Boomer54

20 minutes ago, Mossypossy said:

Levied every year at MOT time?

Replacement speedo at the ready for older cars.

It had occurred to me that the old 'clocking' issue might have a revival under a pay per mile scheme.

With a new govt and a budget on the Autumn horizon I am reading more and more about a potential review of how we pay road tax. The argument seems to be around the substantial hole in revenue that will follow from the intended transition to EV. Clearly there are at least a couple of alternative ways of rectifying that situation. You could continue to in effect subsidise EV road tax just by increasing road tax on non EV vehicles. You could of course balance the situation out by reducing that subsidy gradually increasing the revenue from EV vehicles. This is really very much about the numbers involved and how quickly you want to fill the hole in your revenue. The alternative that intrigues me the most and appeals the most is of course a complete change over to pay per mile road tax. This removes any and all favouritism and basically relates what you use to what you pay and I certainly like the thought of that. One article today suggests the following; "as one think tank suggests a figure of 6p per mile plus VAT to replace fuel duty losses.".

Now if that number actually achieved govt needs to fill it's revenue hole then that would be quite appealing to low mileage users. Example, on 3,000 miles PA you would be paying £225 inc vat ! I mean you can can just add me to the list looking for that 3rd car (sic). Joking aside that would be a huge reduction for us V8 low mileage drivers. If for no other reason it cannot happen. I am just not that lucky !!

Views/opinions invited.

1 hour ago, Phil xxkr said:

Get him to speak to citizens advice bureau about over 65 Age Allowance. There is help available depending upon medical conditions 👍

If they took me to the human scrapyard I would probably get turned down!

Todays news.

"Shares in Admiral soared yesterday as the insurance group cashed in on higher motor premiums.

The company said that profits jumped 32 per cent in the first half of the year "

As an investor you are going to love such a large bump in profitability. As a motorist this does nothing ,but feed your belief that you are indeed being ripped off.

Marketplace – 2003 Lexus SC430 4.3 V8 CONVERTIBLE AUTO COUPE. VERY LOW MILEAGE, STUNNING CONDITION, MOT APRIL 2025... | Facebook

Might be need to take extra long look at exhaust and suspension. Lack of service history will not help so inspection needs to be extra rigorous. However, on the face of it and with 45k mileage at circa £6k it's got to be worth a look. With that mileage you just might have a 'forever' car.

10 minutes ago, Duggie B said:

Maybe it was garaged, but, could it have been in a constant damp atmosphere likely caused by damp coming up from under the car ? For instance no damp proof membrane 🤔

The one thing you learn about after having a wood burner is this. It isn't damp on the wood (or damp under a car). It's the absence of airflow that keeps damp hanging around. That will apply to just about anything including cars.

From the pics so far my money is on the metal treatment rather than the enviroment.

30 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

niskus Angus ……. send them a “ Pre Court Action “ letter for your claim in £££££   I think the CAB have the template as a freebie ……  that might jolt them into action ……. failing which, issue a Court Claim which they can’t ignore without a ( long winded ) winding up process 

Good luck

Malc 

Problem is if, as i suspect, that was all 'verbal', then you probably don't have much chance of success with the above approach.  In my experience, IF you have an agreement then make sure it is all in writing. Even Stuart who I bought from will tell you that there are emails for our transaction giving written information about approx 15 different parts of the car. If I bought from a dealer and I had issues that they made 'promises' against then believe they won't see a penny until they put those undertakings in writing.

Trust is 'lovely' thing and has no part of a business contract as far as I am concerned.

4 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

My new Labour MP Kevin McKenna has now seemed to have gone into hiding, not further responding to me, his constituent ……….. I suspect he’s planning his “ revolting / revolutionary “ manoeuvres with his co Social Socialist holidaying Labour non- working in the House, Social for the People,  colleagues 

Theyre a JOKE …….. if it wasn’t so damnably AWFUL  

 

377,433.    Signatories till now  

Malc 

Couple of people with placards outside his constituency office would soon change his lack of response. May be even a little social media leverage wouldn't go amiss.

2 minutes ago, Bob King said:

Difficult to find fault with this car other than the price .

That over used wording with car dealers "full service history",  they say it has 10 stamps in the book yet it’s a 16 year old car .

      Yes it’s only done 27k so maybe serviced every other year or so 🤔    

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202408142898209

We must have been looking at this at the same time. Yes, they might have taken bit of liberty with service descriptions, but I though on such a low mileage car they probably just stretched the service intervals especially after warranty expires.

