One defect masy indicate another

HELPDESK:Your motoring queries answered by MICHAEL McALEER, Motoring editor

From D Sexton:
I suppose this is more an observation than a request for help, but an important point nonetheless. Now that the evenings are drawing in, the amount of drivers whose vehicles have defective lights is increasingly obvious. During my last two commutes home from work (about 35 minutes), I have counted 17 vehicles each night with a light of some description not functioning.

The worrying aspect of this is that if such an obvious impairment is going unnoticed by such a large proportion of drivers, I would imagine their vehicles’ tyres, brakes and other essential safety features are in equally bad condition.

I would encourage your readers to check their vehicle’s suitability for winter motoring. Recession or not, there is no excuse for not spending a few euro maintaining a car’s basic roadworthiness, thereby improving safety on the roads for us all.

Car maintenance rarely makes it to the top of the household budget - unless the car doesn't start - but the costs can be life-threatening. We should be thankful for the NCT, for at the very least it forces owners of used cars of four years and older to have a minimum level of inspection every two years. But you need to maintain your car all the time it’s on the road and not just prior to its biennial inspection. While the Garda advertisements claim that speed is the killer on Irish roads, inappropriate speed is the actual problem and that can be well within the legal limit if you have bald tyres or broken lights.

From MR:

I’ve been looking at a new Mercedes E-Class 220 CDI and I would fancy it with the 18” sports wheels. However, I’ve been told that this will increase the tax on the car as it sends it into Band C rather than Band B on the regular wheels. Is this really the case? Where do the emissions come from - the burning rubber? What if I buy the car and change the wheels later? Will the tax status change?

According to a spokewoman for Mercedes, as the wheels on entry models are 16” and the larger wheels are 18”, you will actually find the car moving from band B to band D and motor tax rise from €156 to €447 per year. Car firms are fighting to lose every gram of CO2 and that means changing wheel sizes and the like. I doubt such moves make a significant difference to the real-world emissions - certainly not as much as the driving style of the owner - but they make a difference to the official figures upon which tax is allocated.

You can, of course, get the car with the 16” alloys and, at some later date, change the wheels. I have yet to hear of Revenue officials resorting to measuring wheel rims on private used cars but these are strange times we live in. Ultimately it is your responsibility to register the change with them and pay the extra tax.

Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara St, Dublin 2 or email motorshelp@irishtimes.com