Rich_Eason

Yeah but all I have done is continued my insurance as if I was a new customer, i.e. ignored the renewal letters and started a fresh policy, at the cheaper price. When I asked on the phone if I can have my renewal policy at the same price of the new one they declined, and wouldnt give a reason. If it was commision based, surely the new customer price would be higher? What I dont understand is why the same product can cost a substantial ammount more e.g. its the same as buying a Double Decker, one is for sale at 0.40p the other at £4.40. I know which one I'd buy, but they are the same product. When I changed from the Focus I think it was only a 40quid increase, dont have a problem with that as for a start its a higher insurance group...if that has any relevance any more.

I also asked why as a returning customer of 8 years my premium was £516 but for a new customer smae company using the same details and particulars it was only £322 plus 10% discount. :lol: :angry: :blink: the answer I got was................................." insert white noise sound here - nothing " :ph34r: :o <_< I have real "issues" with insurance companies especially the ones that give you the hard sell of a policy costing in excess of £194 more than that of a new customer....i feel sorry for those who just retun the renewal with an enclosed cheque. I have asked them to clarify what extra/over I get if I was to pat the extra £194 so be interesting to see what their response is.

*Climbs on to Soapbox* <_< Going with the experiences of Insuring my VTS this wouldnt suprise me. My insurance was renewed last week and have had the most bizzare experience. Naming no names (you frequently see the yellow vans driven by a very nice man...a very very nice man) they advised me to change the vehicle description type of the car! :blink: :ph34r: :o So although the the car as detailed on the DVLA V5 is Citroen C4 VTS Coupe they advised me to change it to read Saloon or 3 Door as "this would bring down the cost of your premium" Brief Transcription Me "Its called a Coupe" Insurance Co " Yes but it has three doors so must be a 3 door" Me "Its called a Coupe" Insurance Co "So is it a 3-door hatchback?" Me "Its called a Coupe, what do the DVLA have it recorded as your end?" Insurance Co "Coupe" Me "So its called a Coupe then" Insurance Co "But if you select 3-door this will bring down your premium" Me "So you will validate my insurance if I call it a 3door even though it clearly says on the V5 Coupe?" Insurance Co "Yes" Me "Even though it is different to the DVLA Description?! No thanks! Call it a Coupe, as that is what DVLA have it registered as" When we got round to security devices questions...I was asked to "specifically specify" what exactly was factory fitted...."factory fitted parametric alarm and immobiliser" - basically read out from the manual. I then had 20 questions as to what factory fitted meant... I couldn't help at this point reply "I dont know, I'm not a Citroen engineer, although if I knew one, I'd ask one, which I dont. I know the alarm was fitted in the car when it was built by a Citroen employee in a Citroen factory and that it goes off if I leave my girlfriend in the car with the doors locked" This amongst a number of other bizzare questions relating to the renewal made me wondered if they actually knew what the hell they are doing...scary really. Even though they made it quite clear that the information they have is linked to the DVLA they still advise you to change your details! :angry: Citroen cars are exported around the world in large numbers so wouldnt exactly call the C4 low in terms of production units so they must know what they come out with as standard, the onus is on the policy holder to declare any mods away from standard. Not exactly like I was trying to Insure a flipping Bristol Blenheim or Dacia Duster (not that I'd want one of course) *Climbs off Soapboax* :lol: PS Apologies for going slightly off topic...! I just hate Insurance Comps....!

The www.channel4.com/4car long term VTS had this problem, it is reported in one of the write ups on the site.

Bluetooth function is good and worth every penny, even better if your mobile has all the functions that can be operated via the C4 (My Samsung D500 has limited function e.g. answer call make call, Motorola Pebl has full function phone book entry retrieval etc etc....). Have no experience of the Navidrive although I think there is a topic somewhere on this forum about it.

You'll have to cut a slot in the trim in the back for the exaust and "think" the exaust points down at the ground. I find the M.P.G in my 180 VTS no worse than a 1.8 Focus, in fact it is better in some respects, e.g. even though it revs higher at motorway speeds it seems to use less fuel than the Focus did at say 80mph...?

