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If you are hiring a car or van over the Christmas period it might be wise to ask if you can see the service book before taking the vehicle. There have been some warnings issued that some small daily rental companies have cut costs by not having their cars serviced on time, especially those that are keeping cars longer. The larger rental companies tend you only keep their cars for 3 – 6 months but the smaller operators are Read more »

One in a hundred company vehicle drivers is within a point of a ban according to recent research. One in five company car drivers is one offence away from a ban with 20% having between 3 and 11 points on their licence, hence the need for regular licence checks to be carried out on drivers’ licences. The research, carried out by CFC Solutions, shows that a driver who is one offence away from a ban is a significant Read more »

The pilot hard shoulder running programme that was started on the M42 has now been extended, a month sooner than expected. The new section, open from the 9^th December, is on a seven mile stretch of the UK’s busiest motorway, the M6, running between junctions 4 and 5. This stretch of the hard shoulder is opened up to traffic during busy periods and will have the first ‘through junction running’ allowing Read more »

Shell has shaken up car manufacturers by insisting that all cars supplied into their 14,000 vehicle fleet must have any fitted Sat Nav’s disabled whilst the car is in motion in the same way that DVD players, fitted into the dashboard of some cars, are disabled when the car is in motion.  Audible instructions would still be activated. Shell is well known for placing health and safety high on its corporate agenda and Read more »

It’s your last call for PCP’s if you are to benefit from the 15% VAT. If you take out a contract before 31^st December the price paid for the car by the leasing company will include VAT at just 15% with your repayments remaining fixed for the contract term. After the 1^st January VAT returns to 17.5% so if you are thinking about changing your car you could save yourself some money by doing it sooner rather than later. By Graham Hill

Companies and consumers are experiencing the long term results of choosing lessors who set out to capture the gullible by offering low contract hire and PCP rates 2 and 3 years ago. As used car prices continue to drop after a period of sustained increase throughout 2009 lessors who cut their margins finely look to recover losses by overcharging clients for refurbishment work at the end of the contracts with Read more »

A recent report in Fleet News has revealed that the EU is planning a new carbon tax on all motor fuel. This would add a further tax to VAT and fuel duty already charged. Thomas Carroll, the EU’s taxation directorate general, told a recent meeting of European accountants that the new commission could review the EU’s 2003 energy taxation directive as early as the New Year. The draft proposals insist that excise duties Read more »

Every year traffic wardens, now known as civil enforcement officers, issue close to £1 billion of parking tickets. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) claim that additional administration charges add a further £100 million. However, Neil Herron, founder of parkingticketsappeals.co.uk, says that before local authorities issue parking tickets they should get their own house in order. But far too Read more »

In an interesting speeding case a van driver has had his case thrown out after being charged for driving at 61mph in a 50mph restricted area. Gareth Powell was clocked on the A4174 near Bristol in November last year when working as an employee of MD Building Services. However, his van was fitted with Navman  wireless tracking and when Navman Wireless checked the records they found that Mr Powell was only Read more »

As with anything ecological there are some strong views when it comes to the debate on battery powered cars. The Labour Government believes that battery power is the way to go and is offering a £5,000 subsidy per battery powered car from 2011. This will cost £230 million but according to experts in the motor industry the future depends totally upon the ability of the battery manufacturers to develop batteries Read more »