oh well the suburbans on hold for a while being as I have just found out that some B"*+tards helped himself to £2,700 out of my bank account ,
the banks security guy says my card was probably scanned at a petrol station as that is the most common place for card fraud these days

That sucks big time

Does bank has insurance that would cover such? My card has such safety that if it get's scanned and abused it won't cause any expenses to me, I believe that is standard in cards here.

I had to renew card once because of it being scanned at petrol station.

Christ, I'm sorry to hear that Mick, hope things get fixed

well they reckon we should get our money back but it could take 4 to 5 weeks while they check it all out ,

bit of a shock when your card gets refused the day after pay day though .

they started with smaller amounts ( £100 /£120 ) during the first week of our holiday (first withdrawl 6th August ) and carried on until the 26th but they took over £350 on a couple of occaisions and sometimes took 2 or 3 amounts on the same day going into three different accounts in Spain from what we can work out .

just keep your eyes on your card , evidentally they keep the scanners just under the counter and it takes seconds to scan a card

FFS whatever next. I hope you get it all sorted, not what you need at all! Let's hope you do get it all back, but in the meantime it's no help. I'm still battling over my van insurance, I'm still without the van and had to buy another in the meantime, the insurance company have been less than helpful, and it's an insult what they've offered for it, then they've tried to play dirty with the excess amount. I just hope it's an easier route for you and that they don't try and wriggle out of it by claiming you've been careless or you only covered for a certain amount.

Pete

sorry to hear there still messing you about Pete , I thought as it was recovered quite quickly it would be sorted by now ,

It appears its the bigger brand gas stations where this is most common , BP ,Shell and Esso and not so much the supermarket ones

the reason being they are mainly franchises with a high turnover of staff and minimal checks being done on staff when recruited.

so you either risk buying dodgy fuel from a supermarket and having your lamba sensors coated with crap or go to a bigger name garage and get your account emptied

oh and on another subject I have been warned off using bio fuels as the tanks under the garages are rarely cleaned properly allowing all sorts of algae to grow in them which messes up your car big time whan big clumps get sucked through,

its getting that the only safe methods of transport are bikes and feet

algae are filtered out in various places between storage tank and filler pistol.
(last stage in the pump box itself)

The petrol station with which the taxi firm I work for has a contract, has had some problems with these filters recently. As a result, fuel delivery got very, very, very slow!!!


So, there is no need to be worried about this; besides that there are filters in most cars, too.

I have heard that car fuel filters should be replaced more often if your running bio fuels, as they can get a bit more blocked.

Bad luck with the credit card Mick, it is a worry these days what with identity theft, and card cloning etc. Best to stick to good old cash methinks

Doing everything with cash still means you need to go to cashpoint to get the cash in the first place. Cashpoints are also vulnerable to card copying/code stealing!

always shield off the number pad with your left hand when typing your code.

I usually shield it so much I can hardly even see the numbers myself.


Over here, 'skimming' has been a big thing for a few years already. the people who did that mounted an extra miniature cardreader in front of the original slot, and sometimes even put miniature cameras above the keypad to film the typing of the code.

nowadays, every cashpoint has images on the starting screen that show what the card slot is supposed to look like, with a warning that you should never enter the card when it doesn't.


fraudulent personnel at fuel stations/shops is harder to avoid, but at least most shops have a desktop cardreader/keypad so that you can scan the card yourself. Personally I always check if there is only 1 reading head (like in an old tape deck)

Another trick from shops/petrol stations is to have a TV camera in the ceiling to film you enter your PIN. These days you can get very small, very cheap cameras.

Bad luck, Mick. You're sure to get the money back - and it gives you time to rethink on the Suburban. That baby is going to burn some fuel. Pump prices are going to trend up from here on in, in my not so humble opinion. Any replacement car I buy has to be able to do at least 40mpg.

My french daily runner is not pretty by any standards, also it is utterly boring FWD (even it is quite high on FWD scale), but it does get over 40MPG easily

wish I could remember the last time I had a car that did anything like 40 to the gallon

bad luck mick, i also had some fraudulent activity on my acc they got my pin and cloned my card!!!! i went overdrawn and they closed my acc.. happend at sainsburys cash point (so they tell me) and they toke the money out at a petrol station that had no camera near the machine.


on the mpg front i got 58mpg on the way up to leeds, and thats at 70-80mph most of the way.

way back was a little better around 1 mpg more as the speed was more 60-70mph

Clio 1.2's are the future

redline wrote:trouble is I need the 7 seats and the boot space with my mob

the 23's are a bit over the top but I think thats not a bad price for such a late model and right hand drive which is quite rare ,

the dvd screens should keep the kids quiet as well

come on lottery

Unless you're an antique dealer movin' wardrobes these aren't much good.
Access to the rear seats isn't that great.
When I was lookin' for a yank looked at these and Ford Excursions but opted for a Day van.
7 seater you can stand up in watch a proper telly and super comfy captain's chairs.Rear sofa that at the touch of a button converts into a sofa bed even came with a champagne chiller and 6 champagne flutes

BTW real Yanks have the s/wheel on the left
Still whatever ya get it's got to be better than a Hi and Dry Tragic-Korean junk