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It wasn’t that long ago when it was only top of the range cars that had mobile Bluetooth connectivity which meant that the internal storage in the car would store all of your phone book. You, therefore, had to delete your phonebook if you didn’t want the new owner to have access to your list of family, friends and contacts.

Things have now moved on and even the most modest of cars has a pile of data stored about you. What Car has looked into this and come up with a list of things you can do to protect yourself from a cyber attack.

• Keep in touch with your car’s manufacturer regularly to check whether it has issued software updates or recalls to improve security. Alternatively, you can see if your car has an outstanding recall notice at gov.uk/check-vehicle-recall.

• To minimise the impact if your car and/or sat-nav is stolen, use any security features your sat-nav offers and think about regularly wiping all the data, such as your home address, from the system.

• If your car has built-in wi-fi, never leave the default password on it and never leave a note of the new password inside the car.

• Turn your car’s wi-fi and Bluetooth off when you’re not using them.

• If you download any smartphone apps that will be processing payments for your car, such as road toll fees, make sure they’re password-protected.

• Make sure your smartphone’s operating system and apps are the latest versions; updates are often issued to patch possible security vulnerabilities that can give cyber criminals access to your phone.

• Protect your social media accounts by making sure you’ve activated the privacy settings. With Facebook, avoid public updates and only send posts to your friends. With Twitter, you can’t be as selective.

• Protect your home by making your car’s sat-nav less accurate. If you don’t want cyber criminals to know where you live, instead of setting your home address to your house, consider setting the shortcut to a nearby junction or the closest motorway exit.

What to do if you’re selling your car or returning a hire car

• If you’ve paired your phone to the car to access hands-free operation, go into the Bluetooth set-up menu and remove your phone from the paired phones list, as well as deleting your contacts if they’ve been downloaded onto the system.

• Check the car’s manual to find out how to clear all your private data from the infotainment system. It might be listed as a ‘factory reset’ option.

• If your car has web-connected services that bring data from your favourite apps and social networks to the dashboard, disconnect this. If you don’t, other drivers might be able to gain access to your Facebook and Google accounts. To wipe the information, you’ll need to reset the infotainment system to its factory-fresh state.

• If your vehicle has an integrated remote control that you’ve paired with your front gate or garage door, your vehicle is essentially a gigantic key to your house. Check the instruction manuals for your electric gate or garage door for resetting instructions.

By Graham Hill

It’s that time of year when sap starts falling from the trees, birds feel the need to leave a present on your windscreen and bugs start committing suicide by throwing themselves on your windscreen. The net result is a difficult to see through windscreen.

If this happens you need to clean it as quickly as possible because it’s illegal to drive your car when the screen is difficult to see through with some hefty penalties.

Car owners have a responsibility to make sure their driving doesn’t negatively impact other motorists.

One way this could happen is by having a dirty windscreen or another glass surface which is required to be clear while on the road, such as the side mirrors or rear windscreen.

Having a filthy windscreen could impair your vision and similarly your decision making and reaction times and could lead to an accident.

Regulation 30 of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, says that drivers are required to keep class surfaces clean and clear.

“All glass or other transparent material fitted to a motor vehicle shall be maintained in such condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven on a road,” the law states.

If you were to have an accident as a result of having a dirty windscreen then you could be fined and charged for careless driving.

Punishments for careless driving range from an on-the-spot fine of £100 and three penalty points.

However, if your case was to go to court then you could see that fine increase to a massive £5,000 and receive up to nine penalty points.

Serious offences could also see you lose your driving licence.

Neil Greig, Policy and Research Director at IAM RoadSmart, said: “Careless driving is all about penalising the negative impact you have on other drivers.

“If a dirty windscreen is stopping you from driving safely then you should expect to be caught and charged.

“Not having clear vision in low sun situations is a really serious issue.

“In 2016 ‘dazzling sun’ was recorded by the police as a factor in 28 fatal crashes, 463 serious injury crashes, and just over 2,100 slight injury crashes.

“The best solution is to keep your windscreen clean, inside and out, and to carry a pair of sunglasses all year round.”

In order to keep your screen clear AutoExpress have tested a number of windscreen washes. Their Best Buy for 2019 was Dirtex Aquaphobic Screen Wash as a cost of £13.95 for a litre. Visit www.chipex.co.uk . Their Recommended award went to Angelwax Clarity at a cost of 7.95 per litre. Both were evenly matched but Dirtex edged out Angelwax as the dilution ratios actually made Dirtex cheaper.

