Wednesday, 14. July 2010
New tyres must meet European standards for safety and a raft of other basic regulations covering grip, economy, speed etc. British standards cover re-treads and remoulds as well as puncture repairs so many motorists look to replace their current tyres with the cheapest they can find, believing that all tyres that are sold meet basic standards and that the standards mean that whilst the cheepo tyres might not last quite Read more »
Tuesday, 13. July 2010
Autoglass carried out a survey to see what distracted motorists most. Whilst not top of the list and it depends who and when the survey was carried out children in the car distracted a high number of drivers, in fact 36%. The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) reported that back seat brawls reduced reaction levels of the driver to that of those driving on the drink drive limit. Direct Line commissioned the study which Read more »
Saturday, 12. June 2010
The new prime minister has suggested that he won’t pick on motorists to dig the country out of the deficit single handed – yeah right! To date we’ve had to accept that if we are to save the bit of atmosphere above the UK we must think green and therefore drive more fuel efficient and low CO2 emitting vehicles. The way the government has done this is to make us pay, obviously reluctantly but of course it’s for our own good Read more »
Thursday, 25. March 2010
Government figures show that up to 1 million scrapped cars are still being driven on the road. Whilst 2 million motorists told the DVLA that their cars were being destroyed only half were issued with a Certificate of Destruction, the proof that a car has been destroyed. Dodgy dismantlers have been exploiting a legislation loophole whereby the DVLA doesn’t need to see the Certificate before it registers a car as Read more »
Wednesday, 24. March 2010
I know I seem obsessed with potholes at the moment but they are such a pain and costing motorists a fortune. The Germans came up with a solution in the village of Niederzimmern near Leipzig. They sold their potholes for 50 Euros which the council filled with asphalt and a metal plaque which carries the owner’s name or a tribute to a loved one. Of course not wishing to miss an opportunity the Brits are planning Read more »
Monday, 8. March 2010
From the 1st April 2010 the new showroom tax is being introduced to severely penalise the most polluting cars. In addition the annual road fund licence (tax) increases also. In essence the showroom tax includes the first year’s road fund licence. The bandings run from A to M with A representing cars with CO2 emissions of less than 100 g/km with M representing cars emitting 265 g/km or more. For vehicles emitting Read more »
Sunday, 7. March 2010
During this bad winter the number of car insurance claims have sky rocketed. From crashes to pothole damage, it’s been a disaster. As a result we are likely to see a hike of between 7% and 11% in premiums making it even more important to shop around when it comes to renewing your car insurance. Increased oil prices are going to add to the pain by adding up to 5 pence per litre with predictions that fuel will Read more »
Saturday, 20. February 2010
What makes a ‘green’ motorist? Some drivers give themselves a good old pat on the back when changing from a petrol driven car to a diesel. Excellent! Count me into that group and there’s a small degree of merit as diesel, once stripped of particulates, is a little better for the environment than petrol. Taking it one step further there are those that use old chip oil to power their aging diesel cars but whilst it’s a good Read more »
Tuesday, 16. February 2010
Auto Trader Compare, the insurance comparison site set up by Autotrader, the UK’s largest motoring website, carried out a survey to find out which drivers are considered to be the worst amongst motorists. The worst drivers, as voted by a massive 59% of respondents, are BMW drivers. They are accused of various bad driving habits including – driving too fast (68%), overtaking in dangerous situations (66%), Read more »
Friday, 29. January 2010
I’ve pointed out the importance of correct tyre pressures in the past but during the recent bad weather many motorists are believed to have dropped their tyre pressures in order to increase the grip on roads covered in ice and packed snow. It is important, if you did this, to re-inflate to the correct pressure. In fact, according to compressor manufacturer Ring Automotive, you should check your tyre pressures Read more »