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Even though we know the Government is hell bent on converting us to electric cars I’m still not convinced. When it was announced that the Government was going to put £5,000 across the bonnet of electric cars to encourage drivers to buy them and Boris was going to put a free electric charging point in every parking bay making it the world’s leading Read more »

Do you know how long points stay on your licence for? Most people think 3 years but in fact speeding offences stay on there for 4 years and others stay on for longer. For example drink driving points remain on your licence for 11 years. Even though speeding points stay on your licence for 4 years they are only valid for 3 years.

So if you have 9 points on your licence after 3 years but clock up another 3 points in the 4^th year you wont lose your licence under the totting up system. The expired points can be removed from your licence by the DVLA but you will have to pay a fee of £20 for a replacement ‘clean’ licence. Are you confused by the points system, let’s discuss? By Graham Hill

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Years ago when run flat tyres were introduced they seemed like a great idea but drivers were then told that they couldn’t mix up run flats with conventional tyres and you couldn’t get a puncture repaired. Once the tyre had been punctures, whilst the run flat would get you home the bad news was that you then needed to replace the tyre. However, I have found out that this isn’t necessarily the case. It was highlighted recently when a lady driver managed to get a nail in her run flat tyre fitted to a Read more »

It seems that every week I read a similar story in Auto Express about a driver who has bought either a new or used car that has turned out to be a complete dog then struggled to get their money back. The fact is that the law is very clear on this point. If you buy faulty goods and a fault is found immediately or within the first 6 months you can return the goods and insist on a full refund. And the supplier must give you a full refund. On the other hand you can give the supplier the opportunity to either repair or replace the goods without losing your right to insist on a refund. In the latest case that Auto Express came to the rescue on a buyer of a new Hyundai i30 found the car starting to judder. The driver gave the dealership the opportunity to repair the fault which they attempted without success. The dealer and Hyundai offered a replacement but couldn’t guarantee that the fault would not exist in the replacement. This was 8 months later! The driver decided that he simply wanted his money back, which he received, after Auto Express stepped in – as a ‘gesture of goodwill.’ A gesture of bloody goodwill! It’s his legal right and he should also be entitled to compensation for the inconvenience. This infuriates me because dealers, supported by the manufacturers, feel they are above the law. It’s a disgrace but I really think that Auto Express should employ the services of a solicitor to bang off a formal letter each time they have a similar case to point out the driver’s legal entitlement and tell them to stick their ‘gestures of goodwill’ where the sun don’t shine. Have you experienced similar problems with a dealer not honouring your legal rights? Here’s a little graphic that I found on a Government website that may explain your rights a little easier than my wording:

By Graham Hill

DVLA figures show that one in ten motorists have points on their licence. The figures have been broken down by age sex and number of points. It also shows that the Government has collected £280 million from the 3.9 million drivers with points on their licence over the last 4 years (the minimum amount of time before points are cleared. That’s out of a total 37 million licence holders. The majority of drivers with points have just 3 points (3.2m). Just under 600,000 have 6 points and 92,000 Read more »

Garmin, manufacturer of sat nav’s has come up with a new device that will alert you via the sat nav if a car moves out of a pre-determined area acting as a tracking device. You can be alerted by text message or email. The new GTU 10 system can be self installed and self monitored. The kit links to any nuLink enabled Garman Sat Nav so you don’t have to be near your computer to check the units status. You can edit your preferences via your computer and view a history of where your car has Read more »

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Following on from the news that windscreen replacement company, Auto Windscreens, has gone into liquidation we hear that our roads are in the worst condition ever, despite an extra £600 million being spent on them last year. The information regarding the condition of our roads comes in a report called the Highways Condition Index (HCI) released by the Department for Transport. The report shows that only 68% of the roads were classified as ‘Good’ whilst 26% were ‘Reasonable’ and 6% were Read more »

It always surprises me when just before Christmas off licences go bust and shut down at the very time of year when one assumes that demand is peaking. It therefore came as an even bigger surprise when I heard of the collapse of windscreen replacement giant Auto Windscreens, the second largest windscreen replacement company in the UK, operating 68 fitting centres and 550 mobile units. The Derbyshire based company simply ran out of cash forcing it to put its 1100 staff on unpaid holiday. The Read more »

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It just goes to show how people differ in views when it comes to surveys. BMW was upset when they fared poorly in the 2010 Driver Power Survey, assessing the dealerships on many levels. BMW dropped from 12^th to 17^th only to be replaced by Mercedes at the number 12 spot. Now this I really can’t understand as my last car was a BMW and the dealer was superb. The car before and my current cars are both Mercedes and the service I receive from the Mercedes dealership is incredible. And Read more »

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Back down to earth a new road salt has been created to work in temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius and has received the thumbs up for use on Scottish roads. The road salt comes in liquid form like a de-icer, a mix of salt and magnesium chloride. It has proven effective at melting hard packed snow and ice in extreme cold. Regular salt only works down to -8 deg C. They are building up reserves at key motorway sites but there is a bit of a downside. The so-called Supersalt costs 12 times as Read more »