One of the constant questions I get asked is if the bank rate is at 0.5% why are personal loans running at around 8% – 10% and HP can be much more than that? Well unless you are a banker or you have a tracker mortgage the bank rate is pretty meaningless and this has always been the case when interest rates have been running at a pretty low level. The fact is that the interest a lender charges is his income. He might have a few fees that bolster up his admin costs but he still has his overhead costs to Read more »
Whilst all fatalities on UK roads dropped last year the figures are still too high. 2,222 people died on the roads of Britain last year, down 12% on 2008. Car occupant deaths fell 16%, pedestrians 13%, cyclists 10% and motorcyclists 4%. Whilst speed awareness courses are often not taken seriously by drivers who have been caught speeding and prefer to attend a course rather than suffer a conviction, the courses have been known to improve drivers’ attitudes towards speeding. This is particularly Read more »
Graham Hill’s in depth review of a new car gives the new Jaguar supercar the C-X75 the once over. Whilst I’ve never been a big fan of the big cat even I have to say that the car, being showcased at the Paris motor show, looks absolutely amazing. The car is driven by two gas turbines with a hybrid combination consisting of four electric motors. In fact the car has a battery only range of 68miles. The car can reach 205mph from 970bhp and accelerates from a standing start to 62mph in a staggering 3.4 Read more »
Warnings have been issued about the likely increase in the cost of fuel at the pumps. Of course we have the increase in VAT in January but the warning has come as a result of French firm Total putting their 500 service stations up for sale along with its supply contract to a further 300 independent outlets. At the same time Murco have also put their network of 200 retail outlets up for sale which means 10% of all the Read more »
Ford has announced their plans to create the ‘most significant’ engine ever. They are close to making a spectacular breakthrough that will drop the fuel consumption on some of their most popular cars to 100 miles per gallon. The goal will be reached within the next 5 years. The power unit is a new 3 cylinder engine has been created by their research team in Holland. The final decision to go into production lies with the development engineers based in Dunton in Essex. The engine will have a 1.0 litre Read more »
Graham’s gadget of the week is the CG-Lock system, which you fit to your seatbelt. The system causes you to be held into your seat more firmly which makes your belt safer and improves your posture. The system comes highly recommended and finance company Arval who has been testing out the system with their staff. The device is palm sized and takes up the slack in the seatbelt keeping the user in the safest position. It also keeps the seatbelt across the pelvis rather than the stomach. Arval Read more »
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 »
Buying a used car from a dealer? Then you should be more aware of your rights according to the Office of Fair Trading, who have reported that the number of complaints against dealers, for faults that have come to light within the first 3 months, has increased by 18% during the first half of 2010. The Office of Fair Trading Direct received over 38,000 complaints and, as Michele Shambrook of the OFT pointed out, ‘Most of the faults that come to light are the dealer’s responsibility.’ Had a bad used car experience when purchased from a car dealer, please let me know? By Graham Hill
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 »
