Buyer’s Guide: What to Look Out For When Buying a Used Car

If you’re in the market for a used car, keep in mind that finding a trouble-free one has nothing to do with luck. It requires you to be diligent at research and apply keen investigative skills. By doing so, you’ll be able to learn how to spot potential problems. It also helps you determine how safe and reliable a pre-owned vehicle is so that you’ll be able to make an informed decision as to buying the car or not. Saying nay to a potentially problematic vehicle can save you not only from expensive repairs, but it can also save your life.

Even if you have the budget to buy any car you want, remember to do your homework first and look out for these things when purchasing a used car, so you will be safe on the road.

Paperwork - the audit trail

Cars should have a logbook in which service repairs, licence information, and MOT certificates are indicated. Check the logbook, examine the service history, and study receipts and MOT certificates to see if the vehicle has been properly maintained. The paperwork should be in order and in their original form.

Engine - the vvrroooom of every car

The heart of the car should well-maintained, and the Vehicle Identification Number should have no sign of tampering. It should also be the same as recorded in the logbook. If it looks altered in any way, don’t exert any more effort and start looking elsewhere—you don’t want to get involved in anything illegal!

If the VIN is fine, check everything else: the oil, water, and engine body. Check for fluid leaks, the condition of the oil, and fluid levels of the brake fluid and engine coolant. The battery system, especially the connectors and terminals, should be in good condition and free from rust.

Exteriors - don't just care about model and colour

Use a keen eye to study the overall exterior of the car. Be wary of cleverly-done paint finish that may be hiding a major damage to the bodywork. Check for a consistent paint finish; it should be the same shade all over the vehicle. The driver and passenger doors should open and close smoothly, with intact and secure rubber seals. Examine the seals for tell-tale signs of a paint respray! Check the gaps between the car’s panels and make sure they are the same width. 

Uneven gaps could indicate that the car had been crashed and repaired. 

Outstanding finance - does your car carry a debt burden?

A recent phenomenon is that people sell cars with logbook loans on them. It's legal and it's happening more and more, so you have to do some checks. I just read about it in the The Mirror

Interiors and no not just the upholstery!

Check those numbers! The mileage on the car’s odometer should be consistent with what the seller says and the car’s service log or other documents. Check to see if all of the instruments and controls work, from the lights, the electric windows, locks, air conditioning, seat adjustment, and the bonnet release. 

Beware of these things that indicate the car went through some trouble in the past:

 Damage to the ignition and steering column – this could indicate the car had been hotwired, and possibly stolen

 Frayed seatbelts – indicate that these have been activated in a crash

 Dashboard and steering wheel damage – these could indicate the airbags had been activated, which means the car has crashed at least once before

When everything is in order, take the car out for a test drive so you can completely assess its performance before closing the deal. Recall the topics in your theory test to guide you in choosing the right car!

This post is in collaboration with +Debbie Fletcher 

Night Photography with A DSLR with Transun. Tips for Visiting the Northern Lights with a Camera.

So what do you do if you don't actually own a DSLR, but fancy learning how to create great night photography on "manual" WITH a DSLR? You go on a Transun Night Photography DSLR Workshop of course! I must have needed a night out real bad.

So, as I can't currently put into practice what I learned I thought I would type up my notes to share with you lovely folks. If you find this information beneficial you can thank me by commenting and sharing; you can also thank the hosts of this great workshop, Transun by visiting their website. Thanks from us both in advance. Oh, and by the way, I myself just visited their website and am rather taken with the Christmas holidays like Santa's On His Way. Having this morning had a very good look around the site, I am 100% entering their Lapland Competition (open to bloggers only).

The theme of our workshop was the Northern Lights and the "teacher" was Simon from Iguana Photography.

He opened the worskhop (after introductions) by saying that light pollution would create a hue, from the street lights that would mean night photography wouldn't work. We overcame this by firstly staying in the room for 70% of the workshop, by learning all of the many settings that come to play when you keep your DSLR on manual, and when we did go outside we focused on light painting (see below), making passers by disappear or blur, and taking pictures of the moon (half moon). 

My favourite moony of the night was from The Boy and Me, and thankfully she has already posted it online:

You would fully appreciate how good that photo is if you knew that (1) it was incredibly cloudy (2) there was a ridiculous amount of yellow light pollution and (3) there were wispy clouds constantly moving across that moon, even when it did pop out from behind the clouds. It's amazing really as I didn't realise that the moon was even as full as that portrayed in the photo. In the lunar calendar we are currently in the phase of the waxing moon and it won't be a full moon until 8th October. 1st October, last night, was what is called "first quarter". After the 8th October we then have a waning moon until the new moon. All of this is of particular significance to females, as our menstrual cycle is in harmony with the lunar cycle, as are our moods. Anyway, I digress.

