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  Everyone!! that’s who! I have a tale to tell that highlights the need for everyone who owns a car to have at least third party property cover, and with pay-by-the-month being offered by most car insurers on comprehensive cover it makes sense to have the best cover you can afford.

  We have two friends, husband and wife. The husband works full-time and the wife does part-time work as well as looking after their three kids. Up until they decided to rent for a while and enjoy life a bit they were paying off their own home and had enough money left over to put in a swimming pool. They both had nice cars, he had a AU series 2 Falcon and she scooted around in a almost-new Daihatsu Sirion.

  For some reason we got to talking about car insurance of all things and the husband piped up and said that his car was un-insured. The wife’s car had comprehensive insurance on it but nothing on the Falcon. I asked him how much he paid for the car when he bought it - $27000. Both my wife and I had trouble getting our heads around what we had just heard. Here were two people that were doing o.k. in life, they had a good income obviously, they had nice cars and no insurance on the one worth the most money! The husband said that he ‘just hadn’t thought about it’.

  We went on with the usual ‘what if someone steals it and what if you hit someone’ line and it must have worked because the wife was on the phone fifteen minutes later organising comprehensive insurance for the Falcon. Just as well, two days later he had an accident, not his fault but the driver that was at fault had no insurance.

  It was during the move to the rental house that it happened. Nice big 7×5 trailer in tow, doing 60km/hr and a guy decided to pull out of a service station and straight into the Falcon. There was nothing he could do, the weight of the trailer increased the braking distance and it was a two-way road so there was nowhere to go, even if he did have good reflexes. The result - crumpled L/H guard, bonnet, front bar lying on the bitumen, steering rack snapped at the L/H rack end, both L/H wheels stuffed from hitting the gutter ( nice alloys fitted 4 weeks earlier ), damaged A/C condensor and coolant flowing freely from a split radiator tank.

  Now to the moral of the story ( so to speak, I sound like an old man! ), had he not been insured he would have been up for the cost of two tows, one for the car and one for the hire trailer and as the other driver was not insured who knows when he would have got the $5500 needed for the repairs. Luckily he was covered and the insurance company took care of everything and had the car back to him 8 days later and other than paying the years premium ( which he hadn’t paid yet, he only had a cover note ) he was not out of pocket. I pity the other guy though, the insurance company will no doubt chase him until all of the $5500 is paid back. So for a reasonably small investment, the peace of mind has got to be worth it!

Take care and be safe on the roads.

Craig

  In the market for a new set of tyres? Understanding what goes into a tyre and what the sidewall markings mean will help you make an informed decision on which tyre is right for you and your vehicle.

  Tyres are made up of several different components;

• The bead - the bead is a high-strength steel cable coated with rubber. It’s job is to ensure that the tyre stays seated on the wheel rim and handle the forces of the tyre-fitting machines when the tyre is installed.
• The body - the body of the tyre is made up of several layers of different fabric called ‘plies’. The most common fabric being polyester cord. The cords in a radial tyre run perpendicular to the tread and are coated with rubber to help them bond with the other components and seal in the air. A tyres strength is often decribed by the number of ‘plies’ it has, with most car tyres having two plies.
• Steel Belts - steel belted radials have belts made from steel that are used to reinforce the area under the tread. These belts help to increase puncture resistance and help the tyre maintain a flat contact patch with the road.
• Cap Plies - an extra couple of layers of polyester fabric used to hold everything in place. Mostly used on tyres with a high speed rating.
• The Sidewall - the sidewall provides lateral stability for the tyre, protects the body plies and helps keep the air from escaping.
• The tread - the tread area is made from a mixture of many different kinds of natural and synthetic rubber. The tread area and sidewall is extruded and cut to length. The tyre is then put into a curing machine and the tread pattern and sidewall markings are molded in.

 The sidewall markings cover specific information regarding;

• Tyre Type - ‘P’ for passenger car, ‘LT’ for light truck and ‘T’ for temporary or spare tyre are some of the markings that are used.
• Tyre Width - measured in millimetres from one sidewall to the other when fitted on the intended rim size.
• Aspect Ratio - measurement of the tyre height from the bead to the top of the tread, expressed as a percentage of the tyre width. e.g. 205/75 indicates a width of 205mm and a height of 75% of 205mm or 153.75mm. The lower the aspect ratio the wider the tyre is in relation to it’s height. High performance tyres generally have a lower aspect ratio, providing increased lateral stability. Tyres with shorter, stiffer sidewalls resist cornering forces better.
• Tyre Construction - the most common tyre these days is the radial, indicated by an ‘R’ usually after the size designation.
• Rim Diameter - the size of the rim, in inches, that the tyre is designed for.

  Another system used for grading a tyre is the Uniform Tyre Quality Grading (UTQG) system. Three ‘ratings’ are included in this system;

• Tread Wear - the higher the number the longer the tread should last. The tyres are tested in a controlled enviroment on a government test track.
• Traction - a rating based on the tyre ability to stop a car on wet concrete and ashpalt. The ratings go from AA being the best, down to C being the tyre with the least grip levels in these conditions.
• Temperature - this is a measure of how well the tyre handles heat build-up and how well it dissipates heat. Once again A,B and C ratings are used.

  The Service description of the tyre covers two criteria;

• Load Rating - a number that correlates to the maximum rated load for that tyre. A higher number indicates a higher load carrying capacity. The rating ‘105′ for instance, corresponds to a load carrying capacity of 2039 pounds. A seperate note on the tyre indicates the load rating at a given inflation pressure.
• Speed Rating - a letter indicating the maximum allowable speed for that tyre as long as the load is within specifications. An example is the letter ‘S’ that indicates the tyre is suitable for speeds up to 180 km/hr.

  Hopefully this information will help you decipher the tyre ‘jargon’ next time you are on the hunt for new rubber. For specific information on what tyre size, speed rating etc your vehicle requires, be sure to check the tyre placade or owners handbook. In the next post we will look at tyre problems and their possible causes.

Until then take care and be safe on the roads.

Craig

  As a mechanic I have heard so many horror stories of people getting the short straw in a car deal. Whether it be a used car that isn’t what it’s cracked up to be or people being taken for a ride with an over-priced new car.

  Unfortunately the salespeople know the in’s and out’s of how to sell a car and nine times out of ten buyers go in with little knowledge of what is or isn’t a good deal. Arming yourself with a much information as you can is all important when purchasing a vehicle. It is a big investment of your hard earned dollars, second only to the family home so it pays to do your homework and be prepared before venturing out to search for that new car.

  I have found a great report on how to be prepared for buying any new or used vehicle and in this post I am going to unashamedly promote it!! For an investment of $7 it has the potential to save you $1000’s! You could easily spend more than $7 going to your favourite fast-food outlet, so I see this report as extremely good value considering the savings that can be had by reading and implementing the information contained in it.

  Some of the key points covered in the report are;

• Know your reason for buying a car
• Tips about Financing
• What to look for in a used car
• Common dealership scams
• Where to investigate and compare prices
• Buying a car online
• What you should know about auto service contracts
• And much, much more

  So there you have it, for an investment of $7, you could save $1000’s just by being armed with the right information on your purchase. Car salespeople don’t have a bad reputation for no reason! Trust me, I worked in the industry for several years before doing my mechanics apprenticeship and had I known what I know now about motor vehicles I would have got out a lot earlier!

  To get your copy of Car Buying Tips please click here.

  I wish you all the best in finding the right car for you, at the right price as well.

Take care and be safe on the roads.

Craig