I recently reported that a large number of recalls don’t get the level of publicity that they should after Toyota took a beating over the brake recalls but were then found not to hold the record for the most numbers of single model cars being recalled this year. However it was put into perspective recently when Bentley had to recall 300 UK cars. The major concern affected Arnage, Azure and Brooklands models built Read more »
The Department for Transport has revealed the top ten reasons why people crash. The top reason was failure to look, accounting for more than a third of  all smashes. Failing to look properly was the reason for 38% of crashes but this differed in regions with this reason being cited in London for 57% of smashes but in the Midlands this dropped to 32%. Failing to judge other motorists speed was next followed by careless Read more »
If you are illegally using a disabled badge when you pop into town in order to park closer to the shops, beware, as local authorities take a stronger stand. Research in Leeds and Newcastle found that the illegal use of the blue badges was now out of control. Research found that 60% of disabled badges used in Leeds were illegal and more than half of the badges in use in Newcastle were similarly illegal. Around Read more »
Insurance premiums are being secretly increased by the application of admin fees according to research firm Defaqto. In 2004 the admin charge on an insurance policy was 2% of premium but that has now increased to 7% in 2010. The insurance industry, like the finance industry, has realised that people ignore the terms and conditions attached to contracts and simply focus on the lowest rate so they use stealth measures to increase the return without touching the premiums. Mike Powell, Read more »
The motor finance industry was to see a potential new broker association being formed that would concentrate on providing benefits to consumers and small business operating predominantly in the retail sector. The NACFB (National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers) offered their support to any such initiative but when this came to my notice, as an ex director and president of the association, I saw a huge potential for the association and immediately got to work with the chief Read more »
Whilst all fatalities on UK roads dropped last year the figures are still too high. 2,222 people died on the roads of Britain last year, down 12% on 2008. Car occupant deaths fell 16%, pedestrians 13%, cyclists 10% and motorcyclists 4%. Whilst speed awareness courses are often not taken seriously by drivers who have been caught speeding and prefer to attend a course rather than suffer a conviction, the courses have been known to improve drivers’ attitudes towards speeding. This is particularly Read more »
Graham Hill’s in depth review of a new car gives the new Jaguar supercar the C-X75 the once over. Whilst I’ve never been a big fan of the big cat even I have to say that the car, being showcased at the Paris motor show, looks absolutely amazing. The car is driven by two gas turbines with a hybrid combination consisting of four electric motors. In fact the car has a battery only range of 68miles. The car can reach 205mph from 970bhp and accelerates from a standing start to 62mph in a staggering 3.4 Read more »
Warnings have been issued about the likely increase in the cost of fuel at the pumps. Of course we have the increase in VAT in January but the warning has come as a result of French firm Total putting their 500 service stations up for sale along with its supply contract to a further 300 independent outlets. At the same time Murco have also put their network of 200 retail outlets up for sale which means 10% of all the Read more »
Ford has announced their plans to create the ‘most significant’ engine ever. They are close to making a spectacular breakthrough that will drop the fuel consumption on some of their most popular cars to 100 miles per gallon. The goal will be reached within the next 5 years. The power unit is a new 3 cylinder engine has been created by their research team in Holland. The final decision to go into production lies with the development engineers based in Dunton in Essex. The engine will have a 1.0 litre Read more »
