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My bad sounding like a hypocrite. I assumed you were as stupid as I was when I dealt with a similar situation with an insurer. What I've learnt from my situation (actually speaking to a director of the insurance company with the intention of raising hell for my rights) was that they don't care about the so called "protecting the customer", and if you don't handle the situation with the right politics, there's a high chance of the insurer sticking to his stance. Just my opinion. Not applicable to all situations. Good luck.. ! (seriously..)

From what I've experienced, insurance claims for accidents work well for you if you just speak nicely to the assessor on the spot. The process goes really bad if you show a bad attitude to the assessor. Your incident initially seems a straightforward one where most of the insurance companies would just pay the full amount of the repair. If the claim process has become a bitter experience already, then chances are the assessor or someone in the insurance company got annoyed / irritated on the way you might have treated them. Of course there's a legal and a formal procedure to deal with disputes etc, but the insurance company may find a clause on the fine print of your policy document to back their stand on not paying / short-paying a claim. You can go to the managing director of the insurance company and shout, but remember, their main priority is to defend their own colleagues, and work towards the best profits for the insurance company. Good luck "raising hell"..!

Here are the figures from a verified source. Read pages 12-18 for vehicle taxes https://www.pwc.com/lk/en/assets/document/2018/PwC_Sri_Lanka_Budget-Proposals-2018.pdf

BTW couldn't update earlier. The driver was a woman :-)

Sinha le in a country of different le :-)

If you can get some around the house, nail polish remover works very well to clean any kind of oily muck on glass surfaces. But be really careful not to touch any plastic material (like the air intake cover right on the bottom on the windscreen) with nail polish remover, cause it sort of burns the plastic surfaces, leaving white marks. If you get rainbow-like reflections on the windscreen even when its dry, then it may be because the windscreen itself is not good (the plastic layer which holds the safety glass together is kaput). No nail polish can help you with that.

BMW 6 series from 1980's?

I see your point Sampath.. and I've heard about the "Russians using a pencil to write upside down in space" story as well.. :-) Priorities differ from person to person. I use a car worth 1.5 million, and built a garage for 300K for that. So I didn't see the point of using a fake rivet or a CCTV to protect a Vezel worth 5.5 million. Of course if the fake rivet works, then all good.. but we're just under-estimating the enemy here I guessed. And we are not really "protecting" the car, but rather beating around the bush aren't we?

I was just thinking while going through the posts.. Has anyone considered the following? 1. What if the thief reads these posts? Everyone has a smart phone these days, and Autolanka is popular..! 2. Let's say you installed a CCTV (fake or real). So what? all the thief needs is a handkerchief to cover the face. Let's say if you see the thief's face. So what? it's only helpful if you know the fellow, and catch him. 3. Fake rivets on badges - I don't think a thief even looks at the badge when he snatches it off the car. So a fake rivet would only mean that the thief can sell it at a slightly higher price at Panchikawatta... bonus..! 4. Motion sensors connected to a doorbell - ok let's say the doorbell rings at 2 a.m. It'll at least take you a minute to wake up, come to your senses, look for that 2 x 2 stick and open the door. That's a good window of time for the thief to climb back onto the other side of the wall. I might have sounded stupid above, but being a victim of theft myself, I feel the pain a car owner goes through when you see a missing mirror, a badge or a dust cap. I've now sort of learnt to put myself in the thief's shoes to prevent theft. So I'll only depend on hardcore protection on my car. A proper garage with concrete all over, locked with a metal door and the largest padlock. Come steal from that..!

Among all the good things about Google maps through a smart phone, I'd say there are minus points as well, like; 1. A smart phone screen is not originally designed to work continuously for hours. I've noticed the phone getting really hot when used for navigation for more than 15-20 min, so for long distances what I do is study the google map at home and learn the route, without keeping the phone screen on for the entire journey. because in long journeys you only have to remember a few turns. The other way is to have the google maps working while the screen is turned off. You'll hear the voice commands when you approach a turn (provided your radio is not too loud), and that's all you need in most occasions. 2. Looking at a small phone screen every now and then distracts driving. Even though the phone is mounted on the windshield, the few seconds it takes for you to focus on the screen, read the map and focus back on the road is a dangerous game sometimes. Workaround: if you have a passenger, let him / her read read the map and instruct you where to go.

