Advance Auto Zone

Car registration numbers are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for taxation purposes and enforcing road laws. On today’s roads however the uses of number plates extends past their primary function and are commonly used to personalize vehicles by people all over the country. From happy couples celebrating 50 years of marriage to motor enthusiasts looking to add the finishing touch to their prized set of wheels, private number plates are becoming ever more popular by the day.

Private number plate suppliers offer access to huge databases of car registrations being sold across the country from cherished number plates to the latest 07 registrations. A common misconception when buying private number plates is that you are simply buying the plastic number plates which go on the car. This would make the number plates worth thousands of pound very expensive sheets of plastic indeed! When buying a personal number plate you are in fact purchasing the rights to a particular car registration. Once assigned to a vehicle, the rights to this private registration fall to the registered keeper.

When you sell a vehicle with private number plates assigned to it, the new registered keeper acquires the rights to the registration number. If you wish to retain the rights to the private registration there are two options. Firstly you can transfer the number plate onto another vehicle you own or secondly you can transfer the car registration number onto a V778 Certificate of Entitlement.

Holding a car registration on certificate means that you can retain the rights to the registration without it being assigned to a vehicle. Applicants wishing to use this facility should complete DVLA form V778/1 and include the V5 logbook, MOT (if applicable) and the retention fee of £105 payable to the DVLA with the application. To transfer a number plate from car to car you must complete DVLA form V317 and include the V5 logbooks, MOT certificates (if applicable) and the fee of £80 payable to DVLA.

By selling private number plates you are effectively waiving any rights you have to those particular registration numbers. If you wish to sell your private number plates there are a number of options you can take. Firstly you can sell the vehicle with the car registration still assigned. The new registered keeper will then have full entitlement to the number plate. Alternatively if you are holding the number plate on retention you can sell the certificate to a willing buyer. You will have to have the buyers name added as a nominee if they wish to assign it to their vehicle.

To add a nominee name to retention certificate the owner must sign Section 1 and provide the nominee name. The certificate must then be sent to the DVLA with payment of £25. An updated certificate with the new nominee name will be sent out typically within two weeks. A third option is to sell advertise the number plate whilst still assigned to your car. Once sold the number plate can be transferred vehicle to vehicle via the DVLA.

Selling and buying personal number plates privately can be risky for both the seller and buyer. One of the safest ways to sell private number plates is via a reputable number plate dealer. By doing so both the seller and buyer have the backing of professionals who can act as a middle ground for the exchange of certificates and monies.

Ross O’Donnell has always been a fan of private capeplates.co.uk/ number plates and he now writes and works for Cape Plates. Cape Plates offer a free valuation and selling service and can act as agents to ensure a safe sale of your registration number.

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The transportation sector is under a bit of stress with high fuel prices. Does this mean there are less trucks on the road and thus less trucks to be washed? Actually, no there are not less trucks on the road, actually large truck fleets are making more money by adding fuel costs into customer pricing.

What about competition during a squeeze to save costs and streamline the sector, more money for fuel means less money for other expenses right? But the larger trucking companies generally sign up with Blue Beacon for $30.00 washes with a corporate discount and they have 90 plus truck washes plus their side brand Hand Wash Charley’s.

Now then the smaller trucking companies, which have long-term contracts cannot react to the increased fuel prices as fast like a FedEx, Swift, JB Hunt and they are really hurting. Small Trucking Companies and Independent Truck Drivers do not have the economies of scale to allow them to raise their prices and if they do they can lose contracts and if they don’t they can go bankrupt due to the increases in costs. Either way they lose and typically the Independents are the highest paying truck wash customers you see? Independents are more apt to be the best customers for $55-70 Truck washes, taking pride in their ride.

There are more trucks on the roads, but also extreme pressure to keep quarterly profits up. And economic hick-up and you could find issues with load levels and pull-backs. Right now we are in a major transportation up swing and running redline, so is this a good time to set up a bunch of truck washes? Well, it depends if one can roll with the punches and market to the larger trucking companies who want faster washes to keep the trucks moving down the highway and low prices to meet their budget commands. Please consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

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Alfa Romeo, ah there’s a name to conjure with. Henry Ford is reputed to have said that he lifted his hat every time he saw one (which wasn’t often). In the 1930s and 1950s, Alfa Romeo was revered in much the same way as Ferrari is now. And in the 60s there were some super Alfa Romeos, but after that Fiat decreed Alfas should change to front-wheel drive, which went against all Alfa stood for. So things went downhill.

