gjm

Some years ago I sorted the cloudy plastic headlights on a Mazda Tribute using toothpaste. Worked a treat. (Smells fresh, too. )

That's interesting, and useful to know. I didn't know that an insurance payout on a 3rd party basis still required an excess to be paid by the insurance holder. Kinda negates any purpose in having 3rd party insurance if he can get away with that.

I've found that one suspension bush a day is about my limit, too!

SH1, Greenlane, most mornings...

I wonder how much of the extended delivery time problem is NZPost (which includes YouShop) and how much is down to customs processes (outside the control of a carrier)? Fedex, DHL and other non-state couriers seem to be able to get their shipments through customs in a reasonably timely fashion, while NZPost seem unable to regularly get things processed quickly. I have two packages which (sender) tracking tells me have been in customs in Auckland for over a week - NZPost don't even acknowledge their arrival in NZ. Neither are big, neither are valuable. (An OBD2 cable, and a regulator for an alternator.)

Thought I'd ask here before going to suppliers - Anyone got a coolant thermostat for a M20B25? Mrs M's Baur is showing a little cooler on the gauge than it should. (Preventative maintenance time.) And the o-ring? Ta.

318Ci: Took it for the airbag recall Cleaned up the 18x8.5 rims (and near-new tyres) Refitted the 'big' wheels All in the name of getting it ready for sale. Kind of a shame as it is a nice car, but it doesn't fulfill the design brief for Miss M - they have some BIG speed humps at Uni and this doesn't much like them. And it's not as if I'd planned to buy this one at this time anyway! Oh - took it CJ in Hamilton today too, and had the airbag recall sorted.

"1986 BMW 318I E30 Baur Edition (essentially the coupe version with the roof and back window cut out) Automatic Car runs well and has had a long life of regular servicing, exterior is in a very tidy condition (near perfect) and the tyres are new, brakes have been recently done, as well as a new radiator. Unfortunately time hasn't been all kind to this old girl, the rear plastic window was torn out during a storm over summer, and since then has been garaged and only driven on fine days, the driver seat fabric is torn, and a few interior aspects have cracked and/or broken. The rear badge is peeling off slightly. Apart from this she is a real original classic, always gets great looks and feedback from the public and the perfect summer cruiser." Something funny about that one. The VIN is for a silver E30 (as advertised) but for a 4-door 320i (M20 engine). More bizarrely that VIN also has 'preparation for cabriolet version'.

Barely able to find a decent manual E30 for $6k these days, let alone a convertible!

Cheap. Probably... Depending on spec and condition, of course.

You're my hero. And an inspiration. Truly. I was wondering only yesterday evening how you were getting on and had thought of calling today. I can find any number of reasons excuses not to get on with stuff, and then you pop up with progress despite everything. Great work. ?

TBH - I was thinking the same.

Aye - the volumetric calculations add zeroes to the shipping costs.

Would you like jam on that, sir? Wow.

My apologies, Kyu. Got a bit carried away. Are you after a quote for repair? Or a pre-accident valuation?

If it becomes a rort, others might enter the market but there are truly monumental hurdles to that happeniong. And they'd only do so in order to also make money. Underwriters don't indulge in competition - that's left to the insurance suppliers. The only thing that varies are the conditions on an insurance policy, and the profit being made. IAG made a profit of $1bn in 2017, and an insurance profit of $1.3bn (figures are for Australasia, not just NZ) despite having underwritten and paid out on earthquake insurance for Christchurch. Nope. Insurance is not about helping people. It is solely about making money for a few people. As I said - buy insurance for yourself. That way you know you are covered in the event of accident, fire, theft, loss, whatever. Compulsory insurance won't help you if you're hit by an uninsured driver.

Insurance companies would be ecstatic. The motorist cash cow would be forced to dig even deeper to pay even more to own a car. And prices would rise dramatically: competition currently comes from not needing insurance as well as other policies. Bear in mind that there are two (confirm this?) insurance underwriters in NZ and compulsory insurance would become a rort. The government would implement an insurance tax... If you want insurance, great. Buy it. There are times when it's a good thing.

This. Make insurance compulsory (and it's no coincidence that the biggest campaigners for that are the insurance companies) and the premiums will go up. All the 'competition will make the market stable' claims will mean nothing - exactly this has happened in the UK. New drivers may spend as little as £500 to buy a car, and face £2500-3500 in annual insurance premiums. At present, the voluntary nature of insurance in NZ means that you buy insurance to cover yourself. Make insurance compulsory, and you're buying it to cover everyone else.

The consolidation is one of the pluses of using YouShop, although they can be quite restrictive on the amount of time they'll hold something at their overseas facility. Understandable - they don't want to act as a free storage facility for things. However, you have to be very smart about how you use consolidation. As I've detailed before, the cost of shipping goes up, and up, until you reach a critical mass with your orders at which point it suddenly becomes economic again - the price for shipping 6 items consolidated is significantly less than 5 (for example) because the 5 somehow don't 'qualify' for consolidation. It does work eventually, but as suggested - don't be in a hurry to receive anything. And keep your total shipping value (including all postage and insurance costs) under the threshold for imposition of duties - anything over that, and all bets are off.