If you can bend your second rule ('should be a permanent fixture on the car') a bit, then my suggestion is a smart phone with Google maps app. I've also used a conventional GPS navigation a few years ago, but it's no match with the app in terms of live updates and the amazing level of detail. All you need is a phone holder sticking on to the windscreen, and you are good to go. I even use it to plan the route ahead, cause now it gives the traffic details and the ETA, and suggest any quicker routes while you are on the way. But with the ladies the problem is, you'll have to spend a day teaching them how to use it, and they will never learn the route even after going to the same place ten times, cause they'd only depend on the 'turn right / turn left' command, and they'd want to stop the car right where the GPS says 'you have arrived' :-) Good luck..!

Ya I think this is where I made the mistake. There are different types of radios in 406 (one with the in-dash CD loader, one with boot CD loader etc). The display should be compatible with the exact type of radio I guess. This is where the exact part number comes into play.

Yes that's what the specialist was trying to do. But somehow his diagnostic system couldn't fix it. Or maybe the hardware itself wasn't compatible enough.

Please be cautious when you order this from eBay to get the exact part number. I got the same issue in my 406. Ordered the part from eBay UK, got the part in good nick but couldn't get the radio to function with the new unit despite my specialist spending a few hours playing with it. If you are lucky, the part I got might match your car. I'll give it in exchange for a test drive of your car, and a plain tea. Deal?

Ya. exactly what I meant. No worries mate.

When you park, the best practice I'd say is to first select 'N", and then apply parking brake, release the foot brake for a second so that the wheels get locked with the parking brake, and then press the foot brake again and shift to 'P' This way, the weight of the vehicle is off the gear box when you park. Have you seen, if you just shift to P and then leave the car (with or without parking brake) the car rocks forward and backwards a few cm before settling down. This is not good for the gearbox in the long run if I'm not mistaken.

Its simple. I'd take a walk from Nugegoda Gamsabha junction to Wijerama junction peeping into every shop which at least has a single auto part to sell. This way, you should be able to find any part for a corolla ("ANY" part). You can even build a complete corolla if you have enough money to throw.

Harshan, I see a few possibilities here, 1. Carmart collision repair center has actually become better than earlier. 2. While speaking to you at the first meeting, the manager of the collision repair center understood that he was speaking to a pro of peugeots, and personally made sure that his guys did a perfect job for your car. and the wildest one is; 3. Carmart knew you by your name, was waiting for you to come there, and did a perfect job on your car so that they would fall into Autolanka's "good books" :-)

You should have told me earlier my friend.. I just got engaged 2 days ago. :-)

Don't worry doc. Just meant that I wanna come back to SL one day, import my car too, and... raise children.. that's it.! Hoonigan's post says it's possible.. (importing the car that is..)

Some might not agree, but for people who wanna spend their mid / old age, and raise children in a place where they are the "locals", this is good news.

Would the government allow importing a 70's classic, considering it being an addition to "National Heritage"? I'd love to contribute. Won't mind paying some tax too..

That's probably the only automobile import / export law in SL for which most of the AL members would give a thumbs up, including me.

Back to the topic. (Rice or Spice, that is..) In my opinion, general ricers are behind on the knowledge of technologies involved in a car, whereas spicers (hope this means people who do performance modifications) got to know their stuff about horsepower, torque, body-roll, drag and what not. That's why most of the riced cars don't even perform up to the default factory level in speed and handling, if that is taken as a benchmark. This way, ricers have made their cars ornaments that can also move a bit. On the other hand, spicers let go of the original look and durability of the car to make them go faster and handle better. This makes a spiced car not performing to the factory level in comfort, long term usability and functionality (equipment etc) Two different mindsets.. But if I'm given the option of having two cars, I don't mind one of them being a riced up civic (but not in pink hell no..!) and the other being an M3 with a roll cage.

And that's how you make awesome music videos on low budget..! I'm sure a few people are going to fall in trouble cause NSFW is mentioned "below" the link..