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I mentioned in recent items the move in the industry from 3 rentals in advance to 6 rentals when contract hiring vehicles, suggesting that this could be as a result of  lenders requiring more security by taking larger upfront payments. It has now come to light that this is more likely to be the case and 6 advanced rentals likely to become Read more »

Whilst there are a few vague signs coming out of Germany, France and Japan that we may be moving out of the world recession we have no such signs in the UK and whilst people are still being made redundant and reducing work hours there are fears that the UK roads are becoming more dangerous as drivers avoid service and repair costs. One of the biggest dangers lies with Read more »

If you are one of those that decided to take a family holiday in the UK as the long range forecast predicted a ‘BBQ summer’ you are probably now wishing that you had actually spent less and flown off to one of the Costas. No, I’m not laughing! However, don’t make matters worse by leaving the roof rack attached to the car as this can cause drag and will cost you around 5% more in fuel consumption. And if you are Read more »

The American version of our scrappage scheme, called over the pond, ‘cash for clunkers’ proved so popular that they ran out of cash within a week and have just had a second tranche of money approved. According to the New York Times the first $1 billion was used up in the first week and a further $2 billion has just been approved. I covered their scheme a few weeks ago, which offers a much greater incentive to consumers looking to replace their gas guzzling clunker with a slightly Read more »

Having revealed that end of lease charges have hit an all time high, according to auction house and de-fleeting company, Manheim, with charges up by 9% in the last 18 months, they have also explained that part of the reason for this unfriendly approach is lack of interest in the customers shown by the leasing companies. They feel that this may be because the customer retention rate is only running at 33%. But then if the leasing companies stopped charging such ridiculous amounts at the end of each lease maybe their customer retention rates would increase. Don’t you just despair sometimes? By Graham Hill

Unless you have money to burn now is not a good time to be too precise when it comes to selecting your next car. I recently explained that the rates between contract hire companies on the same car can be staggering but compare the rates for similar size and spec cars and it can be much worse. And its not just down to the purchase price of the car. Lets take as an example a Chrysler 300C, this is a great, value for money car in terms of what you get for your cash (it’s the Bentley looky likey car). Leather, auto and lots of gadgets. To buy an equivalent Audi or Mercedes would cost an additional Read more »

I think I need to get myself a business plan and get on the list for Dragon’s Den following their clear interest in the motor industry. In a recent edition Deborah Meaden offered, and had accepted an investment of £100,000 in Service, Maintenance and Repair portal Servicing Stop. This followed on from a rejected offer of £50,000 made to Loony Ling for a 20% stake of her madhat car leasing brokerage. Did she want the money? No. Did she want an amazing amount of publicity? Of course she did and it worked a treat so well done Ling, the mad Chinese woman! Maybe I could do the same, even if it just resulted in a shed load of publicity! Hmmmm! Watch this space! By Graham Hill

CO2 emissions have dropped on average by 20g/km over the past 6 years and yet, according to ALD Automotive the average power output has remained more or less the same. Average power has actually increased from 126ps to 130ps whilst engine sizes have reduced from 1915cc to 1787cc. So good news for the environmentalists as well as those that like a bit of get up and go under their right welly. Miles travelled are significantly down, very few of my contracts are for more than 10,000 miles per annum and even the big fleets have seen average mileage reduce from an average of 22,475 in 2003 to 17,860 in 2009 according to ALD. This is set to drop further as a result of reduced working and cost cutting. By Graham Hill

When I first started driving the most technical pieces of equipment in my car were the window winders and the optional heater, that was either on or off. Radios were not standard equipment and cassette players were somewhat futuristic. So other than your passengers, there were very few distractions inside the cockpit of your car, added to which, if you were anywhere north of Watford you could drive for 3 days and still not come into contact with another driver. These days things are different, there are 30 million cars registered and many of those Read more »

You’ve seen the warning adverts on the TV showing how a rear, unbelted, passenger can smash into the back of a driver and kill him or her in the event of an accident? Well what do you think happens when a 2 stone dog does the same? And yet no attention seems to be given to the dangers of a loony dog running from window to window, either side of the rear seat, sticking its head out and covering passing traffic on one side and pedestrians and cyclists the other side with doggy slobber! You brake hard and either you or your passenger ends up wearing the dog! But fear not Read more »