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Conservative MP Sir Greg Knight has put forward a proposal to Transport Minister, John Hayes to turn off traffic lights on certain junctions at non busy times.

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.

I understand where he is coming from as I’m sure you do having spent what seems like ages stuck at a set of traffic lights with no other traffic about at all waiting for the lights to turn green. Apparently this isn’t as daft an idea as it might initially sound as it is fairly common in Europe. It saves electricity, it also saves fuel as drivers aren’t kept waiting at lights on tickover waiting for the lights to change.

I saw on our local news a few days ago that they were trialling such an idea in Reading town centre in order to keep busses flowing. The traffic lights were causing busses to bunch up so by the time the busses got out of the town passengers would see 2 or 3 busses all turn up together. By turning the traffic lights off at certain times it was found that busses were spread more evenly.

Whilst it might seem like a good idea Hayes has said that there are no immediate plans to switch off the traffic lights. So another good idea bites the dust! By Graham Hill

As most of my customers are aware you can now have your car serviced at any service or repair centre without the loss of the car’s warranty provided the work is in line with the conditions stipulated by the manufacturer.

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.

Since this European rule, known as Block Exemption, was introduced in 2003 it has meant that anyone who buys a new car carrying a manufacturer’s warranty can have their car serviced and maintained at a non-franchised dealer, thereby saving a substantial amount of money.

However, when you lease a car and you are responsible for the servicing of the vehicle, can the leasing company insist that you only have the car serviced at a main dealer as this would be a contradiction of the regulations? Again, regular readers will know that most leasing companies are happy for you to have the car serviced at non franchised dealers provided the work is carried out in line with the manufacturer’s instructions using original or compatible parts.

But you need to check your contract as these things have a habit of changing without notice. Mercedes-Benz changed their rules a few years ago so that if you return a lease car (including PCP) and the service work has been carried out by a non authorised service/repair centre they will impose an end of lease charge, in some cases, over £1,000, even though the car has been serviced on time and even using Mercedes original parts.

I took some legal advice on this and was advised that whilst the car is owned by the finance company they can include terms relating to the service and maintenance of the car. So whilst they may be out of line with the rest of the leasing industry they are not acting, on the face of it, illegally, albeit that they are acting outside the spirit of the law.

But there are two issues on which they could justify their stance. The first is the quality of the work which Mercedes could argue would be of a lower standard if carried out by a service centre. I would argue this every day of the week having received some of the worst services ever when I have had a Mercedes serviced by a main dealer in the past.

On the other side of the coin a judge might argue that a customer should be free, in an open market, and given the Block Exemption law, to choose where the car is serviced – it is the whole point of the law to make it competitive and stop the protectionist approach that most manufacturers had used when insisting that their cars are serviced at a main dealer or lose your warranty before it changed in 2003.

The other argument could relate to resale value of the car when it is returned which they could argue would be less than if the car had not been serviced by a main dealer. However, they list a scale of charges which could suggest a penalty, which in these circumstances could be considered illegal.

If, through breach of contract, you were to cause the other party a loss they can not charge anything above their losses incurred. Having spoken to many trade buyers over the years most would not draw a distinction between a car that has ‘Full Service History’ and ‘Full Mercedes Benz Service History’ so it might be difficult to prove their case against a customer in front of a judge.

If you have been charged a ‘penalty’ by MB Finance and you are unhappy about it you could take out a complaint through the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are a ‘consumer’. Putting MB Finance to one side the point of all this is that Halfords are about to launch an aggressive new campaign to take away a larger share of the £10 billion a year after care market from main dealers.

This comes on the back of the Auto Express Driver Power Survey in which a large number of dealer networks were criticised by drivers. Traditionally the Halfords target market has been 3 – 5 year old cars but the new approach will attract new to 3 year old car drivers looking to save up to 40% of the labour cost. They will be introducing new receptions that will look more like the pods you will see in an Apple store and they will offer a collect and return service.

