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91

General Discussion Area / Re: I really want one of these . . . .

« on: 15 December 2016, 07:32:49 »

this got me thinking - there must be quite a market for what is a giant mobile jetwash....

busses, trains, boats, even a novelty carwash.....

92

General Car Chat / Re: Parking Ticket

« on: 24 November 2016, 19:11:08 »

this link might be interesting to make a claim

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/compensation/

essentially I think you need to assess your financial loss ( time, cost etc)  write to the company and demand it, chase it , chase it and explain it will go to court if there is no response then issue court papers...

93

General Discussion Area / Re: 3 front seat cars? What is out there.

« on: 19 August 2016, 16:36:19 »

land rover defender?

94

General Discussion Area / Re: Sabine Schmidt...

« on: 24 June 2016, 18:30:46 »

All day long...both of them 

surely they meet the usual qualifying conditions: female, pulse.....

95

General Discussion Area / Re: Private pensions

« on: 17 June 2016, 14:54:18 »

....to be paying 12% ( actually 11.7%) salary must be in excess of £75,000

at least the lifetime allowance charge will reduce the burden on the taxpayer a bit.... 

96

General Discussion Area / Re: Private pensions

« on: 17 June 2016, 12:17:04 »

I've never understood the logic of final salary pensions. Getting paid the same amount for not being productive, as you were paid for being productive. It just does not make sense. These were invented by people in organisations, many of them in the public sector, who would never have to deal with the consequences and who were not playing with their own money.

Of course if I was going to be on one, I would shout and scream that that they are great and should always be honoured  But, I won't be, so I can have a bit of a jealous rant 

a point very well made and in recent years those non productive member have continued to receive inflationary increases, some linked to RPI far outstripping the increases of those in work. 

the Government hasn't got the bottle to sort this out because they are simply trying to survive the referendum ( and probably cannot whatever the outcome) and b) companies don't vote so why fix an expensive burden on them...

97

General Discussion Area / Re: The ultimate towing vehicle or what ?

« on: 17 June 2016, 12:12:45 »

what a stunt.....

so they boast a 2.5 ton towing capacity but seem to forget that the defender would pull 3.5 ton

wait until all production goes overseas....

98

Omega General Help / Re: Little accident to Jonny's Omega

« on: 13 June 2016, 12:14:30 »

almost exactly the same happened to me in a very old Vectra.... although my towbar got bent up as well

in my case, the other party's insurer stopped talking to me, assuming I'd go away as the car was really only worth scrap.  Unfortunately for them I issued court papers against them and they paid up straight away.  The claim was roughly built up as

£10 for each day the car was out of action
scrap value of the car ( got 4 similar prices from auto trader and averaged them)
cost of tow hitch.

the boot floor was crumpled but 90% of it pulled out with a 5 tonne winch and something heavy to pull it from ( land rover defender cam in handy for that..)

replaced the bumper and tailgate and it's good as new.

so my suggestion is to get as much cash from them as you can and fix it yourself - keep copies of all correspondence and notes of phone calls ( its a real bore doing that but it helps if it goes to court)

99

General Discussion Area / Re: Pension Pt2 (less important!)

« on: 24 May 2016, 07:16:29 »

um check your fees on your current one.  Fees on the default fund must be <0.75% otherwise they are breaking the law.

I'll double check that tomorrow. I might not be in default, as that makes it an easy workaround, making default a reasonably easy bonds fund, and anything with likely reasonable growth a much higher fee .

that would be rare and quite devious - I've never seen that either.  Most provider defaults don't do that, they tend to use growth assets until say 55 and move to safer stuff then. 

100

General Discussion Area / Re: Pension Pt2 (less important!)

« on: 23 May 2016, 18:14:05 »

um check your fees on your current one.  Fees on the default fund must be <0.75% otherwise they are breaking the law.

101

General Discussion Area / Re: Pension

« on: 16 May 2016, 20:34:50 »

under 55 you cannot access your pension (well the kind you have anyway) unless you are in pretty bad health and cannot work. 

As to advice, it does not come cheap I'm afraid.   but do you need advice?  Advice means that someone understands your circumstances and tells you what to do.  Information come for free -the best thing to do it to hit google yourself and read around.  also make friends life work for you, look at their website to see what they offer, phone them up etc - they should have a helpline.  A few more thoughts

1) essentially when you draw your money, 25% is tax free, 75%is taxed at your marginal tax rate.  so take your £26k in one go then you'll pay income tax on it, spread it out and you might not depending on what else you earn (e.g. take it over 4 years at £6.5k pa gives £5k subject to income tax - no other income means no tax to pay

2) take an income for life and 25% tax free cash?  so take £6500 as tax free cash and then buy a lifetime income for yourself, you'll get £750 per annum.  not saying its a bad deal but that's the kind of number you might look at

3) also look at the charges in anything you choose.  the "total expense ratio" or AMC.  if you pay 1.5% per annum it does not sound much but after 10 years that's 15% of your pot.

HTH

102

General Discussion Area / Re: Home carers for the elderly

« on: 25 January 2016, 18:09:14 »

I'm curious which large company are you dealing with?

103

General Discussion Area / Re: bugger

« on: 24 January 2016, 16:21:10 »

same happened to me recently.  third party insurer contacted me, offered to fix car, offered a loan car.  didn't delivery anything, then claimed they'd fixed the car even before they'd inspected it.  Now they are not responding to correspondence at all - which is foolish because it will go to court for full loss

Keep all evidence, witness statements etc etc and treat it as if it may go to court from day 1 - when the insurers cotton on it is a low value claim they'll hope you go away.

good luck

104

General Car Chat / any recommendations for body repair near coventry?

« on: 10 December 2015, 20:36:55 »

got a Vectra b with a minor rear end shunt. boot floor is a bit crumpled but the main chassis members are straight as the towbar took most of the force.  I'm happy to replace tailgate and bumper myself but need someone to straighten out the floor well enough to get the tailgate striker plate back into position. 

Any suggestions around the Coventry area  much appreciated!

105

General Discussion Area / Re: Black Friday approaches - anyone going to be buying?

« on: 24 November 2015, 20:14:22 »

not me I'm a tight git!