Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I guess what this really means is that the disc IS the hub - Lots of older VWs have the hub integrated into the rear discs, you have to push bearings the bearings into the disc itself

They later changed to a separate hub / disc, which is a more expensive assembly but the replacement discs are cheaper and less faff to change at service

Cost, whole unit cheaper to buy and install when new.

Only french cars have that....

It's a stereotype, but not an entirely unfounded one...

it should be easy enough to do myself the next time, which i hope will be a long time away. yes, kwikfix charged me nearly as much for new brake discs and pads as the car cost me. the (other) dodgy garage 'fixed' the ac. i should have gone back but it is too late now and basically I am scared to.
on the plus side it runs on chip fat

Cars cost money to keep going. The cheaper the car the more chances you get to say "that cost as much the whole car!"

As you say, next time do it yourself or you have to pay a garage. I imagine a full set of pads, discs/hubs and fluids would be around £300-400 just in parts?

From experience, it is wrong. Look at all the old skoda jokes.

Question re leasing and/or PCP. My cars have a reasonably hard life, not washed very often, filthy muddy kids & the occasional dog inside, etc etc. They get driven down narrow country lanes where bushes WILL scratch the paint. How much does the condition of car matter at the end of the lease / contract hire period? I've always shied away from these deals for precisely this reason but maybe I am being overly cautious?

You are in some ways right - several of my colleagues have bought cars on PCP and been faced with significant charges at the end of the lease period because they had curbed wheels. If you read the T’s & C’s there is a section about condition and wear and tear.

considers wife's parking ability
deletes "lease/PCP" from carbuyingoptions.xls

Interesting. I'm currently in the 2nd year of a 4 year PCP. My plan is to take the car to an independent body place some time in the final year and get it spruced up a bit.

I would have thought the dealer will want to be reasonable on the residual value as their objective at that point is to sign you up to another PCP, and screwing you over on minor wear and tear isn't going to be compatible with that?

They didn't even look at the car I pxed when I took out the PCP... Agreed a price for it without seeing it and I dropped it off when the new car was ready.

It depends on the dealer and the deal in most cases. If their margins are already thin (or even negative...) then they'll likely penalise every tiny ding to recover some lost profit.

If not, they'll likely let things go in favour of signing you up for the next lease.

When I handed back my 2 series PCP at the beginning of last year, I was already in the process of agreeing to swap to a 4 series.

The offside front wheel had a couple of major dings in it and the windscreen had a chip within the region that would mean a replacement. I'd also done about 2,500 miles more than the lease agreement.

I wasn't charged anything.

We've got two cars on PCH. My view, based on reading the T&Cs, is that I'm not going to get fussed about anything that can be polished out (by me) in half a day or less at the end of the lease. Anything that I can't polish out (e.g. scratches through clear coat) is beyond "fair wear and tear" and I should probably be expecting to be pinged for.

I wasn't charged anything.

As in, you started the new PCP with zero credit / deficit from previous contract?

My understanding of how this will work is:
Hand in old car;
Assuming it hasn't been abused, dealer will accept old car and use the value to clear the outstanding finance on the old car;
Agree new PCP on new car, including the need to hand over cash for deposit contribution for new car.

It's the last part that can catch people out.

I can only comment on the experiences of my colleagues, but it could be dependant on the dealer or the value of what you’re trading up to

I actually got my car on PCP originally but ended up buying the car at the end as I had about 2k of positive equity at the time

Yeah, buying the car may also be an option.

The PCP works out at around £20k all in over 4 years, so it's hardly a free lunch.

Previous car was bought outright for £10.5k at 3 years old and ended up costing around £9k all in over 5 years so the new car premium is quite high.

I think the problem comes from people not reading the terms, and probably being sold on the idea that the car could be worth more.

You just need to factor the damage discount into the sell price. If it still adds up, it still adds up. If not, it doesn't.

On a different topic i've just got the estimate to repair the near side wing, wheel arch and splitter after i clipped a dry stone wall in Cornwall a few weeks ago, a shade under £1700

Sorry - I meant nothing to pay for the damage done to the one I handed back.

I paid a deposit for the next vehicle, partly with the equity from the 2 series and partly cash.

can anyone recommend an online parts store that I might have missed in my google searches?
I'm after a crankshaft sensor for a toyota RAV4 and the only place that has one seems to be in Germany (and operating several competing websites all at the same time - Autodoc?).

I get autodoc in my results all the time and have ordered from them once or twice. It worked, but feels a bit dodgy doesn't it? Think I paid extra for an insurance about getting the right part as well

they have what i want but it takes minimum of 4 days to ship, and they say they only ship on mondays. I wanted to fix the car tomorrow, but I'd settle for the weekend. It seems like there should be another option!

plus its weird that they all have slightly different prices, yet I can log into all of them with the same ID, even though I only bought from one variant.

Look for a RAV4 owners facebook group? If there is one, there might be people breaking cars for parts. Might get lucky?...

There used to be a Japanese car breakers in Wimbledon, not used them in years though