Do you have a personal car?

[justina3 518]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Absolutely,availible to all members of staff and as a reserve vehicle in case you are called out ‘outside working hours’.

yes all the boxes are ticked and documented. 

[trade vet 702]

I think company car tax can be very unfair.A Good while ago we sold a few Astra Estates to Police dog handlers.Apparently they were liable and charged company car tax on the perk of taking their Police dog van ( and dog ) to travel to and from work to their home.It was apparently cheaper to buy a car and charge mileage or whatever to their employer when they were called out from home....Hopefully that has now changed.

[JimmyGlen 13]

Hate using stock cars, as dont like giving the guys any more cleaning than they have already. 

GT3 for Highland Runs / General Hooning Around / Odd Track Day

ISF for daily

Track Prepared (but still road legal) for track days

330d M Sport Touring for the Mrs

02 Audi A4 Avant work horse 

[BHM 994]

5 hours ago, trade vet said:

If you are self employed and do lots of business miles it is worthwhile becoming a ltd company.For example I know one sole  trader who does nearly 1000 miles per week,so he incorporated.He has a nice car which he purchased himself and it costs him nothing to run because he is allowed to charge his company 40/45p per mile to cover fuel,maintenance etc.It must be like earning £10k tax free.

Doesn’t everyone charge their business 40p per mile of personal car usage? You can do so with £200’s worth of Corsa if you want.

Anyhow, the family car is an old CRV but the days of me giving a toss about cars has long gone. Any one of my heaps of shit with the red n white plates thrown in the window does me.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, for God’s sake lets not start another debate about the usage of trade plates because; A) I don’t care & B) It’s all bollocks cos I’ve been doing it for well over a decade without issue.

[Rory RSC 596]

8 hours ago, BHM said:

 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, for God’s sake lets not start another debate about the usage of trade plates because; A) I don’t care & It’s all bollocks cos I’ve been doing it for well over a decade without issue.

Like.

[Dave2302 387]

HMRC

This is exactly why I have a Workshop Van, which never gets used for anything other than business use, and as my personal Cars are Petrol Engined there is no argument over Diesel bills, unless of course they want to try and say I put diesel in Mels C Class, at which point they will get told to go fuck themselves as all her fuel is paid for by herself on her own bank account card !!

[MarkTVS 209]

My weekend car is an Audi R8 V8 but it rarely gets driven, the mrs has an older S3 that's a brilliant runabout. Need something bigger and more sensible soon though to replace the S3 due to expanding family, im trying to convince the better half that a C63 estate is the way foward

[D&M 66]

I don't want to make you all jelous, but we are cruising around in a Chevrolet Tacuma 1.6.

Seriously though, we just use the shittest car we have taken in PX to run around in - we're lucky enough to live only a mile or so from our unit so its only a 10-15 minute walk, and the PX is there if we need to go anywhere.

 

[grant8064 219]

7 minutes ago, D&M said:

I don't want to make you all jelous, but we are cruising around in a Chevrolet Tacuma 1.6.

 

Isn't that a £500 a year tax jobbie? Not had one in ages but we've been smoking a Lacetti for the last year as a bitch car...super comfy thing.

[D&M 66]

7 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

Isn't that a £500 a year tax jobbie? Not had one in ages but we've been smoking a Lacetti for the last year as a bitch car...super comfy thing.

The 2.0 Auto is the £540 tax one. This one is £290 for a 1.6 with just 105HP - How they've managed to get a 1.6 to be so slow, and such high emmissions I don't know.

The Lacetti has a little provenance - it was Top Gears car for a while, wasn't it.

When we worked on a pitch we had a Lacetti hatch, got the rear bumper painted - swiftly followed by me backing it into a tap sticking out of the wall, and partner backing it into anoth car. They must have put magnets in the paint on that thing

We find it so hard to choose a car for ourselves, we try to buy something - but we buy it cheap and its worth £x retail - makes no sense to keep it!

As long as it starts, drives and the heater works we are happy. Shame customers don't have the same low expectations!

[MrC 142]

My personal bus is a bonkers crazy 200bhp Red Italian with two wheels 

[NOACROSS 414]

18 minutes ago, MrC said:

My personal bus is a bonkers crazy 200bhp Red Italian with two wheels 

Nice. You’re still allowed to ride a bike?

My Mrs vetoed that for me years ago. Said my Firestorm was ‘ridiculous and the Speed triple ‘noisy and pointless’. The MV ‘how much?!’  Women.

All I have now is a perhaps pathetic ‘87 MZ125 my uncle left me that is mint but unrideable (1500 miles from new).  

 ‘What have you got? 996?

[MrC 142]

1 hour ago, NOACROSS said:

Nice. You’re still allowed to ride a bike?

My Mrs vetoed that for me years ago. Said my Firestorm was ‘ridiculous and the Speed triple ‘noisy and pointless’. The MV ‘how much?!’  Women.

All I have now is a perhaps pathetic ‘87 MZ125 my uncle left me that is mint but unrideable (1500 miles from new).  

