Dear LPG,

I suppose that I am what they call one of those little old ladies behind the wheel.  I am fairly old, quite small and one of my best friends is my little Ford car.   I am not sure how many other makes of car are affected if any.

It means that I can get out and about to the shops and to see my friends.  Although I suppose I will have to one day soon, I really cannot imagine life without it at the moment, which is why I was really upset one morning last December when I got in, put my key in the ignition and it just did not start.  

We so called ‘little old lady drivers’  know it happens and, I am sure that like many others, one of my second best friends is the mechanic who I have learned to rely on over the years when something goes wrong, and I gave him a ring instantly.  

It turned out to be the battery, which often gives no warning before running out in the winter and my mechanic fixed it in no time but then I learned of a new problem. 

Apparently, for security reasons, Ford car radios are coded and it can cost up to £30.00 to find the code once you have lost it.  This can involve a visit to a Ford main dealer so that they can reset the code and you can use your car radio again. 

Having done that, I have found that there are lots of websites that profess to be able to provide the code much more cheaply on line.  I don’t know how well that works but it is likely to be a lot less expensive than the way I got the problem sorted.  I worked out that getting the code back  again has cost me £7.50 per digit!

I suppose that the moral of my story is that if, like me, you buy a second hand car, finding out the radio code should be something to ask about when you buy.  Apparently when buying a new car (if you can afford one) the code will come with the car and be found in the Audio guide ,but I suggest you check because changing the car battery can be an even more costly business if you don’t.

I suppose that I take listening to the car radio for granted until the sound is not there and it is quite silly but driving without background noise just feels so unnatural for some people. 

ND, Catford

LPG found some information on the subject but offers a warning.  ND did not try any of the online methods so please take care if you choose this route when trying to recover your radio code.  LPG would also ask any readers with more information on this subject to share it via our pages. 

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