The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

I saw recently in Auto Express a report on the way insurance premiums are spent on claims. Whilst I talk regularly about insurance, and how to reduce premiums etc., I thought it made interesting reading and felt I should share it with you. The average premium has risen from £354 annually 15 years ago to £616 annually, even worse if you have loyally stuck with the same insurer which they suggest would now have Read more »

I don’t know why but every time someone starts to explain how wonderful the scrappage scheme was the hairs on the back of my neck start to bristle. The latest is Graham Hope, deputy editor of Auto Express. He says that whist not everyone was in favour of the scrappage scheme it brought ‘some benefits, not least its condemnation of thousands of death traps’. His comments are an introduction to an article about the Read more »

The now famous Graham Hill new car review focuses this week on another unnatural car, the 4Dr Aston Martin Rapide. First of all Aston Martin create the craziest car ever, their new city car, then they bring out a 4Dr saloon. I was beginning to think these sport car producers had lost the plot until I recently saw the 4Dr Porsche Panamera in the flesh and it actually looked pretty good. I was all set to hate it but I Read more »

One of the biggest confusions over end of lease charges is that of scuffed alloy wheels with bills for repairs being as high as £120 per wheel. Many drivers cannot understand why scuffs to alloy wheels are chargeable as damage. As one woman that wrote to me explained ‘We all scrape wheels on the pavement when parking, surely it is no different to worn carpets, and stone chips?’ The fact is that if you are driving Read more »

I’m grateful to Auto Express for the story about the driver in London Ontario who was clocked doing 66mph in a 31mph zone. As Auto Express said, because they’re all a bunch of comics there, his excuse for speeding, when stopped by the police, didn’t hold much water when he explained that he had been speeding to dry his car after washing it, get it (groan)? It may however turn out to be the most expensive car wash he’s ever had because, if convicted, he could face a fine of up to $2,000 (£1,300). They finished their report by saying that the car would be impounded for 7 days at the owner’s expense, lets hope it’s in dry storage (G falls off seat in hysterical laughter). By Graham Hill

Auto Express has uncovered a potential hugely dangerous oversight that many drivers may make when taking out insurance. Most of us are aware that we need to provide details of any modifications carried out on our cars when we complete the application form but few would consider the fitting of a towbar as a modification that could invalidate the insurance if not declared. When one of their readers tried to renew Read more »

Road safety charity Brake carried out a poll to see how much support existed for the dropping of the drink drive alcohol limit from 80mg per 100 ml to 50, in line with most of Europe. Their findings showed a 70% support which has prompted the Government to take action and consider dropping the level which would criminalise the Sunday pint in a country pub according to an article in Auto Express. But they Read more »

I revealed last week that the Hyundai i30 was voted the Auto Express Driver Power car of the year as voted by 23,000 drivers polled. This week I reveal the rest of the top 10. The cars were scored for 10 major features including reliability, build quality, running costs, performance, comfort, ride quality etc. The top ten were as follows: Read more »

Auto Express have named their Driver Power 2010 top 100 cars. More of this next week but I can report that the Jaguar XF has been knocked off the number one position and replaced by, wait for it, the Hyundai i30. The survey was polled amongst 23,00 drivers with cars being assessed on 10 factors including reliability, comfort, build quality and performance. More of this breaking story next week but this week we are offering the i30 on special terms as our deal of the week – I don’t just throw these things together you know! By Graham Hill