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Do you know what elephant racing is? You have probably and irritatingly come across it whilst driving. Apparently it’s when one massive truck is overtaking another massive truck on a motorway or dual carriageway where the difference in speed is about 1 mph. Yep, experienced that one! Well the Highways Agency, probably as a result of being delayed for their dinner or tea break, have extended their Read more »

Kwik Fit have revealed the puncture capital of the UK, yep, it’s true they have actually carried out a survey and found that London is the capital, not only of the country but also for punctures. Amazing or what? In fact drivers in London are twice as likely to get a puncture than drivers in the East Midlands. 4 in 10 drivers in London had a puncture last year compared to 2 in 10 in the East Midlands. Nationally the Read more »

Warnings have been issued about the use of acid based wheel cleaners used by some roadside hand carwash outfits. The cleaner can actually damage the alloys as well as the brakes. The car washers can buy this cleaner for about £10 for 25 litres but it was only intended for building use, to clean brickwork. The car washers have to dilute the liquid but if it’s not diluted enough it can cause damage. If the wheel is in good Read more »

the EU is planning stricter rules on MOT testing. This will immediately increase the cost of the MOT as more items are to be checked. This has resulted from the European Union passing a new set of stricter rules on minimum road worthiness. The EU ministers agreed that ‘modern electronic systems be included in the list of items to be tested’. This change along with others already planned will be introduced in Read more »

My aspirational car is an Aston Martin and I expect to announce in the not too distant future that I have one following the successful launch and growth of my new business. However, that was until I saw their latest venture, the Aston Martin Cygnet which is based apparently on a Toyota iQ. To me it looks like a Fiat 500, can you believe it? I’ll see if I can find a picture but I think I may have to re-think this whole Aston Read more »

Rows are a brewing when it comes to tyres amongst the manufacturers. All is harmony when it comes to trying to improve fuel efficiency, noise and safety but the rows are growing over minimum tread depth. Continental is fighting to increase the minimum from the current 1.6mm to 3mm, which it claims would result in a marked reduction in traffic accidents. But the claims are being challenged by Michelin and Read more »

Lease rates will have to increase for some of the larger ‘gas guzzlers’ as a result of the new showroom tax. However, there are some winners. If your new car spits out less than 130 g/km of carbon dioxides then you will pay no showroom tax and low road fund licence (car tax). The highest showroom tax is £950 for vehicles throwing out over 255 g/km of carbon dioxides. Aimed at discouraging large environmentally Read more »

Who are EuroNCAP? Do you know? Well it turns out that far too few people do so they are on a mission to become more visible. They are a group formed in 1997 by the Transport Research Laboratory and they are the organisation that crash tests every new car to award it safety stars from the driver’s perspective, passenger perspective and pedestrian perspective. Over the years many companies have insisted upon Read more »

Great news, Ford are dropping their prices! Hopefully this is just the start and we will see other manufacturers joining the party and we will start to see some lease rate drops! But hang on a minute, whilst they have dropped the price of some models by 10% – 12% isn’t this coinciding with the end of the scrappage scheme? I noticed a trend last year of manufacturers increasing their prices at a time of virtually Read more »

Government figures show that up to 1 million scrapped cars are still being driven on the road. Whilst 2 million motorists told the DVLA that their cars were being destroyed only half were issued with a Certificate of Destruction, the proof that a car has been destroyed. Dodgy dismantlers have been exploiting a legislation loophole whereby the DVLA doesn’t need to see the Certificate before it registers a car as Read more »