Q We own a house with a garage in the south of France, but our work in London keeps us away for up to six months at a time. We intend to keep a left-hand-drive car at the house. We know that some cars have electrical systems that seize up when (and if) the battery goes flat. Will a trickle charger help to keep the car’s battery charged during our absences, and how much should we pay for one?

JM from London

A A trickle charger would indeed keep your car’s battery topped up and ready to start whenever you visit. Sometimes called battery conditioners, they cost from as little as £20, depending on features such as the speed at which they recharge and the type of output they have. A battery conditioner bought in the UK will work with a European mains adaptor. For example, the highly rated CTEK XS3600 trickle charger can be bagged for £50 at www.theultimatefinish.co.uk , or www.maplin.co.uk sells a solar-powered model for £25. That said, you could buy one in France that would be pre-fitted with the correct mains plug.

Q My wife owns a K-reg British Open Classic Mini in good condition with only 28,000 miles. I have a Mazda RX-8 from September 2004. She wants a car that is more comfortable than her Mini for longer journeys, with rear seats suitable for children — perhaps a cabriolet. We’re undecided whether to change both cars for a two-seater “fun” car and a more practical daily runabout with four seats and a bigger boot. Or is it worth keeping the Mini as it is so much fun to drive?

DB from Milton Keynes

A Keeping the Mini could be a decent option. It should cost little to run and may even increase slightly in value if kept in good condition. If you decide to sell, a dealer would give you only a few hundred pounds, whereas a Mini enthusiast might pay up to £2,000 for an original, low-mileage model in good nick. Assuming that your Mazda RX-8 is the 231bhp model with average mileage, it’s worth about £7,500 if part-exchanged or £1,000 more if sold privately. Rather than buying two new cars, you could keep the Mini and look for a cabriolet that is also spacious to replace the RX-8. The challenge is that as most convertibles now come with a folding-metal hard top, they have limited luggage capacity and rear-seat space.

However, you could consider a Mercedes-Benz CLK, which has a folding fabric roof, a decent-size boot and good rear legroom. A straight swap for your RX-8 would equate to a 1999 T-reg 230K Avantgarde automatic. Adding about £6,000 to that budget buys the newer-shaped model that came out in 2003.

Q Since I bought my Honda Civic in July last year, it has made a knocking and creaking noise when used after standing overnight. Our dealer has examined the car on four occasions but refuses to undertake further work, pending advice from Honda. How long do I have to wait for this fix and what are my legal rights?

CD from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset

A There is an implied term in your sales contract stating the car must be of “satisfactory quality”. Factors that might affect this include the age of the vehicle, the price and any defects made known at the time. If you can prove that your car is of unsatisfactory quality this could give rise to a right to reject it and to claim damages from the dealer for breach of contract.

Whether you have a right to reject the car depends on the seriousness of the problem and the length of time since the purchase. Because you bought the vehicle more than a year ago, the opportunity to reject could have been lost, though if breach of contract could be proved, you would still have a damages claim.

Honda says the problem is believed to be in the rear dampers and it is doing tests to pinpoint the fault. It says there have been only a “handful” of similar complaints from the 96,883 Civic owners in the UK and has no plans to announce a general recall. However, it has promised to fit a new set of dampers to your vehicle.

Q I own a Vauxhall Zafira 1.9CDTi on a 55 plate, which has covered about 30,000 miles. Not long ago the car had its two-year service at an approved Vauxhall garage. I have since received a letter from the dealer saying that because the car is approaching 30 months of age, it is due an oil and filter service. Is this true? I thought intervals between services were supposed to be getting longer rather than shorter.

JM from Bristol

A Your car requires Vauxhall’s “eco” servicing schedule, whereby the vehicle must be serviced every 12 months or 20,000 miles, whichever is the sooner.

Assuming that you have had two annual services (your mileage is not high enough to warrant a third) you would certainly have had an oil/filter change at the second one.

As such, your next service should be a year later, unless you have reached 40,000 miles in the interim.

Someone at your dealership probably has your car listed under the wrong servicing schedule.

Q One of my friends has a fancy numberplate design with italic lettering. He also has his name and a silly slogan printed at the bottom of the plate. He hasn’t been stopped by the police yet but the car is now coming up to its first MoT and I think it will fail. Or am I wrong?

JC from Gosport, Hampshire

A Your friend is going to need new plates. If he looks at the DVLA guidelines at tinyurl.com/6xzqey he will discover that all UK numberplates made after August 2001 must display a mandatory typeface. The size, spacing and design of the digits is specified and italics are not allowed. The only other writing allowed on a numberplate is the details of the plate supplier and the British Standard number.

Less conventional plate designs are still sold but only for display purposes or for use at motoring events such as Goodwood. The only decoration permitted on numberplates is the European Union symbol with GB identifier, which removes the need (and expense) of a separate GB sticker if driving elsewhere within the EU.

Tell your friend that failing his MoT is the least of his worries. The police can issue fixed-penalty fines of up to £1,000 for illegally displayed numberplates, and in some cases the mark may be withdrawn. Bad news for a cherished plate.

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