Michael McAleer answers your questions
From S O'Boyle:
I was reading the article about Kia extending the warranty to seven years for its new Cee'd in last week's supplement. Why don't other firms follow suit? The warranty for my own car is about to run out this year - due to high mileage - but I'm not planning on changing it for another two years. Is there any sort of insurance cover you can get for the big costs once the warranty has run out?
Some car firms believe they don't need to carry the extra cost because their cars are already considered to be reliable. It's a rather smug stance to take and it's not much use to customers who yearn for peace of mind.
As for your own car, once your manufacturer's warranty runs out you have a few options. In most cases, your dealer will do minor warranty work in the interests of customer service even after the initial deal has run out. But failure of an engine or a gearbox may be a different story.
Don't forget, however, that all new car buyers are covered by consumer law. Regardless of the manufacturer's standing, the dealer or person who sold the car is responsible for repairing any faults that were there at the time of sale.
Remember the mantra: "When a new car is sold it must be fit for its purpose", and be as durable as can be expected.
Therefore, if a new car breaks down, it's the dealer's responsibility under the sale of goods legislation to repair it, not the maker of the car. Regardless of the fact the car may be used or not, when it was put up for sale by the dealer, it is being sold as "fit for its purpose".
The key problem with consumer legislation, however, is proving that the fault was present at the time of purchase - something that as time passes becomes more difficult.
That's why, to avoid any disputes, some buyers opt to buy independent warranties, now available for those who have a car whose maker's warranty has expired.
Various deals are on offer from the likes of GE Money or even through the dealer networks, but at all times, we implore readers, you have to shop around for the best deal. Think about these statistics from British firm Warranty Direct: two out of every five cars suffer mechanical failure in the two years after the traditional three-year manufacturer's warranty has expired and suspension failure accounts for one in four claims for vehicles aged three and four years old, while the second most common problem is engine failure.
Both types of faults can prove very costly.
From David Gordon:
At a time when traffic is moving at an all-time slow pace, would it not make sense to introduce a number of small changes, some of which are currently in use in other countries, to help alleviate the problems faced daily by drivers.
For instance, changing traffic lights to go from red to amber and then green would allow motorists to know that the lights were about to change and therefore speed up the process of moving away from the lights. How many times have we been stuck at lights because the first car driver is not paying attention when a light changes to green?
The system is in use in Britain for many years and seems to work. I believe it would also prevent the drivers who come through junctions after their light has gone red (something that has developed at alarming rate in recent years) as they would soon learn that motorists getting the green light in the opposite side would be coming through a junction sooner after lights change.
Also, for some reason Irish drivers have a capacity for leaving large gaps between cars when stationary in heavy traffic, which means drivers behind are often unable to clear a junction and are held up at another change of lights.
And why do a large majority of drivers ignore using the bus lanes outside of their legal hours of use? Perhaps better signage such as colour co-ordinated signs for the different hours of use by buses such as a red sign for 24-hour bus lanes? And green for, say, morning only bus lanes etc. so that drivers don't have to try and read the relatively small print that show hours of use of a bus lane.
How about Motors having a weekly/monthly section that gives motorists an opportunity to put forward their ideas that might help better traffic movement and it would show the relevant authorities that we are also part of the solution?
It is the small changes that often give the best results.
In a way this is what the Helpdesk offers already. While we're here to advise on everything from spark plugs to sports cars, we do offer the facility for motorists to put forward their suggestions on problems with current traffic issues.
From T Vaughan:
While on a driving trip in Greece last month I was taken by the number of drivers who use their horns to alert other drivers of their presence in tight corners. Why is this not the practice here?
Officially you should only use the car horn to alert others to imminent danger and not as some form of musical instrument or to express your opinion of another's driving ability.
However, it does make sense to use it on some country roads, in particular when approaching some bridges with tight corners beforehand.
If everyone obeyed the speed limits then there wouldn't be a problem, but we all know in reality that's not the case and it's better to be safe than sorry.
We're moving: The Irish Times is moving premises.
While the e-mail address for queries remains the same - motorshelp@irish-times.ie - as of next week please send your letters to the following address: The Irish Times Building, Tara St, Dublin 2.