Friday, 6. March 2009
More and more people that either bought or leased cars over the last two years are either holding onto their cars or extending their leases. Leasing companies have been encouraging extensions putting back the need to sell the end of lease car till as late as possible in the belief that used car prices will recover. But as I reported recently this drop in demand for new cars hasn’t led to a mass of unsold cars finding their way Read more »
Thursday, 5. March 2009
AÂ debate is going on about spare wheels and tyres fitted as standard. Should manufacturers continue to provide a full sized spare wheel, a skinny emergency wheel or fit run flat tyres that would enable manufacturers to not fit any spare at all? Puncture callouts to the RAC and AA are increasing, in 2002 the RAC was called out 160,908 times but by 2007 this had risen to 230,196, whilst the AA was called out 330,000 Read more »
Thursday, 5. March 2009
Car maker Saab, owned by struggling US manufacturer General Motors has filed for bankruptcy protection in Sweden whilst they look for a new parent. The Swedish government refused to match the $420 million investment that was offered by GM in order to turn the company around. GM would only provide the money if the Swedish government matched it. As the government was not prepared to risk tax payers Read more »
Thursday, 5. March 2009
It would seem that we are still waiting for some sort of bailout of the car finance sector in order to get people back into new cars but are the Government at risk of doing what they have done with banking and put the money in the hands of the wrong people. There are many lenders other than banks and they should have been helped before the banks who have simply bolstered up their balance sheets in preparation for Read more »
Wednesday, 4. March 2009
Specialist law firm, Driving Defences LLP have said that thousands of convictions of failing to provide a specimen could be overturned due to questions over the reliability of the police intoximeter machine. They brought a successful case in which it was proven that due to an error made by the police, a defendant could not possibly have provided a sample of breath. Martin Hammond, a solicitor at the practice, said Read more »
Monday, 2. March 2009
A company called UTAG has launched a new product for use by fleet drivers but may be made available to all drivers in the case of an emergency. The product is a computer memory stick that contains essential medical and contact information in case of a serious accident when time may be critical enabling emergency services to plug in the device and collect vital information immediately. It may possibly save Read more »
Sunday, 1. March 2009
We all know we shouldn’t drink and drive but following a study carried out by Lloyds TSB Insurance we shouldn’t have a cold or flu and drive. According to their survey they found that over 125,000 crashes last year were caused by motorists that were suffering with either a cold or flu. This equated to one in ten collisions being caused by people with either of these viruses costing around ÂŁ350 million in claims. The survey found that Read more »
Saturday, 28. February 2009
Whilst used car prices are having a negative effect on lease rates as they counter the bonuses given away by manufacturers there has been a mild glimmer of hope during January. British Car Auctions have reported on average a 6% increase in used car prices following several months of continued falls. At the same time they reported that the average price was ÂŁ1,000 less this January than it was last January so the Read more »
Friday, 27. February 2009
As times become more difficult people turn to desperate measures. Fraud is therefore on the increase. I am hearing each week about many more scams being uncovered. Small used car dealers can no longer get what is known as stocking finance. In the past the dealer would buy say ÂŁ500,000 worth of cars and a lender would provide the money, charging an interest of say half a percent per month secured against Read more »
Wednesday, 25. February 2009
Even though every other advert on TV seems to be for a car insurance comparison site it is believed that as many as 40% of motorists are paying more than they should be on their car insurance by some staggering margins. BBC 2’s Working Lunch held an advice day and one of the biggest areas of cost saving that could be shown to participants was house and car insurance with one gentleman having his Read more »