Thursday, 7. October 2010
Kwik-Fit are to carry out some major training programmes of staff following a recent BBC Watchdog report. They have said they are going to invest a further £1 million in training as a direct result of the allegations made by the BBC. They are to also increase their mystery shopper programme in an effort to identify and stop overselling by staff. The company is said to operate a zero tolerance policy in cases where Read more »
Wednesday, 6. October 2010
Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond revealed in a speech that 84% of all journeys made in the UK were made by car. This means that there is little prospect that we will move away from cars and onto public transport in the near future. However, the Campaign for Better Transport has carried out a survey, in which they found that certain towns and cities were more dependent on cars than others. The worst offenders and those most car-dependent were: Read more »
Tuesday, 5. October 2010
Now here’s something you probably didn’t know about. We all know that if we are convicted of speeding and receive the automatic points on your licence you must declare that to your insurer immediately and suffer the increase in premium. Some insurers don’t increase the premium if it’s your first speeding fine but others do so check with your insurer. But here’s the thing, what happens if you are caught speeding, but as an alternative to a fine and points on your licence, you are given the Read more »
Monday, 4. October 2010
And so the debate goes on regarding speed cameras. I first of all reported that many local authorities were switching them off as they could no longer afford to keep them operating. Then the public stepped in and complained that they were necessary if we are not to see a rise in deaths on the road, supported by safety bodies. So now it seems that some local authorities are willing to rent a Gatso for £5,000 per annum if local people want to keep particular cameras operating. When Oxfordshire Read more »
Sunday, 3. October 2010
It would seem that magistrates have gone soft, as a result of the recession, if you have accidentally reached the automatic driving ban of 12 points on your licence. Some say this is wrong and that the ban should be automatically imposed, especially in extreme cases like the driver who was allowed to keep his licence even after he amassed 54 Read more »
Friday, 1. October 2010
This week’s famed, Graham Hill’s car review of the week focuses on the revival of an old marque, the Aston Martin Lagonda. The rather weird 4 seater from the 70’s . The replacement was showcased in Geneva last year and frankly looked like a pile of poo! It was a sort of bulbous cross between a BMW X6 and a Chrysler C300 estate – it looked disgusting but the latest design, after they threw the old one into the recycling bin, looks the dogs dangly bits! A full luxurious 4 seater with plenty of executive Read more »
Friday, 1. October 2010
Statistics really get on my wick! Speaking to fleet owners and various lenders it is clear that there is less money to lend and businesses as well as consumers are finding it more difficult to finance vehicles. My own association, the NACFB has said that current lending by members is around £7 billion compared to £20 billion in the mid 2000’s. And yet banks and the lender’s association, the FLA say that they are lending more and that, according to FLA statistics their members are lending 16% more to Read more »
Thursday, 30. September 2010
The gap is starting to open up between petrol and diesel at the pumps again, pushing drivers towards petrol cars. There is also continued concern that people that take diesels fitted with particulate filters, as all new diesel cars have to have fitted, do not understand that they need to run the car at over 50mph for at least 20 minutes in one session per month in order to create the chemical reaction that clears out the filter. If this isn’t done the filter clogs and needs to be replaced costing hundreds of Read more »
Thursday, 30. September 2010
Auto Express has launched a campaign to force manufacturers to disclose known problems with their cars. At the moment the manufacturers only have to make public known safety faults that are subject to recall. For all other problems, such as reliability issues, these do not have to be made public. The AA, RAC and Retail Motor Industry Federation have all joined with Auto Express to put pressure on manufacturers to make public their technical service bulletins – the documents that detail the Read more »
