Some Of The Technological Advances In The Latest Cars

Tuesday, 22. November 2016

Technology is advancing at an amazing rate in cars to the point where many new and used car drivers are quite oblivious to some of the latest features fitted to their cars. It is bad enough getting to find out what is fitted to your car when it is new but when you buy a used car from a used car lot the chances are that the dealer hasn’t a clue so you’ve no chance.

However, as always Hill is here to help so here is a breakdown of some of the latest features and what they do: 360 Degree Cameras: Rear parking cameras have been with us for about 15 years but the low cost of cameras and new technology enables you to have an all round view of the car and in some cases an image of your car from a position above. This technology can help with parking, especially into car park bays with cars either side.

However, what we need is continual surveillance and a voice that tells anyone, in no uncertain terms to F*** Off if they are about to key the side of your car and inform them that they have been photographed – something I could have done with a year ago. Bastards!

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB): This uses sensors to check to see if you are getting too close to an obstacle when driving. If, given your speed, you are getting too close a visual and audible warning is given. Get too close, where the system senses an accident is about to happen, and the brakes are applied with sufficient force to enable you to stop before impact. Euro NCAP safety tests favour cars with this feature fitted as it is believed to prevent 38% of rear end crashes.

Lane Departure Warning: Does what it says, if it feels that the driver is drifting across the lane markings the system will alert the driver with either an audible and/or visual alert and in some cars a vibrating steering wheel (leave it). This feature is already standard on many new cars.

Traffic Jam Assistance: This uses AEB technology along with lane departure technology to keep you in the lane in slow moving traffic with little intervention by the driver.

Blind Spot Warning: this detects cars approaching either side of the car from behind using radar technology to detect cars approaching in your blind spot. It doesn’t do this every time a car is about to overtake or a bike undertake – that would be silly!  Only when it senses that you are attempting a lane change and senses an approaching vehicle will it sound an alarm or lights appear around the door mirror on the side that the vehicle is approaching. Automatic Main Beam: You can switch this on continuously but will only automatically activate when the light dictates. The system senses when you are approaching a car in front or a car is approaching you from the opposite direction and automatically dips the main beam. It can even detect cyclists approaching and also drops to dip beam in lit up areas. Some new LED units can now give the driver as much light in front even though the headlights are no longer dazzling approaching drivers. Clever!

Rear Collision Warnings: This clever system senses a fast approaching car from behind and immediately switches on the hazard warning lights to alert the driver of both vehicles. If the car continues to close fast the seatbelt pre-tensioners are applied and the brakes are also applied to reduce whiplash injury and attempt to stop the concertina effect.

Evasive Steering Assist: This system senses an approaching vehicle on a single carriageway and prevents the car from veering into its path. Some systems can sense a pedestrian walking into the path of the car and allows the car to gently swerve to miss the person then return to the normal driving line.

Rear Cross Traffic Alert: This is activated when reversing out of a parking space and can sense anyone else approaching, possibly also in reverse, and stops the car in order to prevent a collision. Some can also sense cyclists and pedestrians.

Speed Limit Detection: This picks up the speed limit from speed limit signs and adjusts the cruise control speed automatically. It can also place the speed limit on the screen if you are exceeding it and it will gradually adjust the adaptive cruise control speed down to within 5mph of the limit. So there you have it, some of the latest advances in technology, most of which is either available as an optional extra or fitted as standard on new cars. By Graham Hill

You Can Claim Back Unfair Parking Ticket Costs

Tuesday, 24. February 2015

We all know that crooked private car park and land owners got their come upance when the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 was introduced that banned the clamping of cars on private land.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.
But drivers, as is often reported, now receive parking fines of up to £100 and more fore overstaying the period they have paid for or parking on vacant land owned by someone trying to make more from fines than building houses on the land and renting them out. Are you sitting comfortably, then let me enlighten you.
According to the RAC Foundation these private land and car park owners who have been dolling out exorbitant penalties to drivers, for overstaying their welcome, have been acting illegally. The foundation enlisted the services of John De Waal QC, barrister at Hardwicke, to prepare a paper on this practice and check its legal validity.
The results should send a ripple of fear up the spines of those dishing out the fines. Any regular readers of my newsletters and blogs will know that in English law you cannot charge a penalty, this can only be done by our law setters. You can recover your costs and be compensated for damages but you can’t charge a penalty.
So when you receive a ‘penalty’ from a car park owner, which could be a plot of land, a private car park in the town or a motorway service station car park, is the charge a ‘genuine pre-estimate of loss’? Not according to the findings of HRH John De Waal, it is a penalty and therefore unenforceable.
If the courts agree with these findings then many of the tickets would be considered ‘extravagant and unconscionable’ and result in drivers receiving tens, if not hundreds of millions of pounds in refunds. In addition his lordship De Waal also said that according to European consumer legislation contracts must be fair.
In consideration of this basic requirement he feels that the so-called ‘early payment discount’ that puts pressure on the driver to settle quickly, or face a higher charge, to be unlawful because this constitutes ‘a price escalation clause’. Unclear or difficult to see signs would also be regarded as unfair and could be legally challenged.
To give an idea of scale, in 2013 private parking companies made 2.2 million requests for driver information on the DVLA. Whilst the two main private parking bodies, the British Parking Association and The Independent Parking Committee, had advised members not to charge more than £100 for any breaches of displayed parking conditions, even this could now be considered unfair.
As the Foundation pointed out this is an opinion, it would need to be tested in a higher court. I can hear his Honour De Waal, preparing his notes as I type. What actually do you call a QC? So my advice is if you have received any of these charges in the past, dig them out, you could be in for some refunds. By Graham Hill