Steep, but I get it.

2008 Blue Lexus SC 4.3 430 2dr for sale for £17,950 in Croydon, London (autotrader.co.uk)

Lot of good stuff, and some minor visuals that are not so good.

1. Is there something going on with the alloys, or is it my eyesight?

2.Lost it's carpet holders in the passenger well.

3. For such a low mileage car the back seats are surprisingly wrinkled. Got to be something other than usage. Moisture?

4. Could do with a couple of hrs work under the bonnet to help justify that price tag.

18 minutes ago, fourbanks said:

It will never work, the only change that has ever happened was the poll tax riots and that's about it as far as I know over the past 50 years 

That is actually a good example in so far as it identifies that action does work, IF it has enough support. That of course is the question? Poll tax was extremely and widely unpopular. Unfortunately, there is no indication that this issue garners quite that level of support ,or at least not yet. As another example of course we have the Waspi women. 3.5 million of them affected and even at that kind of number nothing substantial has been done.

I do take your point, and yet one hopes that even if the policy is not reversed there may be a positive outcome IF it makes them rethink what they can get away with in the future.

1 hour ago, Malc1 said:

just brilliant   well done   keep 'em coming 

Malc

Let's not be cruel given Rachel Reeves is favourite to take gold in the Downhill Winter Olympics.

1 hour ago, Malc1 said:

 

WINTER FUEL PAYMENT 

366,528

signed the AGE. UK  Petition til this morning …… up 5,000 overnight  👍👏👍

Malc 

"up 5,000 overnight". Aye, tired this morning.

Now down to surnames beginning with N. Having to get creative. Last effort was Sven Nykorp.

Next up the O's. That should be fun. ☺️

28 minutes ago, Mossypossy said:

Bit of culture today. Fancy car park plus shoulder Dali selfie.

Swans reflecting Elephants. Out of interest where is that now located?

When I was younger I would not have thought I might one day come to find Dali interesting.

41 minutes ago, MemoryDealer said:

Thanks again to everyone!

 

I’d like to keep the car as long as possible, but since I’m still quite young, life can be uncertain and things can change, so I’ll definitely consider resale value in my decision. I appreciate this insight—I hadn’t really thought much about it until now. Also, I’ll ask the dealer to at least resolve the (supposed) parking sensor issue and the tire pressure light.

 

Happy to be here!

Here are the links to the two cars. I also have many more photos that were sent to me directly by the dealer/owner.

2008: https://www.autoscout24.it/annunci/lexus-sc-430-sc-430-4-3-auto-6m-benzina-nero-aaa5f0b1-96c4-4943-b58b-c335b6305b32?sort=standard&desc=0&lastSeenGuidPresent=true&cldtidx=1&position=1&search_id=dub461d5vb&source_otp=t10&ap_tier=t10&source=listpage_search-results&order_bucket=2

I got the price down to €20,800, and I’m 99% sure they’ll refuse to change the timing belt, water pump, and sensors at this price. Maybe they’ll address the parking sensor and tires (it might not be an issue with the sensor; it’s possible that the tires are simply not inflated enough), but that’s probably it.

Here’s the 2003: https://www.autoscout24.it/annunci/lexus-sc-430-4-3-benzina-nero-a9345dc4-fba0-4622-bc8a-efe26e3c9ffe?sort=standard&desc=0&lastSeenGuidPresent=true&cldtidx=6&position=6&search_id=dub461d5vb&source_otp=t10&ap_tier=t10&source=listpage_search-results&order_bucket=2

I’m not afraid to travel around Europe to find the right one, but the language barrier and bureaucracy might be a bit challenging.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to help!

I will differ from Bob. If those seats and central console are the deep grey I think they are then someone has got some very good taste, because with cream/Ecru carpeting it's a really nice combination and it is not an obvious choice so again it indicates a certain sense of appreciating what can work and what cannot.. Personally, I think things like that carry a lot of weight ,because they indicate to me how far an owner might go to upgrade and maintain the car. Let me put it this way I would let you park it next to mine . ☺️

My Fratelli Rossetti loafers would look perfect in that car !

1 minute ago, Malc1 said:

Stephen, all that experience  might of course have been under the undue influence of some Italian vino 🤣

Malc 

I hope you are not suggesting DUM otherwise known as Drunk Under (the influence of a ) Mot?

