the wrong place to discuss this but I have to say, as a dyed in the wool Lotus enthusiast, bought, owned and sold many early Lotus and love them all, warts and all. But the one that got away for me was the original Lotus Elite. So, I was curious to see what the program would cover and on the whole was disappointed. Very little actual spanner work, hardly any of the background to this wonderful little car. They didn't even mention the dashboard being styled to match the side profile of the car. They failed to explain the relevance of the fire pump Coventry Climax, designed to run at full revs from stone cold making it hugely reliable as a road car engine. The list is endless. Instead we had to endure that modern TV format of heart tugging back story and faux deadline. Shame on them!

  21. Posted

    55 minutes ago, Mikey said:

    It's funny how differently we all seem to be treated.

    Generally I find Manheim much better than BCA. Manheim generally have looked after me quite well, apart from not explaining the 180 day on-line rule as mentioned above. I tend to buy only from Manheim now if I do buy from auction that is.

    The reason I've stopped giving BCA any business is that they never get back to me regardless of what the enquiry is, and they truly give me the impression they don't give a stuff about there customers as there is always someone else to replace you. I also prefer the auction timings at Manheim and find that trying to fit in an evening auction at BCA a PITA...

    I had a huge falling out with BCA many years ago. They would have to do something really nice to win me back. Although I still feel that BCA has better stock and a better website, but ......

    14 hours ago, GreenGiant said:

    ...until you mentioned it here....

     

    I think they know exactly what they're doing. Drawing attention to it is just a consequence. I'm under the impression that large companies have access to sophisticated software that sweeps the internet for mentions of their business. Can be useful for everyone?

  22. Posted

    12 hours ago, M.J said:

    It's  not in Manheim's interest to automatically upgrade you to the next tier up as then you will be spending less in buyer fee's.

    I've have had to chase each one of my account upgrades, i've paid a lot more buyers fee's than i should of due to being on a lower tier when i should have been on a higher tier.

    Yeah, since they changed to this system they must be earning a fortune. I have to say BCA seem able to upgrade cards without being chased

  24. Posted

    Apparently the cars only show for 180 days on the website. But they told me you have to chase to get your account upgrades, it does NOT happen automatically

    1 hour ago, Mikey said:

    Try this: buyerservices@manheim.co.uk  or 0333 136 1750

    I'm having issues with them too, as in most of the cars I've bought this year no longer show on my account, and apparently this has happened to lots of dealers. Obviously this effects my membership level so am keep to get it sorted, but although having been promised once it's still not been rectified...

    That's my issue. When I called buyer services (weeks ago) they advised me to chase it, as for some inexplicable reason, not all the accounts upgrade automatically? You would have thought that it would be the first thing to build into a new tier card system, to send out new cards automatically when the requirements are met. Beggars belief.

    I have to say that, BCA are not perfect either.

  25. Posted

    Hi guys. I'm useless with these things. I'm trying to find a 'proper' email address for Manheim buyer services, not the message thing on their website. I understand that all the accounts are dealt with at Leeds branch? I'm being 'ignored' for some reason and I want to send a email to "a suit":angry:

    Thanks