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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 »

As companies look at various ways to raise money, as we slowly emerge from recession, some are now looking at their company cars as a possible way to raise funds for expansion. For those that don’t want to approach their bank to increase their borrowings this could be a good alternative. The scheme, known as sale and leaseback, is an arrangement between a leasing company and the customer whereby the leasing Read more »

Recent discussions regarding the use of winter tyres in the UK following our harsh winter has spurred on many to provide more advice suggesting that winter tyres may not be necessary if drivers simply treated tyres with a little more respect. Simple maintenance such as the regular checking of pressures would be a start. The National Tyre Distributors Association have followed up with the following points when replacing tyres:

• Tyre size markings across an axle must be identical.
•  Tyre construction across an axle must be the same
• The load index must be equal or be higher than the manufacturer approved tyre for the vehicle
• It is recommended that the speed rating is either equal or greater than the original approved tyre.
• Mud and snow – winter tyres should ideally be fitted in complete sets and should not be mixed with other tyre types across an axle.
• It is recommended that when fitting two new tyres, they are fitted to the rear axle unless rear tyres are a different size to the fronts or the vehicle manufacturer’s handbook states otherwise.
• There may be special dimensional requirements preventing the mixing of tyres such as 4WD vehicles. 

I know I have provided this information before but do you know what the markings mean on a tyre? Lets take a tyre that reads 195/65 R 15 91 H. Here’s what the markings mean: 

195 : The width of the tyre in mm, also called the section width.
65 : The aspect ratio is the ratio between the sidewall height (side of the tyre) and the width of the tyre. It is expressed as a percentage.
R : The type of construction (R for radial).
15 : The internal diameter of the rim in inches.
91 : A tyre’s load rating is identified by a number and corresponds to the maximum load the tyre can withstand at maximum pressure.
H : Speed rating (also known as Performance Index). Indicates the maximum speed at which the tyre can bear a load corresponding to its load rating 

For more information on the tyre markings visit any of the major tyre fitter websites. By Graham Hill

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On the subject of grey fleets, ALD Automotive who provide fleets with licence checking services, have highlighted the need to constantly check employee licences if they are expected to drive their own cars on company business. Their advice followed the discovery of a driver who had received 16 years of bans in a space of just 16 weeks. ALD first checked his licence in 2009 and noted that he had received a 12 Read more »

I’ve often pointed out to customers that they can now have their new cars serviced at non franchised dealers and still retain their warranty cover. This resulted from the changes that were made to the EU Block Exemption rules removing the stranglehold that manufacturers had over the servicing of new vehicles during the warranty period, that was cunningly extended by most manufacturers to 3 years. In an effort to Read more »

Service intervals have crept out with some cars not needing a first service until it is 2 years old. Some of the earliest first service intervals are still a minimum of 12 months but there is a problem with this. You see years ago, by the end of the first year, your car would have had 2 or 3 services with the first after just 1,000 miles to have an oil change and remove the swarf that had built up in the bottom of the oil sump. Read more »

The Great Wall is coming to the UK. The first Chinese manufacturer has signed up a distribution deal to distribute their cars through the Daihatsu network of 90 dealers and some Subaru showrooms when their first cars arrive early next year. For those that thought the Great Wall was just a reference to China, it’s not, they are actually called Great Wall. The models get better, who remembers Datsun’s Cherry or Read more »

Oh dear I’m not sure how this is going to go down with employees but it seems that there has been a bit of an upsurge in the provision of logos for company cars. In the past companies that run vans and trucks would use them as a mobile advertisements for their business but very few, other than estate agents and letting agents, adorn their cars with advertising logos. But just recently employees have been Read more »

There have been a lot of hurrah’s and yippees as Ford have dropped their list prices by up to 12% on many models in their range. Obviously it passed everyone by that in fact they increased their prices by 15.1% last year when inflation was bouncing along at a little over 0%. In fact the actual increase imposed by Ford was higher than 15.1% as the increases took place in 4 chunks and I’ve disregarded the Read more »

Warnings have been issued regarding the screen resolution of your computer. Well not exactly the resolution itself but the affect that your screen resolution can have on the colour options shown on the manufacturer web sites. Customers, ordering new cars, have been choosing colours from the car manufacturer’s website only to be totally disappointed when the car has turned up looking several shades away from Read more »