The receptions will also have Wi-Fi facilities and you will even be able to watch your car being serviced on an iPad that they will provide for your use. So it may be worth considering Halfords for your next service but don’t forget to check your lease agreement first and don’t forget you can always negotiate with the main dealer before booking your car in for a service. By Graham Hill

After finally giving ‘drugalysers’ Home Office approval the police will begin roadside drug tests this year across England and Wales in order to crack down on drug driving.

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.

In future drivers won’t know whether they are to be given a drug test, be breathalysed or subjected to both when stopped by the police. The ‘drugalysers’ will analyse a saliva sample immediately for cannabis and cocaine. The downside is that the equipment cannot detect legal highs at the moment but future versions are expected to be able to detect a wide range of drugs, both legal and illegal.

At the moment if a police officer suspects that a driver is driving whilst under the influence of drugs they must arrest them, take them to the station in order to undergo time-consuming blood tests that must be carried out under medical supervision. Once in the police station the driver can argue that they are unable to give blood for medical reasons or religious beliefs.

All the time the drugs are leaving their system. The new equipment eliminates all this and provides an immediate reading. The kits will support the new drug offence coming into force in March but they are about to be used immediately by various police forces across the UK.

Policing Minister Mike Pennings said that most motorists have the same view about drug driving as they do about drink driving. He stated, ‘The Government is determined to drive the menace from our roads. Those who take the wheel while under the influence of drugs put their own lives at risk plus those of innocent motorists and their passengers.’ By Graham Hill

If you thank that is dopey, how about the 2,410 drivers who managed to lock a child in their cars resulting in a call out for the AA in 2014. A further 1,014 AA customers managed to lock their pets in their cars with a staggering 40,072 forgetting whether their vehicles ran on petrol or diesel and filled their cars with the wrong fuel. Jeepers!

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.

Oh and the 1,014 pets weren’t all dogs, they ranged from guinea pigs to snakes. Who would be an AA patrolman? According to the AA it’s not as simple as opening the door to allow the driver to get to their precious pet, they often escape cages and boxes and manage to squeeze into the back of the dashboard requiring the patrolman to dismantle it in order to rescue a pet that was in fact quite comfy where it was.

Who’d have thought you would need a tetanus jab in order to work for the AA? There were an amazing 3 million callouts in 2014. Top of the callout list was batteries at 427,586 followed by tyres at 373,746, lights 131,527, alternator at 106,587 and clutch failure at 103,229. Mondays are the busiest days for the AA with an extra 1,000 callouts over the daily average of 9,337.

Monday 24^th November was the busiest day last year with 14,501 callouts. Bloody interesting eh! The longest recovery was 615 miles from south London to Ross-shire. Amazing! By Graham Hill

Having a blog means that I get to hear some very dopey stories. The latest was a car that was delivered by transporter to a customer. As excited as he was about driving his new car something wasn’t right.

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.

He couldn’t put his finger on it but each time he walked towards the car a bell was ringing in his head but what was it? He walked all around the car trying to find a dent or something obviously wrong but could find nothing. After two days of driving the car he realised what it was, there was something wrong with the registration number.

He checked his agreement and realised that the car had been issued with a different number to his agreement. As it turned out there were two identical cars on the transporter, delivered on the same day to two different customers. Whether the dealer had issued the paperwork incorrectly or the delivery driver dropped the cars off to the wrong owners I couldn’t get to the bottom of, but as both cars were insured by the drivers on the other’s registration neither were insured to drive the car they were driving.

The fact is that they may never have known until the cars were returned or sold – how crazy is that? The other driver didn’t have a clue but apparently went loopy when he was told! And I don’t blame him!

The two drivers had their cars swapped and received a free first service. So when you have your car delivered check that the registration number agrees with your documents. By Graham Hill

Here is part 2 of my safety tips as we count down to winter. I mentioned in my last list of tips the importance of making sure that your screen is clear, not only outside but inside. Clean the inside of your screen regularly with anti mist cleaner.

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.

My experience is that this still won’t stop the screen from misting up but it makes them clear quicker when you turn on the demister. Remember that in the rain stopping distance is doubled so allow plenty of space between you and the car in front. It is a legal requirement to switch on your headlights (if not automatic) when visibility is less than 100 metres.