***

Playing with manual settings takes a lot of concentration - that's Debbie and Jane above. The empty table behind them is the "teacher's desk" so it's not that the worskshop wasn't full - it was.

Simon pointed out that even when working in manual, you can still have the camera on AUTO FOCUS, whilst controlling everything else. So what is it you can actually control? Well, here we go:

1. Aperture - which controls the amount of light let in.
2. ISO - how quickly the light gets onto the exposure. 200 apparently is a good benchmark which "absorbs a decent amount of light". Go up in numbers, absorbs more light. Too high leads to grain/speckle effect.
3. Shutter speed - slower lets more light in. Need that for dark night time shots, like of the Northern Lights or, when you have moving subjects across a photo.

All of this may sound straight forward, but it is getting to know your camera well enough to know how to change all of these things that can be part of the battle. Also different brands of cameras require completely different knobs to be turned or buttons pressed as we discovered with so many different cameras at the workshop.

Following on from "2" above, if a wedding photographer says "there's a lovely grain in that photo" ask for 50 pounds off, as it will have been a mistake.

So they are the three important elements that you have at your disposal.

If comparing a camera to an EYE:

1. The sensor acts like a retina
2. The shutter like an eyelid and
3. The aperture like the iris/pupil.

Those lovely photos where the subject is clear and the background is blurred are done with apertures. The lower the number the more blur you get. Also provides a depth of feel (the photo is less FLAT).

For The Northern Lights Simon suggests we would need a tripod and long exposure to get light into the camera. He asked us what we could use in the absence of a tripod and suggested we could even make the snow into a mound (which would then need to be covered as the chill drains the camera battery). One of the delegates joked this would be a snow-pod :-) *boom boom*.

When Simon visits Disney World he is carrying too much children related paraphernalia so isn't able to carry a tripod. He therefore uses his imagination and rests the camera on a dustbin, or leans against a lamp-post. This is to get good night time shots of the night parades they do at Disney.

TOP TIPS for your Northen Lights Camera Packing:

• When visiting the Northern Lights bring 3 or 4 batteries as the cold will drain them. Make sure the spare ones are cheap ones as you may well never need them again, being that this is possibly the trip of a lifetime. 
• For the same reason have a well insulated decent camera bag, so that your camera is kept as "warm" as possible.
• As above, bring a tripod or build a snow-pod.
• In terms of lenses, Simon said:
• Nikon are dearer than Sigma and Sigma is dearer than Tamron. Unless you are selling photos that will be used on a billboard, you possibly don't need an expensive Nikon lens. Also, he said Tamron are no longer the poor man's lens - they have come a long way and now stand up to testing.
• When Simon is shall we say, climbing up scaffolding, he would do so with a Sigma, rather than a Nikon lens, due to the cost and potential of dropping it.
• Don't be frightened of buying off EBay as (i) you can buy from a seller with a great track record (ii) make sure product is described as in good condition (iii) EBay have a sound money back guarantee and (iv) in the photography area of EBay there are a lot of genuine sellers.
• A 24-70 Lens will work for the Northern Lights and is a good workhorse lens that goes down to an aperture of 2.8. However a Sigma one could set you back 600 pounds, so possibly if you are not a serious photographer, for your Northern Lights trip hire some equipment, or see above RE: cheaper brands, or less than brand new.
• Hire your equipment if you are not an every day photographer.
• Make mood boards before you go (possibly on Pinterest) to give yourself inspiration with regards to what others have done.
• Don't just photograph the Northern Lights. You could get great shots of the trip itself: the arrival, the accommodation, the food etc...
• Use a 15 to 30 second exposure for the Northern Lights.
• You need to practice before you go, as you may only see the Northern Lights for 10 or 15 minutes.
• Therefore preparation (as with everything in life) prevents poor performance. So next time you go to Sports Day, spend those valuable minutes when you arrive setting up your camera.
• Make sure your camera is zoomed out at the Northern Lights. You can CROP when back home. No need to risk missing anything.
• Once you are there and ready, with camera on tripod, don't actually forget to point it AT the sky.

For a photo with aperture F10 or F11 you can have 8 seconds of exposure, and on ISO 200.

Work out whether speed or aperture is important to you.

Simon was once asked to photograph an art gallery. His client wanted to see that it was visited, without the visitors being the subject of the photo. So Simon used a 45 second exposure, which meant that there was movement in the photo, as someone may have spent 8 seconds at each image in the gallery. Also has the advantage that the blurred image of the visitor cannot be identified.

