if you wanted to learn how to drive in slippy conditions then then this was the year to learn it. Just before Chirstmas until weeks into the new year, the snow just came and came down on the UK. The demand for car panels and bumpers went through the roof as we just could not keep the car on the road or our distance. It seems that the only vehicles getting form a to be were for by fours and the odd rubber tracked vehicle. Yes if you don’t own a mini digger or excavator you may wish you did own one in this weather, these little rubber tracked units have bben claering garage forecourts and driveways all over the place. The ironic thing is, they are not that expensive to buy and the certain parts are not that expensive either. take rubber tracks for instance. Some of these can be bought for £99 or so, quiet cheap if you have a business tyhat will suffer, becuase people cannnot get to you because of the snow.
Even 4×4 owners were finding it hard in some areas, where as in other areas they were lapping it up, speeding by us on dula carriageways, why we were stuck at 30mph. It will insteresting to know how many cars broke down becuase of cylinder head issues, but as the thaw continues we will soon know.
Each year in the UK it is estimated that 1 million people will learn to drive, or at least buy driving lessons with the intention of doing so. This should be no surprise because in reality there are few things that will change someone’s life so dramatically. We take driving for granted nowadays or at least those who have already passed their driving test, but if you could look back in time and consider what life would be like without the convenience of a motor car, many just would not have anything like the quality of life they have now.
Take your job for example, how many people would be able to have their current position if they could not drive to work. In fact many would not be able to attend the interview. If you take an average office and establish where each member of staff worked, no one should be surprised at the diversity of location people will travel from to gain employment, the days of everyone living in the same village as the factory has just about gone.
This is not a history lesson but a reminder of how important the car has become to us in everyday life and how many have forgotten what it was like without one, prior to passing their driving test. We can talk all day about repairing cars, or driving them or even leasing that new motor. But the truth is, if that initial period of buying driving lessons and then passing the driving test had not occurred, all the information about car will have little impact on you. Recession or no recession, learning to drive is and will remain to be one of the most important decisions anyone will make in their lives.
If you intend to any major engine work on your car, one of the first things you will need to do is drain the car’s radiator. Not to mention you may want to cleans the cooling system of you car from time to time. Here is a video that describes how to do this relatively simple job, providing the car is cool of course, so saftey is a main issue.
There are just some things that the USA do better than here in the UK. Take buying used car parts for example. Yes there are larger used car breakers in the UK who use a database to tell a customer on the phone what is in stock and the part condition and a nationwide database called Pinnacle (not sure of the correct spelling), but majority of car breakers throughout the UK, just remember what they have in stock and only sell to their own customers.
With greater distances to travel to breaker yards in the USA , you find that many more transactions are done over the phone, or certainly the location of the parts in question. As you enter many USA breaker yards you see telesales guys on the counter describing the parts in question and delivering prices through headsets. In front of them is a national or certainly a state wide database of car parts waiting to be bought, not just by the consumer bit the breaker yard as a middleman.
This means that many breaker yards sell stock that is in fact at another yard. They just ring this yard up and ask them to deliver the part to the relevant consumer. Both yards make a profit on the part sold and so long as the breaker yard who has the car part in stock gets the cash asked, he does not care how much has been added on by the second breaker.
Although the technology for this sharing of stock database is in place, many refuse to take the time to add stock to the database or remove it should they sell out. The USA breakers do this much better and understand the benefits better than here in the UK.
For the consumer they may find themselves paying a bit more for the part as there are now 2 margins added to the price, but when they consider time and gas saved by driving around or ringing around, this can be cost effective in the long run.
As the bigger yards get bigger and the small yard struggle to survive within the UK, it would make sense to become a collective force to the big guys, but their still seems to be a reluctance to do this.