Now, it looks as if Alfa is on the up and up. First, this Alfa GT is lovely looking car, secondly, it has the right power trains, and thirdly, the suspension and steering are right. Next comes the shorter Brera, and as Alfa is now in the same sub-group as Maserati, it must have a more sporty future.

Styled by Bertone

So what about this GT? Styled by Bertone, it’s an elegant coupe that makes others look dull. The Alfa three-piece grille sits in the low nose, which sweeps up to the quite high scuttle and steeply raked windscreen. There are the typical Alfa sculptured sides, and despite the sloping fastback, there is good headroom in the back. The short and neat tail also provides quite a bit of luggage space. It is a compact car, just 176 inches long.

There are 2.0 liter and 3.2 liter engines available in the Alfa GT, and mine had the 3.2 liter V-6, which is also used in the larger Alfas. It is a modern aluminum unit with twin ohc per bank and four valves per cylinder. Maximum power is 240 bhp at 6,200 rpm, and the engine revs freely to the cut-off at 7,000 rpm. Maximum torque is 213 lb ft (289 Nm) at 4,800 rpm, making this quite a sporty engine.

As the GT is built on the 156 underbody, it has a rather longer wheelbase than you want on a GT, but that does give you more space. Jump into the low driving seat, and first impressions are not bad. The wheel feels just right, and the black trim relieved by dark grey looks fine. At first, the rear window looks tiny, but actually rear vision is good.

It took me a bit of time to get the seat in the right position for the pedals, so that my foot was attacking the clutch pedal at the right angle, but then I was ready. The engine springs to life with a sporty thrum, promising an exciting drive. I drove off, noting that the gearshift was smooth, and before long I was cruising along the motorway. It cruises quietly, with 3,000 rpm putting you at 75 mph in sixth, and giving you a relaxed drive.

Tracks well on twistry roads

On a twisty bit of road, I noticed that the car was moving along well, going where I asked. The steering felt pretty direct, which is what you’d expect with only 2.2 turns lock-to-lock, but equally important, the car tracked well too. The Alfa GT has an unusual – and good - suspension set-up for a compact mass-produced platform: double wishbones at the front and MacPherson struts at the rear. Double wishbones tend to give better handling than the MacPherson struts common at the front of most competitors.

To cope with the extra power of the 3.2 liter engine, this model gets stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, and it own damper settings. The brakes are also larger, and to give good cornering power, 225/45 Michelin tires are used with smart 17 inch alloy wheels.

Car lopes along well on fast roads

The Alfa GT proved an excellent long distance cruiser, although the ride is hard, but it has reasonable rather than good seats – maybe designed for shorter people than me – as the car lopes along in a relaxed manner. If you need to overtake, you slot down to third, and the engine starts to roar at about 3,500 rpm, pushing you forward very quickly. Try to do a standing start, and you’ll get a bit of wheelspin before the traction control – and stability control – kicks in, but the car tears ahead, getting to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, and has a top speed of 150 mph. Quick. In the lower ratios, the acceleration is spectacular, with the car charging forward, and holding the line well.

The six-speed gearbox has a slick shift, although the actual selection is not as positive as some. Not that it causes any bother. Shifts are made quickly, whichever gear you want. The clutch is quite heavy, though.

Great drive on twisty roads

Once I started pushing the GT along some twistier roads, the car came into its own. Drop into third, and the revs build into the power range, and off the car roars; shift down into second, you’re likely to get the traction control working quite a lot on wet roads, this being about as much power as you want to push through the front-wheels. But the Alfa GT still accelerates strongly.

With that large engine up front, the car understeers, but turns in much better than many other front-drivers, thanks to the good suspension design. On main roads, you find there is plenty of cornering power to motor fast, and the car still behaves well on twistier roads, and rides well over switchbacks, the dampers controlling it well. In fact, this is where the car is most at home, accelerating fast from the bends, braking well, turning in pretty well, and cornering on rails most of the time.

Good steering….

I liked the steering, which is well weighted and is direct. It has good feel with the bumps and the build up of understeer shows up well. The brakes are also good, but the ride is not as muffled as on some competitors, especially on ripply surfaces. Here, the ride is very hard, and shocks like minor potholes, come straight through with a ‘clonk’.

Still, overall a great car that looks just superb.

John Hartley is editor of fast-autos.com www.fast-autos.com, an online magazine devoted to fast cars and supercars. He has written from many of the world’s top auto magazines, and has written many books about cars and the auto industry, including ‘Suspension and Steering Q&A’ and ‘The Electronics Revolution in the Motor Industry’.

fast-autos.com/Alfa_gt.html Sports Car

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