Bob,

Chap looking for some insights on the followng;

"Now, the test drive was definitely less refined compared to the 2008 car, mainly because of the steering. The owner told me the car needs an alignment, but I’ll describe how it felt anyway:
- The steering was definitely heavy;
- The steering wheel didn’t return to the straight position by itself;
- The car pulls to the right when driving but pulls fairly hard to the left when braking."

Can you help him out?

Coming back to your issues on the vehicles test driven.

1. Sensors. Put that into search and you will find comments on this. I have sensors front and back with no noise difference. I have had one event as you described. This was just after cleaning. When I rewashed that area the noise went off and as not reappeared. Sounds like I left some polishing material on a sensor. Anyway, in my view over to you Mr Dealer your problem, you resolve it to sell.

2. Tyre Pressure light. Might be very simple, or not quite so simple. Again we have threads on the subject. However, as per last issue over to you Mr Dealer.

Car 2

1. Handling. Several things spring to mind, but I am going to cut and paste that to the thread for Bob to look at. His insights will definitely be better than mine.

You have a bit of a quandary before you. The second seller is clearly more transparent than the first which is to be preferred. However, you have a £7k price difference to weigh where the most significant factor being presented to account for it is the mileage differential 85k against 233k ! The less important criteria to my mind is the age difference. To me that is largely irrelevant. When cars get to this type of age how they have been treated is more important than a few years in age.

Ask yourself do you have any idea how long you are intending to keep this car? If it's a whim to satisfy then resale is important. If you are going to keep it say 5 years then £7k price difference over 5 yrs is what to you?

If you decide the more expensive one is the way to go make sorting issues a condition of sale to the dealer. Frankly, if I had a dealer who was unresponsive to that approach I would walk away.

18 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

Fear not on illegal immigration Linas …….. Yvette Cooper and her cohort of 100 new Border Force will go to France and talk robustly with this “ criminal gangs “ element that evade the French authorities in France 

our new Govt will of course solve this problem, it’s inevitable, as night follows day 🤞

 

Everyone should have masses of confidence in our new Govt ……. after all, it’s full of very very clever people in tune with the UK population 👍👌 …….

especially our 11.4 million OAPs 

 

Now then, the 

AGE UK.    Petition is this morning at 

351,590  👍👏👏

Malc 

 

Actually Malc, illegal immigration is a political shellgame and nothing more and judging from your comments you have been shilled. 30k illegal immigrants in 1.6 million immigrants. Weighed against the pressures brought by large scale immigration this is irrelevant. However, if you and many others are focused on that 'pea' then you are not at the same time looking at where the real 'pea' is being hidden.

7 hours ago, Linas.P said:

UK? 

That was from perspective of - if 340k signatures counts for shaite, then there were 6 million, 11 million and several other massive votes to discuss options of not leaving EU, or leaving in better terms. 

Not that I say everyone have to support being part of EU (...but people that have some intelligence do), I am just saying that petitions are meaningless. If 6 million signatures does not count, then 300k signature... or whatever it may end-up being does not count either.

Clearly you don't understand the meaning of "gigwork" and "zero-hour" contracts. The problem is not how much per hour one earns, but how many hours to work one gets... you just said "we worked longer", many people would like to work longer, but they are not given the "hours", they get 3 days a week and 4 hours each day and in a month earn £549. Because in UK the minimum wage is decided not per month like in all other countries (that have minimum wage), but per hour... nobody cares if company calls you for work for 12 hours a week.

Even if we assume that everyone gets nice stable 37.5h per week, working 7.5h a day (which is not that common) and earn 16500pa (£1375 month), then let's see how much is left for them to "live on". Back when I was earning £900, the rent was £500 for a room, this was 2012. Now that same room would cost more like £800-900. Then let's take transport away traveling once a day, 3 days a week that is another £120, and what is left for living is £375... compared like for like with £1000 somebody get's for being old and having paid taxes and receiving state pension. I just can't see what you find unfair here. Also, having and paying off real estate became 8 times harder now, so if you have issue with pensioners that don't have their own homes than thing about the future of current generation... it will be train crash. There are many things that are unfair living in UK, pensions and WFP is really least serious of them.

