The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

Apparently the use of hand held phones whilst driving has increased because of, wait for it, the recession! Yep, it’s true according to a survey carried out by ING Car Lease. Apparently more drivers who drive cars on business feel under pressure to receive and make calls when driving rather than miss important calls that may result in Read more »

Do you have a photo licence? If you do how long have you had it because if it is over or close to 10 years you will need to update the photo or face a fine of up to £1,000. In a poll carried out by Fleet News it was found that 24% of those questioned didn’t know that there was a requirement to renew the photograph, they thought it lasted as long as Read more »

Whilst on the subject of safety and collision avoidance, I’m often asked what certain expressions mean when I mention them in car specs that I send out in my video car deal of the week. So to help out here are a few quick summaries:

 ABS: Anti Lock Braking system, this prevents the wheels from locking under heavy braking. The disc pads grip the disc, then release then grip again but very fast thus preventing a skid and allowing the driver to steer whilst braking without skidding. It sounds like a machine gun when it operates.

EBD or EBFD: Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, this system varies the amount Read more »

If you are not aware of ESP or Electronic Stability Program (also known as ESC Electronic Stability Control) you must be new to my newsletter and never watched one of my new car videos. If you are aware of ESP you will know that I go on about it constantly because I truly believe that it should be fitted as standard on all cars now and not in a few years (2014) as has now been insisted upon by the EC. Around the world 1.4 million people die in Read more »

If you aren’t going to be sensible and take a car on lease through me don’t get conned by a dealer when negotiating the purchase price of a new car if you are specing it up with a pile of factory options. According to What Car, dealers receive exactly the same discounts from the manufacturer on the factory fitted options as they do on the car, so if your dealer is offering you Read more »

I was sitting outside a dealership a few days ago and saw something happening that I felt I should bring to your attention. I’ve raised this before and told the full story in my book, An Insider Guide To Car Finance. In my book I explain that a friend of mine was working in the reception of a very large main dealer and told me about a practice that she had part witnessed and been told about by staff that absolutely amazed me. In her dealership they were Read more »

a few people have been asking about new cars and when a new car is a new car. I have explained this in detail in my book, An Insider Guide To Car Finance, which can be bought and downloaded online. But to summarise, the car must not have been registered to anyone else before you receive it, not even to the dealer and it must not have an ‘unreasonable’ mileage on the clock, expressed in one court case to be no more than 500 although I find this excessive. The strange rule is that Read more »

Following a survey carried out by ATS Euromaster it has been found that large numbers of tyres are having to be replaced prematurely as a result of damage that could be avoided. In fact 1 in 5 tyres were found to be replaced early in a survey that involved 100,000 vehicles. The main causes of avoidable damage were punctures (31%), sidewall damage (27%) and drivers exceeding the 50mile/50mph rule when run flat tyres are fitted. Not sure how you avoid a puncture but obviously the boys at Read more »

Whilst we are still having our flabbers gasted how big do you think the joint operation of Hyundai and Kia are? Most people think that production has only just been moved out of the garden shed but in fact the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has become the fourth largest global automotive manufacturer, according to the Automotive News Data Centre. In fact the Korean manufacturer has now overtaken Ford as they have seen production drop by 30% in the first half of 2009. With a lot of good feedback these days on Hyundai and Kia product maybe we should take a closer look at them. By Graham Hill

Which car holds its price best? I would have said Mini as it has held the title for some time but a few surprises have taken over, possibly as a result of high demand for smaller cars and fewer cars available in the used car market as a result of the scrappage scheme. The best performer, according to Glass’s Guide, over 3 years has been the Peugeot 107 which has retained 60.9% of its value. This has been followed by the Toyota Aygo (60.2%) and the Suzuki Swift (59.5%). My flabber has never been so gasted! By Graham Hill