Lincolnbaggie

As far as I understand it, only part of an owned car's value can be set against tax each year (counts towards your capital allowance and only 25% is allowed and then only part of that 25% depending on private mileage covered as well), whereas all of the leasing costs can be offset including the VAT. Petrol etc can be offset, but only that proportion used for business mileage. I'm open to correction if I've got it completely wrong.......... Best advice is to ask your accountant.

Sorry to be boring, but have you checked with your accountant on the tax benefits etc. Presumably you would put the car through the company books whatever route you decide, and as far as I understand leasing could be more beneficial on the tax front.........

http://www.lancerregister.com/showthrea ... did=160064

Just heard a rumour that they have stopped trading ; anyone else hear this?

Good God! Having seen those pictures and hearing of Nixy's problems, I think we got off more than lightly here................

Lincolnshire was a mess yesterday; three houses in my village had to be pumped out and the water on the junction (yes we only have two roads) was three feet deep at 5 last night (I had to wade to the pub in shorts and bare feet). Thanks God the rain stopped at 9 last night else none of us would have been here (and I'm quite a bit above the Trent valley flood plains).

URL leads to the main page! Click on Varis on side bar and then Fairlady Z33 and you'll find what I think he is trying to show.....

Don't forget the £700 price from Adam doesn't include import taxes and VAT; that will add another £200 on to the final bill, so Sarnie's is even better value......................

Car went into Nissan Louth on Friday; P3 service done (minus brake fluid plus oil provided by myself) and paid £111.00 as quoted. Service was superb, courtesy car provided free (and not a Micra) and I shall definitely be going back...............

Out of interest, what did Nissan do with the the MY06 engine to increase power over the MY03 engine?

I do get the impression listening to the people in my "local", and on the various forums, and in the letters pages of various newspapers, etc etc etc that if we did get enough people together we could do the wolfie smith thing......People are getting fed up with the elected majority (of whatever persuasion) assuming they know what the people want; come and live in the real world you bunch of t*****s and then tell us (the "normal" people) what we should and shouldn't be allowed to do. They Tax us till we die and then Tax us when we die! I vote Sarnie for PM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fully agree with you on that, one of the problems is that a great many cars now have a self oil level checking system (not the 350z) and people get lazy, myself included, and just how accurate are these systems (my BMW 325se taught me not to rely on them) They all may use oil to some extent, but serious usage such as is being seen in some MY06 cars is not acceptable. This suggests a more serious underlying fault in the engine manufacture. We know that Nissan US have stopped selling certain Ultima models because of excessive oil loss leading to engine failure and worse (google it), but Nissan UK tell us they haven't got a problem? Be interesting to know where the piston rings came from in the cars that have the problem and whether they are the same batch as in the ones that are okay? If it is a premature piston ring wear problem as you suggest, the warning signs would be blue smoke behind you, this to me would set alarm bells ringing and a swift visit to the dealership and not to continue driving it until the engine destroys itself, but yes I concur there does seem to be a problem with late model oil consumption, I shall monitor mine carefully. I'm only summising on the piston rings, and I agree on the warning signs. However, if a new-ish car is using that amount of oil it has to be either (a) leaking out or ( being burnt off somehow. Either way it's unacceptable for a new car to use 5 litres of oil in the first 8000 miles. This has to be a manufacturing problem to happen more than once. Nissan have to accept responsibility

Fully agree with you on that, one of the problems is that a great many cars now have a self oil level checking system (not the 350z) and people get lazy, myself included, and just how accurate are these systems (my BMW 325se taught me not to rely on them) They all may use oil to some extent, but serious usage such as is being seen in some MY06 cars is not acceptable. This suggests a more serious underlying fault in the engine manufacture. We know that Nissan US have stopped selling certain Ultima models because of excessive oil loss leading to engine failure and worse (google it), but Nissan UK tell us they haven't got a problem? Be interesting to know where the piston rings came from in the cars that have the problem and whether they are the same batch as in the ones that are okay?

Congrats mate, and enjoy!

