chadders

No. But for the sake of 2 minutes work I'd email the insurance cos just to cover my arse.

Do you have kids? I have a pretty good idea how bright mine are and can therefore compare their results to my own A level results some 40+ years ago and totally disagree with your theory.

There's been a number of articles in the MGOC magazine about tyres for these. If I remember correctly the make can also have quite an effect. They were a while ago now so I can't remember the conclusions but are probably still available on their website.

Plus: £175,000 – since 2015 you've also been able to take advantage of something called the 'residence nil-rate band', commonly known as the 'main residence' band. This is an additional allowance you'll receive ON TOP of the existing £325,000 inheritance tax allowance if you pass on a main residence to your children or grandchildren. So up to 1m as the 175k can be doubled.

The agreement we had with our sons was that once they start full time work they started paying if they were still living at home. We thrashed that out during a formal family discussion, which we have every few years, along with things like house/flat deposits. That way they know exactly where they stand and it reduces any possible accusations of favouritism. The youngest gets money bunged at times due to things like moving flats and waiting for his deposit to be returned. At the end of the day he's just getting an advance on his inheritance which is far more useful to him now and his brother is happy with it .

Yes, it also helps with Inheritance Tax. As it is the youngests, the researcher, current contract expires soon and then he's planning on going for another 3 year one so we've got some time yet as he'll almost certainly carry on renting. He may end up in Vienna with his girlfriend, who's also a researcher albeit in a different field, in which case they'll rent there.

It's caused us to rethink things a bit as our sons are a scientific researcher and a teacher, neither of which are well paid professions. It looks like we might be able to help them a bit more to get on the housing ladder.

I believe that there is soon to be a lifetime cap for care home fees and also a cap on what can be charged for meals etc.. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/build-back-better-our-plan-for-health-and-social-care/adult-social-care-charging-reform-further-details

He does sound like a wannabe Hedge Fund manager although I suspect the hedge is more of the rural sort in his case.

The two that I use have at least a 4 week waiting list and far longer for major work.

Also paying out for anything else that might fail or wear out in an 8 year old car such as the aircon.

I think part of the problem is that fewer and fewer people are interested in cars as anything other than A to B transport. Both my sons have been driving for over 10 years and have absolutely no interest and only check them over because I hassle them. Their mates are the same. Their approach with the Focus that you mention would probably be contact WBAC and then buying a replacement on the never never.

And you wouldn't want an open ended estimate to fix it. At the end of the day it's a business with good and bad practitioners who need to make a profit, not a charity.

Didn't one of the South Korean firms, Daewoo?, try this about 20 years ago?

I seem to remember reading that about a few companies, I can't remember whether BMW was one though. In my opinion it's very like the 2008 Sub Prime Mortgage crisis in that sales commissions overrode financial common sense.