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So do you know what clay is? No, dopey, not the stuff you make teapots out of , clay that you use on cars! OK I hadn’t heard of it either but apparently its amazing at cleaning car paintwork after the car has been washed but before you polish it (what’s that then?). It’s one of those secret products that valetting companies use to turn your 5 year old car into something that looks as if it has just come out of the showroom. Read more »

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 »

What a bloody surprise! After hiking up their prices last year, no less than 4 times, which coincidentally coincided with the £1,000 manufacturer’s scrappage scheme contribution, Ford are now dropping their list prices by between 6% and 15% across their smaller cars from August, after all the pipeline scrappage orders have totally washed out of the system. No wonder the biggest benefactors were the Read more »

For years we’ve been very strange in this country, we like to stop our cars by the side of the road, get out a flask of tea, pack of sandwiches and Kit Kats and have a little picnic. Some will even have a gas burner and have a bit of a fry up! All of this whilst CO2 emitting trucks and cars zoom by! As creators of the picnic area in the UK the RAC has slammed UK facilities for running behind those provided in Europe. New Read more »

It seems that the manufacturers are not going to fight a price war but outdo each other by providing more for free as part of the purchase package. The latest has been the extended warranty. Toyota had to react to the drop in sales following their recall problems by extending their standard warranty from 3 years to 5 years. In the meantime Kia/Hyundai have reacted following their massive growth during the Read more »

A Trading Standard team based in Birmingham have found that an incredible 90% of used tyres being sold by independent tyre dealers and fitted on cars don’t meet minimum legal standards. Among the tyres inspected officers found some with nails embedded in them as well as one tyre that was 17 years old. The investigation, run by the city council and overseen by Trading Standards boss, Chris Neville was a Read more »

If you see a car you like, now is not a good time to wait to see if the rate improves. With some Audi’s now having a delivery lead time quoted at 26 weeks there is far from an over supply out there. It now seems that the ‘bible’ used by leasing companies to predict future car values, CAP, may be as much as 10% adrift in its valuations which is likely to lead to some re-alignment of rates quoted by the leasing companies. Read more »

It’s gadget time again! Just as I was adjusting myself to touch screen technology in cars with the new touch screens able to control the sat nav, heating system, on board computer and stereo I’m told it is now old hat! The new technology about to be introduced is hover technology whereby you simply hover your finger over the key you would have previously touched on the screen and the screen senses it Read more »

One of the biggest confusions over end of lease charges is that of scuffed alloy wheels with bills for repairs being as high as £120 per wheel. Many drivers cannot understand why scuffs to alloy wheels are chargeable as damage. As one woman that wrote to me explained ‘We all scrape wheels on the pavement when parking, surely it is no different to worn carpets, and stone chips?’ The fact is that if you are driving Read more »

Just as we were hoping to see more lease deals come through and rates start to drop CAP, the used car valuation company, has announced a weakening of the used car market and prices through auction starting to fall slightly. Mike Hind of CAP said that he wasn’t too concerned as ‘This is not the same dynamic as the panic of 2008.’ Although he went on to point out that the market is at its weakest for 12 months with no Read more »