Using camera techniques you can even make a passer by disappear from the photo.

So, I hope some of that information was of use to you, let me know.

I am happy to link up to others who were also there, so drop me a line. Also, to the two ladies whose light painting I captured let me know who you are so I can credit you with a link. This one is great (below) Simon is very neat when writing with a light:

Despite not having a DSLR I did have a great play with ALL of the night time settings on my Sony Cybershot, and I loved the "fireworks" setting:

It was great getting to know Debbie, Jane and The Boy and Me. Such a lovely lovely night. Thanks all. Thanks too Jane for the lift.

Liska xx

P.S. you can spot me below. I am the one without a DSLR :-)

What a great group tonight at #experiencetransun @transun pic.twitter.com/olYKxp0rhT
— Joe Blogs (@joesbloggers) October 1, 2014

I will leave you with this official FACT SHEET that the Photographer Simon put together:

Choose the appropriate mode for your shot

SHUTTER PRIORITY (S/TV)

(You control the Shutter Speed and ISO)

Ideal for freezing or capturing motion

APERTURE PRIORITY (A/AV)

(You control the Depth of Field and ISO)

Ideal for ‘everything in focus’ shots or blurry backgrounds

MANUAL SETTING (M)

Gives you FULL control of ISO, Shutter Speed and

Depth of Field

Shutter Priority

A rough guide to shutter speeds

1/4000 - 1/2000 will stop the wings of a hummingbird

1/1000 - 1/500 will freeze an athlete running

1/250 - 1/60 will stop everyday motion

1/30 - 1/8 will blur motion

0.5 - 30” will capture low light, motion and long exposures

Aperture Priority

A rough guide to aperture

The aperture controls the depth of field, so the wider the aperture

(smaller number, i.e. f2.8), the less is in focus, whereas the smaller

the aperture (bigger number, i.e. f22), the more is in focus.

Don’t forget - The aperture also controls the amount of light

reaching the sensor. So, at f2.8, more light gets in and at f22,

less light gets in.

ISO affects Noise/Grain

Aperture affects Depth of Field

Shutter affects Motion

Back to our Friday Routine of Swimming with Two 3 Year Old Boys

One of me and Aaron's favourite activities is swimming.  Last Spring we got into a habit of going every Friday, but then we got a new routine of meeting my best mate and her son every Friday and swimming went by the wayside.  I actually had no interest in going swimming during the heatwave we had during the Summer and much preferred the paddling pool in the garden which got lots of use.

Anyhow a couple of weeks ago, my new routine and my old routine combined, and now the 4 of us (2 x boys and 2 x Mums) go swimming every Friday. We've only done 2 Fridays so far, but it already feels like a new healthy habit.

In the water there are no issues with running around, or sharing.  It is so relaxed and so so so much fun. We sing songs, we splash, we laugh, and we relax. No housework out of the side of your eye, and no toys/telly.  Bliss!

Things I do to make it easier:

1. When I come back from swimming I wash his/my swimming hat and his/my swimming costume. They get packed in a bag, which is put in a drawer, so that the next time we go swimming it is just a case of grab and run.  When he is older and has goggles etc... I will add them to the bag!  I am not tidy, so this routine really helps when I am in a flap trying to get ready to run out the door.  We've been swimming on and off a few years now (well 3 at least) and it's a routine I have always stuck to.
2. I ensure we have lunch before we go, but obviously not too close to swimming.  Hungry kids don't like swimming!  Despite lunch an hour or two before swimming he still gets out of the water ravenous.  Be prepared for this!
3. Week 1 of our new routine he went to bed early, but week 2 I was disappointed to see that the same trick did not work again.  The trick is to do bedtime at tired and not wait till over-tired!
4. Make sure I have the ONE POUND for the locker and the entrance money.
5. Make sure I have a wet bag (a drawstring bag that the wet things will go in after).
6. Make sure that when I fill the locker, towels are at the top.  He's always freezing when we get out of the water.
7. Stop at the showers to warm up on the way to the lockers (it's a bit of a walk).  See point 6!
8. Get him dressed in warm clothes before me, for the same reason.
9. Do not put his shoes on, and threaten that I don't want him to get his socks wet, so that he stays seated while I get dressed.  Week 1 he ran around the changing rooms while I tried to dress.   Week 2 I knew what I was doing and did this trick.  Will it work again this Friday? No idea but I will let you know.
10. Deflate our Zoggs arm-bands after the swim, so that they are flat and not tangled (by that I mean twisted).  Also means they dry properly and are nice and flat, ready to be blown up next week.
11. I do point 10. because with our Zoggs arm-bands (which I love by the way) you have to inflate part 1 before part 2, and this is hard to do if they are not flat and untangled.  I learned this from a time I went swimming with Anya in Brighton, (a year ago this coming week actually) and got stressed/tearful when I couldn't blow them up properly.  I was stressed anyway, and got the finger equivalent of tongue-tied.