So don’t risk a fine and up to 9 points on your licence.   By Graham Hill

New mobile phone detection warning signs are being rolled out by Thames Valley and Hampshire police forces.

The system, developed by Westcotec, comprises a sensor capable of detecting vehicles where there are active 2G, 3G and 4G phone signals, and an LED warning sign located a short distance along the road.

As long as the activation meets certain pre-determined parameters, the sensor will pick up that a driver is using a phone for calling, text or data purposes and will activate the warning sign. This shows an illuminated mobile phone icon within a bright red circle and diagonal red line.

The device is purely about education, warning drivers and being able to identify when the driver was on the phone. It is the first such system to have a direct interaction with a mobile phone offender.

The technology can detect if a driver is using Bluetooth, and will therefore not trigger the warning sign. However, the manufacturer accepts that some activations might be triggered by non-driving occupants.

Norfolk County Council was the first to trial the road signs last year, but this is the first time that the police has decided to deploy the technology.

The forces say the two detectors, which cost £6,000 each, will be located on the A34 in Oxfordshire but will be posted at different locations throughout the Thames Valley and Hampshire to start – but more could be rolled out.

Matt Barber, deputy police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, told the BBC that the system was “not fool-proof”, but said that the police needed to “make it as socially unacceptable to use your mobile whilst driving as it is to drink and drive”.

PC Liz Johnson, a roads safety officer, said research suggested a driver was four times more likely to crash if they were using a phone and twice as likely to be involved in a fatal collision when texting compared with drink-driving.

“It is vital that people take notice and stop using their mobile phones whilst driving,” she added.

Drivers caught using a mobile phone while driving are currently fined £200 and given six points on their licence. By Graham Hill

According to Cap HPI the maintenance costs for Electric Vehicles (EV’s) are 23% cheaper than for the equivalent petrol model. Calculations were based on 3 year, 60,000 mile running periods. The gap is greater for smaller vehicles.

An electric Renault Zoe was found to cost £1,100 to maintain compared to £1,497 for a similar petrol driven Vauxhall Corsa. Representing a 35.7% saving. While the best selling UK electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf cost £1,197 to maintain compared to £1,429 for a petrol VW Golf – 19% cheaper.

Cap HPI senior valuations expert, Chris Plumb commented: ‘An electric car motor has far fewer moving parts than a petrol or diesel engine. They also benefit from gentler driving styles that lead to lower wear and tear of brakes and tyres’.

He went on to say, ‘While the purchase price is often higher at the moment- but coming down all the time – drivers will find an EV much cheaper to run with significantly lower costs to charge than visiting a pump as well as the lower maintenance costs’.

I would add a caveat to that as I carried out an exercise last year and found that if you used a fast charger located in motorway service stations the cost per mile, based on the electric car’s true range, compared with petrol or diesel cars was significantly higher. Of course, this dropped heavily if slow charged from your domestic supply. By Graham Hill

Business Car magazine has identified the top 5 causes of road accidents attributed to vehicle defects. Their investigation revealed the following:

Brakes                                     37%

Tyres                                       30%

Steering or Suspension            17%

Lights or Indicators                  9%

Vehicle Or Trailer Overload     7%

So there you have it, make sure that you take care of the above or risk an accident. By Graham Hill

The cars on our roads that cover highest mileage have always tended to be company cars. They are nearly always new and are subject to some very stringent controls, imposed upon the drivers by the employers. As a result our roads tend to be much safer as the cars are properly maintained.

However, since the real world (WLTP) emissions tests that were carried out last year we have seen an increase in declared CO2 emissions across most makes and models of cars. This meant that drivers suddenly saw increases in BIK tax whilst driving identical replacement cars. The Government promised to address the problem and make adjustments to bandings so that drivers didn’t suffer.

Sadly that hasn’t happened so we are seeing a move by drivers away from company cars towards car allowance with many of these drivers preferring to drive higher powered 2^nd hand prestige cars than say 1.0L Mondeos. This has meant that companies no longer have the tight controls over the service and maintenance of cars used by their drivers.

The employers are still responsible but as they no longer have the same level of control, servicing may not be in line with manufacturers recommendations and when employees realise the cost of maintaining prestige used cars maintenance may drop off making cars less safe.

The Government has replied to complaints by the industry that they have broken a promise by saying that the increase in BIK tax will encourage drivers and companies to run lower emission cars. But as we are seeing the drivers are pushing employers to move to car allowances which can lead to less safe roads and by taking used prestige cars the environment will also suffer.

According to Fleet News the rate of employees opting out of company cars for cash is ‘at the highest we’ve seen’. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. By Graham Hill