 ‘What have you got? 996?

She has a horse so cant say a darn thing. I have a tweaked 1199s, do the odd Euro trackday. Got three days at Aragon in about 6 weeks.

[Dave2302 387]

I rue the day I sold my ZX12R , bought it new in 2002, flogged it just before we moved to NW, mods included de- restricted, really decent Exhaust, Can, Airbox, Power Commander and mapped at Ashford Powerhouse, 202 BHP, really torquey bastard, out run any 'Busa and it would wheelie off the throttle in 3rd gear 

I did a few Track Days at Brands with it, never dropped it, gorgeous metallic Blue colour

Mel and I would be 2 up and piss all over the 1000 Gixer boys riding solo 

Goddam I miss that rush, saw 185 mph on it once, never did have it flat out, Bike Mag reckoned they were good for 215 mph average two ways down a runway !!

If I'd kept it I'd probably be in jail or dead by now, it was one of those bikes that just wanted to do 160 everywhere lololol

The Black Firebird in the background was mine, 800 BHP Small Block all alloy LT1 motor, 1996 model T Top, sold that up as well when we moved, was really almost undriveable in the wet lol   

Edited March 16, 2019 by Dave2302

[trade vet 702]

Out of interest for you Bikers.If you have Sky,on Sky Arts Brian Johnson is doing a programme interviewing rock stars and singers.Billy Joel ( the piano man ) is interviewed in his bike showroom on Long Island ( 20thcenturycycles.com)  which sells new bikes which are ‘reverse retro’d’ into old ones.......Worth a look.

[Dave2302 387]

43 minutes ago, tradex said:

Mines a handful with only the 300bhp std, 800bhp would have my ticker shaking like a wet dog

I got most of the Tuning Parts from the good 'ole US of A, including the huffer kit, absolutely brutal it was just running an 8 psi boost 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Dave2302

[It's me 615]

unfortunately i havent got anything reliable enough to run round in

thats what customers ask still to this day if  its" for my daughter is it safe"?, next thing you see daughter in car, kid jumping round in the back untethered ,maccy d wrappers everywhere, sick on the back seat and a front tyre i could use as a mirror to comb my hair if i had any, but they want to know if theres something wrong with the radio because cladia has stuck a false nail in it

the loves..................

[Dave2302 387]

On 18/03/2019 at 10:29 AM, tradex said:

I meant to tap you up for chip tuning, what was it on std LT1 lump, 35 brake? I have heard from numerous friends that those 4th gens were always 'derated' up against Corvettes C4, C5. 

Me, I Iove torque, just like Enzo

.....low coolant level sensor snafu, so much car, so little room under the hood.

Where is that Firebird now out of interest? 

De Cat picks up 25hp, stage 1 Tune releases another 35 brake, after that you need to uprate Fuel Pump etc.

Mine was running custom management after the head work, l/c pistons, stumpy cam and supercharger went on, mapped by an American fella who was based in Essex, I forget where exactly now, he came recommended by Tom from Claremont Vettes.

My old Gearbox fitter bought the Car. He hooned it a while then flogged it, have no idea where it is now ..................

I'm guessing it's been stuffed up a tree or similar, just ran the Reg number, no longer found on Data base

Edited March 19, 2019 by Dave2302

[metcars 397]

1 hour ago, Dave2302 said:

Mine was running custom management after the head work, l/c pistons, stumpy cam and supercharger went on, mapped by an American fella who was based in Essex, I forget where exactly now, he came recommended by Tom from Claremont Vettes.

Wasn't near Seven Kings in Ilford was it. Going back a few years though?

[Dave2302 387]

1 hour ago, met said:

Wasn't near Seven Kings in Ilford was it. Going back a few years though?

It was in the general Ilford area, I remember being late for the dyno, driving around totally lost in some housing estate for a while, didn't have chav nav's back then lol

 

1 hour ago, tradex said:

Do you know that Tom has sold up, the site is now going to flats I believe?

 I'm surprised he didn't do that shortly after I left lol, he always used to talk about it  

[metcars 397]

37 minutes ago, Dave2302 said:

It was in the general Ilford area, I remember being late for the dyno, driving around totally lost in some housing estate for a while, didn't have chav nav's back then lol

It was a 'shop' on the high st. Not the usual spares/workshop place. Had a 'built' engine in the window on a stand?

But, for what it's worth I remember it. I bought a workshop manual for a Mustang out of there!

PS: and while you're here Dave, P0089 on a 1.8tdci Focus. Fuel Filter incorrectly fitted?

Edited March 19, 2019 by met

[Dave2302 387]

14 hours ago, met said:

PS: and while you're here Dave, P0089 on a 1.8tdci Focus. Fuel Filter incorrectly fitted?

That is one of those horrible codes that could be a heap of things ..............

It is telling you there is an anomaly with Fuel Pressure metering / regulation ..................

Filter is cheapest and first thing to do !!

After that, live data for Fuel Pressure, if it's low then check Injector Leak off, (spill test), if OK, Pressure regulator or Pump

HTH,