There's info for parents of swimmers on this website.

This past Friday, I had to take a pic of Aaron in the changing rooms as we were spending the weekend with Perry the Penguin to blog about #PerryOnTour. 

Look:

This is Aaron's second all-in-one costume which is ideal for keeping little ones warm.  When he was under 1 years of age, in the early days of our swimming trips he had one of those swimming nappies, but they are only bottoms so I used to have to team it with a t-shirt which looking back on it was SO silly.  I much prefer all in ones now!  If I had my time again (which I hope to as I don't want to be a Mum of One) I would go for a float suit. Apparently float suits are ideal for new swimmers. Our arm bands are also on that link.  What I LOVE about them is that they are ROLL UP.  Easy on and easy off!!!  They are currently only seven pounds and worth every penny if you ask me.  We have been using ours since 2011!  Our wet bag is actually Zoggs too, (I see it is only five pounds on their website, but we paid double that as we bought it in a swimming pool - don't be caught out like me and buy as much as you can directly on their site) so we are big fans in this house. You can also get fun dive sticks from Zoggs if you have older swimmers.  We're a couple of years off that just yet :-)  Zoggs are actually doing a 50% off swimwear Sale at the moment!

Do you take your little ones swimming? I'd highly recommend it. I can't wait till Friday.  Actually last week we saw a Mum and Daughter refused entry to the pool as neither of them were in a costume, but rather underwear.  I am really glad they are okay about my best mate wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and leggings as she is Muslim and must cover up even in the pool.  Thankfully the pool is empty on Fridays so we don't have to seek out women only classes.

This post was brought to you in association with Zoggs but ALL opinions and words are mine and mine alone.

Bye for now, Liska xxx

Building Your Blog - Mummy Blogger

Hi

I am far far far from an expert, but when Midlife Single Mum asked me to share tips, I kind of took her seriously, so here they are.  Everyone has their "thang" and my geeky thang is having my blog come up as search result 1, on page 1, when searching the words I would use... Geeky but true!

As I said yesterday I am trying to build my page views at the moment.

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Tips as I know them today - they are not intended to be exhaustive - I am a Mummy Blogger not a SEO expert.

1. Tweet out your posts - this really does work!
2. Use H1 relevant headings - tells your readers and the search engines what your post is about.
3. Link to your (relevant) posts in your post - people will read them too.
4. Publish what is on your mind - if it is topical and you are thinking about it, no doubt someone else out there will be too.  For example, I don't like Wenlock and Mandeville and wrote about it - I then discovered I am far far from alone in feeling this way!
5. I found this post, and commented, and my comment is now sending further traffic my way (that wasn't my intention when I commented but it is nice nonetheless).
6. Link to whoever and whatever you want to - don't be selfish with your links.  An attitude of gratitude is infectious.
7. If the reason you blog is as an escape from just being a Mummy, then don't blog about just being a Mummy - blog about what's on your mind - it is cathartic not only for you, but for your readers too.
8. Do what makes YOU happy.  I am my happiest when Google picks up on my content, so I love it when I see figure 1, 2 and 3 above.
9. When you learn stuff, don't be afraid to share it
10. Build your community - know who your readers are and engage with them.
11. If someone writes a follow up post to your post, then you may feel in 7th heaven - I did.  So I returned the favour and wrote a follow up to the follow up.  If your diary is a bit of a journal, there is no harm in letting people steer your path, as them reading what you are saying is having the same effect on them.
12. With the above in mind, don't pollute the atmosphere (or cybersphere) - we share a consciousness, and we want it to be a good one.
13. If your post is principally to help people, use the words that they may search for.
14. Don't have regrets - write now before it's too late - I missed a whole chapter of my son's life on my blog (I spent that time on Netmums and Facebook - back in Summer 2010).
15. I can never give you tips as good as what is written HERE, so please do have a read.  It's worth clicking through for 2 reasons - for the traffic tips but also because you just have to watch the Sleepwalking video at the end.

I'll come back and add to this if I think of more.... or add some tips to the comments :-) share share share.

Liska - New Mum Online
xx