Friday, 25. February 2011
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 »
Friday, 25. February 2011
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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 12th to 17th 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 »
Thursday, 24. February 2011
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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 »
Wednesday, 23. February 2011
It’s been a busy week this week, I attended a round table discussion hosted by Motor Finance, the journal of the industry and one for which I have written a regular column for many years. This was followed by the annual dinner of the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), attended by 1400 guests, all movers and shakers in the finance and leasing industry. Recession – what recession? Anyway, going back to the round table, one of the main items on the agenda was the new EU Consumer Credit Read more »
Tuesday, 8. February 2011
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Who wants to know the best selling cars of 2010? No-one? Well tough I’m going to tell you anyway! The Fiesta tops the chart for the second year but the Nissan Qashqai has popped into the top ten as a result of Nissan’s car sales hike from 77,924 in 2009 to 87,396 in 2010, a jump of 15%. This made Nissan the most popular Japanese car maker in the UK overtaking Toyota who suffered badly with its massive recall dropping sales by 15%. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) who Read more »
Monday, 7. February 2011
I have read several reports recently complaining about the motor insurance industry, it’s pretty much in turmoil with anomalies, inefficiencies over charging and deceit. I reported recently that some companies are now charging substantial arrangement and documentation fees in order to keep the monthly premiums low. We all know that there are a trillion terms in each policy making straight comparison very difficult so we tend to go for the cheapest and hope for the best. By that I mean try Read more »
Sunday, 6. February 2011
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How’s your hearing? Not so good if you drive a drop top car according to the incredibly titled (big breath) St Louis University School Of Medicine and the Ear Institute of Texas. Their research showed that if drivers travel regularly with the top down at more than 55 miles per annum their ears are subjected to unsafe noise levels created by air turbulence and tyres on the road. They tested 5 drop heads including a Nissan 350Z, Porsche 911 and Saab 9-3. Of the cars available in the UK the 350Z Read more »
Saturday, 5. February 2011
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Auto Express has reminded us that when the Tory led coalition came to power they were going to stop Labour’s war on the motorist but has that war ended? They analyse the key areas:
Speed Cameras: We already know that many of the UK’s cameras have been switched off but we also know that many local people are being trained up to use speed Read more »
Friday, 4. February 2011
Labour MP Brian Donohoe is calling for tax discs to be scrapped suggesting that paper discs affixed to the windscreen is old fashioned and should be unnecessary in the 21st century, whilst pointing out that the cost of creating the discs is £5 million a year and £14 million to send out suggesting that there must be other ways of displaying whether road tax has been paid including Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras. However, the police don’t agree saying that tax discs are vital for Read more »
Thursday, 3. February 2011
When is a lifetime warranty not a lifetime warranty? When it’s a Vauxhall it would seem. When Vauxhall announced the warranty to a fanfare of press support other manufacturers that had extended their warranties to 5 years were shocked. But after careful examination it was found that the warranty only applied to the owner of the car and not the car as it only covered the car if it was still owned by the original buyer. So as soon as the car was sold the warranty became null and void. Enter the Read more »
