Tax changes compounded by recession

HELPDESK:Answering your motoring queries

From G McTeigue: I left my car into a garage to get serviced with the specific reason that the car was cutting out coming onto roundabouts, going round a bad bend on the road, or taking a left or right turn. I have a 1997 Ford Fiesta. It was otherwise fine apart from that problem.

The garage man serviced the car for €250 and never fixed the problem. After collecting the car it cut out again going around a turn. I phoned the garage man the next morning and he said that, as he had told us earlier, the car would need a lot of things done.

He said when the car was put up on the computer there was a problem showing up with the wiring going to the ECU on the computer and it would cost in the region of €1,000. I don’t know why he serviced the car if he couldn’t fix this initial problem.

IT WILL ultimately come down to what you said when the car was presented to the garage. If you asked for a service and repair then he can rightly claim to have offered that and in his defence he did not – and should not – complete expensive repair work without clearing it with you. If not then you need to identify just what the €250 was for. He should have presented you with a proper itemised bill identifying the work done and should not have let the car go without explaining the outstanding problems.

You should demand an itemised bill justifying the €250 cost. You should also ask for a written quotation as to the likely full cost of repair on the car in order to identify what needs to be done to stop it cutting out.

Finally, I would be very wary of spending too much money on a 12-year-old Fiesta that’s only going to be worth €2,000 at best.

From G Robson: Complaints over the changes in tax on new cars seems to completely ignore the fact we are being ripped off in the first place. The Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) is paid on the list price of the car, including VAT. That’s a double-whammy tax take. Surely instead of fighting against the tax changes, the motor industry should take a moment to reflect on the campaigns it ran several years ago calling for a fairer tax regime. They’ve been calling for changes to the system for years and now when it comes along they are up in arms.

You’ve already reported that they got concessions in the recent budget that they sought, only to have the government backtrack on these because they couldn’t agree.

Can’t the motor industry get its act together? No wonder it’s in trouble.

The problem is that while the industry seems to speak with one voice on the broad issues of tax reform, the finer details regularly trip them up. In reality the changes to the tax regime from engine-size to emissions was always going to have an impact on used prices and anyone with even the most passing interest in the car market could have identified vehicles that were potentially going to lose value.

The crux of the problem was that while an adjustment was inevitable, any hope that it could occur smoothly disappeared with the onset of recession. I suspect that stability is what is being sought right now, not more changes.

From D Buckley: Is there any five-seat convertible available or coming onto the market for two adults and three children? Secondly, any news on the arrival date or cost of a new Mercedes Estate 250 CDI BlueEfficiency?

That’s a quirky combination of cars for your driveway. For the convertible, the problem is a lot of the convertible variants replace a back-seat bench with two individual seats, making it very uncomfortable for the third passenger in the back. My advice would be to look at the Saab 9-3 Convertible currently on sale or the outgoing Audi A4 convertible.

Some dealers will fit a rear bench from the saloon version if needed and the requisite seatbelt mounts, but legroom is usually incredibly tight. Best to try out the Saab first. Also, when you mention children, it should be noted that to my knowledge there is not a convertible on the market with three ISOFIX settings in the back so the children will have to be of the right age.

As for the new E-Class, estate versions are due to arrive in time for January sales.