Running In and New Vehicles.

I was surprised when I had to do the first oil change at 500 miles on a

4 year old Fiesta (don't ask), the oil that came out was a fairly lurid green, so I expect that the first fill from the factory is something quite special.

How many 2nd hand cars of, say, a year old are ex-hire that may have been driven Italian style from day one?

What a coincidence. I was showing No 1 son-in-law how to do an oil change etc at the weekend and one of his questions was about the colour of the oil (old vs new). I explained why it went black etc but also mentioned that, while most (if not all) new engine oil was light straw coloured, there used to be a green one- the dreaded Duckhams. I explained that I believed it was no longer sold here due to some legal agreement but I wasn't sure.

Heaven knows, especially ex-hire ones.

While there is a school of thought that buying nearly new makes more sense money wise, you could be getting something that has been trashed. We bought a Smart Car with only a few k miles on it a couple of years back. 'Touch wood', it seems to have been a very good buy. However, it was a 3rd car, and a 4th vehicle at the time, mainly for use on holiday (we tow it on a trailer behind our motorhome). However, we've grown to like it so much, it gets quite a lot of use and we are considering buying a new one.

Most of them - but it's a myth that they are driven that way. I hire a few times a year through work, but although I do give hire cars a bit of stick, I'm often more careful than I am with my own car.

(It's hard not to be a little enthusiastic with a Fiesta Ecoboost Zetec

- although the 1.4 Corsa I had in Ireland didn't really encourage naughtiness)

Or worse, a brand new model just released, then handed to some crazy motoring journos as a demo car, or maybe even top gear :( Of course the manufacturer gets some exposure, but at what price?

I think it depends on your age/attitude. I recall a chat with a hire car agent during the drive from their office to our campsite (before we towed a car), she said the sometimes got cars back which had really been thrashed (inc driven around fields etc.- one they thought had been on a beach an got sea water in it). The problem is, you don't know if the one you buy is one of those.

I thought the Corsa was a Bad Boy's Car of choice, in'it, as the yoof of today say ;-)

I think the change in practice is at least partly related to the introduction of plateau honing for cylinder bores. This gives you deep grooves that act as oil reservoirs, but flat "peaks" which form better bearing surfaces for the piston rings. Improvements in oil additives probably contribute, also perhaps the move to lighter oils which lubricate cold engines better.

I left the key of a hire car with a neighbor for collection. A new gas main was going in and the workmen borrowed the key and kindly moved it

100m down the road. The car was gone, I thought it had been collected. The stream flooded during the night and it was sunk above the door sills. Found it full of dirty water the next morning as as there were no other parked cars on road to hide it. Dried the carpet by rolling a rolled up old towel over it like a squeegy. Then left it with air con running for a day. Stuffed the vents with a few cut up air fresheners.

Didn't hear anything so I assume it went undetected.

It would have been high and dry if they had moved it 100m the other way up the road.

I've only purchased one car from new, a Citreon ZX. There was a free

1000 mile service with that BUT the free bit was for labour only. When I got the bill for consumables oil, filter etc. they were hiked so much in price that I effectively payed for the labour. They even had itemised charges for the plastic they used to cover the seat and the paper used to protect the mat. I never used that dealer again!

Perhaps I should have been forewarned because after negotiating a price for the car I was phoned up a day later asking if i wanted to pay extra for a "diamond" finish to the paintwork and a few other extras. On declining these services they offered to do the diamond finish as a goodwill gesture - presumably as it couldn't be seen/checked they didn't bother.

I once hired a punto, as soon as I needed the rear wiper I discovered that it was broken. Nothing to do with me or street hooligans, it was broken from the start. But I didn't notice before it started to rain.

To avoid having to pay hire company for something that I hadn't done, I super-glued the rear wiper.

The company I used to work for had a couple of cars on a permanent basis and it was much less paperwork to book these than to go for a hire car. I picked one of these cars up just after it had been serviced and was on the motorway at 70+mph when just started t rain. I turned on the wipers and the drivers side one immediately parted company with the wiper arms and flew over the top of the car. Wiper blades are not normally the thing you check on the walk around inspection of the car when you pick it up.