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If you are a regular reader of my newsletter and blog you will recall that I announced that the Government was considering moving out the first MOT to 2 years and the annual MOT tests thereafter to be moved from annual to bi-annual as a result of pressure to do so by the EU. This has sparked some strong resistance from road safety groups. RoadSafe has said that the Government shouldn’t change the current Read more »

I’m all for making roads safer, especially when we are talking about making roads safer for children but sometimes I thing we go a little too far when it comes to health and safety when actions seem to be taken for the sake of taking them. Some of my favourite country fetes have been stopped from taking place because, thanks to health and safety, the insurance costs would be more than they raised for their local Read more »

Beware of service intervals. As most people know service intervals have been extending and it’s not uncommon for cars to have 18,000 or 20,000 mile service intervals. If you are a low mileage user this could suggest that if you had a car for 3 years, covering around 6,000 or less miles per annum, you wouldn’t have to carry out a single service to retain the car’s warranty. But this is unlikely to be the case as most Read more »

Moving on to legitimate parking fines, it turns out that local authorities may follow the Westminster council lead and name and shame the worst culprits for not paying their fines. It seems that some of the worst culprits are the very wealthy and Westminster has taken the unprecedented step of announcing the worst offenders on it’s website. It would seem that many of those that refuse to pay the fines are Arab Read more »

There was a lot of euphoria when the Government announced that they were going to ban the clamping and towing of cars parked on private land. The ban comes into force in November 2010, under new laws set to stop unscrupulous clampers from charging ridiculous amounts of money, to either have the clamp removed, or get your car back from a pound where the car has been towed to. However, before the anti- Read more »

If you are about to finance a car in your own name as opposed to through a business, you will need to allow a little extra time between ordering, signing the finance agreement and collection/delivery of the new car. According to the new EU Consumer Credit Directive all agreements that fall within the terms of our own Consumer Credit Act must be given a 14 day cooling off period. In the past, if you signed the agreement on trade premises, for example at a dealership or the premises of a broker Read more »

The warranty arguments are starting to build – exactly as I predicted. Warranty Direct, one of the largest providers of aftermarket warranty insurance, first of all complained that Kia and Hyundai’s new extended warranty adverts did not make it clear that the warranty had a 100,000 mile ceiling, the same as the widely promoted Vauxhall ‘Lifetime’ warranty. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed Read more »

As local authorities look at ways to raise money, in order to fill the deepening hole in their finances, it’s the motorists who are about to get another kicking. After this coalition government said they wouldn’t use motorists as a cash cow, as had been seen previously, when things have been tight for local authorities. In the Surrey towns of Epsom and Ewell disabled blue badge holders are now being charged for their Read more »

Drug driving, which is considered as dangerous as drink driving and punishable by exactly the same penalties, is being targeted by the police as an area where more accurate technology is needed. As a result a new ‘drugalyser’ has been developed and will be in all police stations from 2012. The analyser will test drivers’ saliva and make it easier for police to prosecute drivers who drive whilst high on illegal substances Read more »

After reporting that many councils were planning to shut down their speed cameras, after the government announced its £38 million cut in road safety grants across the country, Mick Giannasi, head of road policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, threw a spanner in the works by claiming that speed cameras were a big reason Read more »