Regarding emigration, as I said - the benefit of it and handling of it is debatable, I am not saying it is always well managed. But even the term "uncontrollable" is completely made-up, government can mostly control it, not 100%, but say 90%, they can stop Non-European Migrants overnight, they always could stop European Migrants, even when we were in EU, it was a lie that being in EU prevents government from controlling immigration. Germany and France had put limits and enforced them, yet they are within EU. What I am saying - the numbers of immigration you seeing are DESIRIABLE by government, they want that level of migration. They have to call it "uncontrollable" and blame immigrants for everything, but they are the ones with the keys and the ones standing by the open door and telling everyone to get it, then they turn around and shout "look how many people came in!". By the way 99% of the blame is on previous government, I am not saying new one will change anything, but clearly it is too early to blame them. Majority of immigration happened between 2016 and 2022, from 2020 we only seen trend of educated and better off immigrants, the most desirable ones, people who create most economic activity starting to leave. So that was one trend that seen negative migration from EU, but it was dwarfed by migration outside of EU (something like 200k net negative to EU and 800k net positive from outside). 

Again - it does not mean I support it, or that it can't be improved, I am simply saying - it will remain as it is, because "secretly" government wants it do be this way. 

Immigration is an aside to the topic, but if you really want the hard numbers Panorama did a very good program not that long ago. Post 2016 immigration has indeed multiplied. Dissecting it the numbers showed overwhelmingly that two sectors were responsible. First, health/social care and second was higher education where the numbers of international students went beserk. The base issue of course being dramatically moved by the fact that both sectors showed each brought dependents with them. Fast leap forward to a change in govt policy denying students the ability to bring dependents and of course for every action a reaction with International student applications falling dramatically. Of 1.6 million immigrants approx 30k were identified as being associated with illegal immigrants crossing the channel. Brexit is really a partially different issue, but it is inarguable that our govts (of both parties) mislead the voters on this issue.

The reality is we need some immigration to at least offset our aging population. Our problem is we don't control that immigration very well and indeed Brexit was a very blunt tool which was abused anyway. No doubt the higher education sector boomed off the inflow of international fees, but the offset is additional pressures on already scarce resources like housing and healthcare etc.

I have said it before ,but I will repeat it. policy is always about choice ! You will struggle to find policies that do not bestow privilege/advantage on some at a cost to others. The question really is as usual who benefits and who pays? If you trust our politicians to get this right for you then you clearly have not been looking at the trend in living standards in the Uk over the last 70 years or so. We can do better than this, but not with our current system of electoral process.

I would ask you to at least think about the law of large numbers when it comes to making large scale policy changes.

7 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Just quick question? What do you expect from petition? They will discuss it and what then? I hope you know that petitions literally doesn't mean anything?

If they would then we wouldn't be outside of EU.

Actually ,if it does no more than fire a shot across Ms Reeves ample bows as a warning against other policies that are aimed specifically at OAP's then it would have served a purpose. Politics are all about the number of votes and it could be useful to remind them that that huge majority they got this time could so  easily be taken away next time. Arguments about 'right' and 'wrong' for the interests of the nation I will leave to others given they have not managed to get this right in my life time.

8 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

suggest maybe you simply arrange to check out some here in the UK  . fly over one way, ( as cheap as chips ) , and drive the one you buy home to Italy .........  a lovely drive and if you've bought the right car will get you home safely and easily .........

and save yourself much money in the process ........  maybe up to £10k ....  and if you can't find one here in the UK ........... then just fly back home .............. 🤞

Malc

Malc, Hmm, Left hand drive /Right hand drive !

Apologies Franscesco I should have noted you were not UK based. Our pricing structure does not apply in Europe, nor indeed the USA.

When I have more time later I will come back to you on the issues you have mentioned IF others don't beat me to it.

1 minute ago, Linas.P said:

Just quick question? What do you expect from petition? They will discuss it and what then? I hope you know that petitions literally doesn't mean anything?

If they would then we wouldn't be outside of EU.

Personally, I expect to be compensated for the mental stress they have caused. A few weeks in some distant sunny place would do it. Oops, for clarity, not Syria, Lebanon, Palestine etc etc.

5 minutes ago, Tom999 said:

Haha Chris....it's not the same as a disc with a micron of rust.    (My rust is CRUSTY)

Folks I posted because it's unusually rusty, I'll have to crawl under and take a pic or two.

Best, most likely response is it's a Japanese motor and they have different standards to other countries. Maybe it was a seaside car?

While I'm down there I'll show you what fell off...🤣....Part of the plastic flange holding the exhaust valves to the exhaust. Both cracked where the 8mm bolts go thru'.

Brace yourself Rodney.........

Best of luck Trigger sounds like you might need it.