How To Appeal Private Parking Tickets Explains Graham Hill

Saturday, 8. March 2014

You are obviously aware that owners of private land can no longer clamp or remove  your car when parked there, I advised as such on my blog. Following this Government ruling owners of private car parks and land, where people parked without permission, could still issue parking tickets quite legally.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Whilst drivers became more cautious about private car parks and land on which there was a parking warning posted, they generally ignored the fact that some of the worst culprits at issuing parking tickets are now supermarkets, hospitals and motorway service owners if you park longer than the allowed time.

But what you may not have known is that there is an independent adjudication service called the Parking On Private Land Appeals service which was set up to coincide with the new rules that came into force in October 2012. Since it started it has overturned more than half the tickets issued.

So far they have received 2,000 appeals of which 1,058 fines have been overturned with 911 found in favour of the operator. In the past the only way to appeal a ticket was to go to court at the risk of losing and having to pay court costs. This service is totally free so now you know and if you or someone you know receives a ticket it is worth appealing. Here is the website: http://www.popla.org.uk/ By Graham Hill

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Silliest Remark Of The Week

Tuesday, 30. August 2011

The ‘silliest remark of the week’ came from NCP managing director Duncan Bowins. It came about when a driver arrived at a railway station in order to catch a train, he had driven into the NCP car park which was full so he had to park his car a little awkwardly. Whilst not causing an obstruction he was parked outside a bay which meant he received Read more »

Workplace Parking Schemes ‘To Cut Congestion’ – Daft!

Saturday, 23. July 2011

A parking lot with landscaping and a diagonal ...

Image via Wikipedia

You, like me and my millions of readers are fairly intelligent, we all have GCSE’s and all sorts. So help me out here. I’ve been looking at the new workplace parking schemes, that come into force from April 2012, and trying to get my head around them. With companies unable to simply up stakes and move to another county that doesn’t have such a scheme Read more »

Check This You Could Have Your Parking Fine Returned

Saturday, 28. May 2011

Watch out, you’ve been caught, not on Candid Camera but on a parking camera. And if you’ve been caught on a camera mounted in a Smart car and fined, I may have some good new for you, thanks to Nigel Wise who contested a parking penalty issued following photo evidence taken by a camera mounted in a Smart car whilst parked in Powder Mill Lane Read more »

Amazing New Space Saving Multi Story Car Park

Tuesday, 26. October 2010

Multi story car parks go 21st century in Birmingham. German creator, Wohr, has built a valet multi story car park, without a valet. Cars are driven in through one of four access points by residents and after activating the system with the use of a transponder fob, the car is taken away by the machinery and stored in bays spread over 3 floors, all automatically. When the driver retrieves his car it is returned on a dolly that even turns the car round to be driven straight out in about 2 minutes. UK MD Read more »

Car Clampers Already Have A Replacement For Soon To Be Illegal Clamps

Tuesday, 14. September 2010

A parking ticket!
Image by David Jones via Flickr

There was a lot of euphoria when the Government announced that they were going to ban the clamping and towing of cars parked on private land. The ban comes into force in November 2010, under new laws set to stop unscrupulous clampers from charging ridiculous amounts of money, to either have the clamp removed, or get your car back from a pound where the car has been towed to. However, before the anti- Read more »

Clamping Down On Cowboy Clampers

Saturday, 21. November 2009

The first ever UK parking summit has recently been held to discuss the growing problems faced by motorists whose cars have been clamped by cowboy clampers operating on private land. The summit was attended by parking firms, minsters and motoring groups. The AA called for tougher laws to be introduced. Edmund King, president of the AA, said that it cannot be just for there to be no independent appeal against a Read more »

At Work Parking Becomes A Reality

Tuesday, 6. October 2009

As long ago as October last year I reported that Nottingham City Council was the first to consider charging for at work car parking (see my blog). Well they have now completed their deliberations and decided that they will go ahead with the levy which will now come into force from April 2012. Companies providing more than 10 parking spaces will be charged from Read more »