But what do receipts prove? There is no guarantee those parts were even used to service the car? For me its about accountability no matter how incompetent the dealer is. If I buy a lambo that has had a new clutch fitted by a dealer 300 miles before, and it goes, It will be going back to that dealer to argue the toss as not fit for purpose, call trading standards or the local press etc. If I buy one that has been serviced by a non dealer or independant garage that give me no peace of mind of the cars traceable history from the last oficial stamp in the book to present day. End result? I walk away. I don't understand what the difference is in terms of tracability. If you got it fitted at a dealer and it goes tits up then you would go back to the dealer. If you had it fitted by a garage and it went tits up you would go back to the garage? It would be the same outcome i.e. it would be down to the garage to sort it. Going on the reports from Nissan warranty service working with a Nissan garage is not going to be any 'better' than working with any other garage. That said I'm talking about standard service items like you oil/filter/brake fluids I think you slightly miss understood me. If the car was out of warranty I would not be insistant on it having FNSH but at least FSH. Lincolnbaggie was talking about servicing the car himself and therefore meaning no dealer or garage stamp for the service book. For me this would not constitute FSH. If it was in warranty then it would 100% have to be FNSH Happy now Argued my corner and have got the price down to £111 including coolant change and a courtesy car. It's going in this week! Cheers for all your thoughts guys.

They charge it because they can get away with charging it and the more people that pay that sum for a basic fluid service the more they will charge I think any average mechanic could perform this service in well under 2 hours without stretching himself(work that out as about £150/hour ) ps this wont include swopping plugs (which dont need doing until 50k miles anyway ) Exactly! They charge it because people pay it without question. I've just had the same argument over my P3. Original quote was £210 (actually pretty good price) but when I pointed out the plugs didn't need doing and the brake fluid has already been done and it was basically only a fluids/filter change I got the price down to £111 providing my own oil including a coolant change or £95 without the coolant. Have a reasoned argument with them and they will eventually do the right thing (at least in my case they did)! One happy chappie now

You win

Love the interior options: black or "Two tone sandy beige" BEIGE! You can tell which age group they are aiming at (bring back the allegro if you want beige)

how do I convince others in the future that the jobs have been done. You can't without sound very very dodgy. Being from Brum originally, some would say I sound dodgy anyway Guess the consensus seems to be that a stamped up book is essential even though we're all just lining their pockets to get one

Just pees me off that you have to pay that much money for them to change the oil and filter and a squirt of lubricating oil! It can't take them more than an hour if that If I charged that for the work I do I'd get no customers at all I would know that mine had been looked after as I would have done it; how do I convince others in the future that the jobs have been done. Guess I could design my own stamp for the book

Car is due its 36000 mile P3. Had a word with Nissan Louth who said it costs a lot (£210) because "it's the big one"; however, when I asked what actually gets done they didn't seem to know? They said plugs are expensive! I replied they didn't need doing until 54000 miles I get the impression they are taking people for a ride; basically it's only an oil, oil filter and air filter change (and possibly coolant). I explained the brake fluid has already been done, but they want to charge me £90 extra on top of a P1 for taking the wheels off and checking the brakes which I only put on 2 months ago! They then mentioned they had to lubricate the locks and hinges (that must be the expensive part ). My question is, would me doing it myself (and probably doing it better than them) put any of you off buying my car in the future, or do you think a fully stamped up Nissan service book is essential. Seems an expensive way of getting a bit of ink in the book.

I'll definitely be using some of that info; south coast into Spain/Portugal and then back up through France at the end to get home. If anyone wants to join in you're more than welcome........

Cheers Iomoto

Hi all Going to be driving through Europe in Sept/Oct Probably Eurotunnel to France and then have to be in Pisa Italy 4 days later. Then coast road to Algarve and back home. Planning on two weeks overall with a five day stop in Portugal for sun and golf. Anyone got any tips for routes (defo want to drive through the Alps), stop-overs, hotels etc etc. All suggestions gratefully received, apart from the idiotic ones I know I'm going to get from some quarters

Kart for sale here! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... R40QQfviZ1 Maybe not quite what you're after