I know, but I think it would be more useful than "Find my car even though I'm stood right next to it" button. :blink: A windows down function will be good, as looking out the window right now, I know when I open the doors of my C4, it is going to be a billion degrees in there and enough oxygen to fill a matchbox, and not my lungs. At least I would have found my car though! :blink:

With the hotter weather at the moment :huh: all cars fitted with A/C behave in this manner, my old Foci used to have this characteristic (as well as many others), as did other hire cars I have driven for work. Its just where he A/C is working hard to keep you cool. Normally the A/C would decide to kick in just as I need to pull quickly away from a roundabout or junction, leaving you with a "massive dead spot" and a car coming at you leaving you semi-stranded in its path. :blink: You'd then hear the "click" of the A/C clutch and it would then behave normally until the clutch kicked in again. In hot weather the engine always seemed especially "wheezy" although not drinking much in the way of fuel. :blink: I must admit the C4 is the first car I've driven where the AC has minimal intrusion into the driving characteristics of the car, not enough for me to say it has much effect on the performance. I'd put it down to normal behaviour of A/C. I am sure you wouldn't have to wait long for the weather to cool suffciently enough for it to sort itself out after all this is the UK. :blink: Just need to remember to keep the A/C running in the cooler months! :P

I'd love to put them down with the remote too :blink:

You can buy the spoiler as an approved accessory but is ££££ :blink:

Thats what I meant by 'I can't find my car in the car park' function! B) I still think this is the most bizzare feature.... :blink: :blink: I mean how many times have you gone into a car park to find that there are more than two of the same car as yours, parked in close vacinity of each other and you cant tell them apart because they are all the same model, colour but have different number plates (clue there)! Besides which the range of the key fob kind of indicates that you can see the car anyway! :P I often find myself stood in Sainsburys pondering where my car is when stood next to it. :blink: :huh:

If you "long press" the lock button it should close the window.

Wo wo wo...hold yer horses :D Before we digress into what gets changed and when we are having the recall work done, can someone digress a bit more about what cars are affected? Petrol, diesel coupe, hatch, all, few, years, or are we still at the speculative stages? :blink: I'd like to know if my petrol VTS is gonna need going in to the breakers (read : dealer) again. B) I'll have to contact them about the recall of course.

Not quite! I'm 5/8ths through my final 1/4...... :lol: Mental Note:- Must get out more <_<

27 3/4 and a bit

Chances are that if I leave the windows down I certainly wont be finding the car in any car park and strongly suspect it will be out of range of the key fob <_< Besides which how many times have you walked into a car park and mistake your car for a similar one? We do have a thread about C4 exclusivity on going at the moment! For its looks alone, its always easy to spot a C4 from the other tin pots surrounding it. Having owned a Focus, shopping center car parks are littered with the things and always (unfortunatly) found it.

As I approached my deadlocked VTS (e.g. press the button once to lock, twice to deadlock) the other day, I mistakenly pressed the key fob "lock" button as apposed to the "unlock"button. After which the indicator lights went mental continually fast flashing until I pressed the "unlock" button. What function is this?! I understand the C4 has global closing of windows, but does it have global opening? My old Focus had this and was a boon on boiling hot days allowing you to breathe inside the car after it had been in the sun for 9hours until aircon kicked in!

I find the extendable centre arm rest (especially in the hotter weather when plastic expands) a bit annoying as it has a tendancy to creap forward from the retracted posistion and get in the way of changing gear. I have found that it creaps forward when... Going down hill on a bumpy road Generally want to stop or use the brakes, Approaching roundabouts and junctions Drop "down" off motorway slip roads, Go "down" onto Motorways off slip road Go down hill breaking...(this is when it really flies forward and skips CD's). Go down hill, ...etc etc You tend to look a bit "weird" when pulling up to a juntion next to someone trying to push the extended arm rest back with your left elbow...you basically look like you are scratching you left ear with your shoulder! Currently thinking about making some way of retaining the extendable rest but still allow it to be used....

"I think" it mentions in manual somewhere that you must come to a stop, let revs drop, then put into gear. My VTS revs can sometimes take a time (e.g. 2secs) to drop to idle especially if you have come to a stop quick. If your wheels are rolling forward this will also cause the gear box to crunch. My olds Focus didnt mind rolling forward and whacking into reverse! Handy for quick turn arounds.... "If you cant find it, grind it!"

So how do you open them when they are jammed shut? The drawer built into the air vent on the passenger side (assume this is actually a drawer and not a blank panel - it says in the manual that this is a drawer)is stuck shut and no amount of pushing releases it. I dont want to start levering as this will mark the drawer front. Not vital that I get this open (if it actually does) but be nice if I could....

I got the VTS booked in for this Wednesday, seemed to know on the phone what the exact cause is more than likely to be which made me wonder if this is a common fault on models with these lights fitted? Asked to the avalibility of a courtesy car..."next avalible slot is w/c 26th June" .....how handy :)

I have experienced the problem with "steerable headlamp fault/ automatic headlamp adjustment fault" problem on my week old VTS (became aparent driving through a thunderstorm yesterday)...handy... Obviously going to need to take a visit back, roughly how long does it need to be in the garage for?