Another recommendation is not to use cruise control when driving in the wet. Also if you break down in heavy rain don’t leave your bonnet open, some older drivers and truck drivers would do this to indicate that the vehicle had broken down but this will allow the electrics to get wet and make the job of the recovery man or woman much harder.

For some strange reason Brits don’t understand the full dangers of floods, maybe because it is rare for us to experience really heavy flooding (last year being an exception) so we tend to be somewhat glib. The fact is that a massive 32% of all flood related deaths are by drowning in a vehicle.

Here are some more frightening facts to remember the next time a local stream or small river overflows its banks and you feel safe to drive through it. Two feet of standing water is enough to float a car whilst 12” of water flowing at 6mph is also enough to float an average family car. And if you feel the need to drive through a flood splashing water up into the engine compartment, an egg cup full of water in the combustion chamber can wreck an engine.

OK, onto some water tips. Only drive a car through water that you know isn’t too deep, by that I mean halfway up the wheels. Don’t drive through fast moving water, even if the water is just a small stream. Drive on the highest section of the road, check the camber, this is normally the middle of the road.

If your car is a manual keep the revs high by slipping the clutch whilst in water, it is important to keep your engine running. In deep water you should keep your foot on the accelerator as water will travel up the exhaust pipe if you let the revs drop. In a flood take it in turns if you meet oncoming traffic. Allow them to pass first keeping to the highest part of the road.

Make sure that you test your brakes when you leave the water. Finally in this section I must clear up a misconception regarding SUV’s or commonly known as 4WD cars. They are not amphibious vehicles. They are not safer than a normal saloon car, they won’t offer more protection if you are involved in a crash and they certainly won’t fare any better than any other car if you are driving through a flood.

Last year the AA answered calls from 4,000 motorists who had come to grief in floods. Many had driven through water only to get the car die on them when they drove out with 1,000 still stuck in the middle of the water. The AA has a specialist flood rescue team, known as AA SORT (Special Operations Response Team). They are already on alert as we start to move through autumn to winter.

One of the warnings from the AA, other than don’t believe your SUV is a boat, is don’t ignore statutory ‘Road Closed’ signs. They are there for a reason and certainly avoid driving through anything more than a puddle. By ignoring road closed warnings you could put your insurance at risk.

Water can write off cars or severely damage engines but if you ignored a warning saying that a road was closed the insurer could avoid paying out on a claim. So greater care is needed and take no risks. Water can be a killer. More next time so watch this space. By Graham Hill

You are about to read one of the best pieces of advice you will ever receive. If you are a regular reader of my rantings you will know that there is one expression that seriously pisses me off, can you recall? You can’t? Let me remind you, it is – ‘a goodwill gesture.’

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.

In the car industry I would suggest that 95 times out of a 100 the ‘goodwill gesture’ is a legal bloody entitlement but in order to cover up a major con or failure the dealer/funder/manufacturer will make good any damage – as a gesture of goodwill! Typically the car part that fails two days after the warranty has run out that is repaired free – as a ‘gesture of good faith.’

Sod off, there is such a thing as the Sale Of Goods Act which takes precedent over a warranty and if a defective part, expected to last for the life of the car, fails, it is a legal obligation, on the part of the dealer who sold you the car, to replace it or repair it. But here is another interesting example. A lady bought a brand new Nissan Qashqai that developed a gearbox fault shortly after she took delivery.

It was agreed that the gearbox was faulty and needed to be replaced but two months down the line the lady, Jill Alexander, was still without her nice new Nissan. Whilst the car was awaiting the replacement gearbox the dealer loaned her a Nissan Micra as a courtesy car whilst Jill was still paying the finance and insurance on her Qashqai.

After a while, and complaints from Jill, the dealer provided a replacement Qashqai so that she could get her mother’s wheelchair in the back. It wasn’t the same spec as her car and there was still no sign of the replacement gearbox. Nissan explained that due to huge demand for their new Qashqai they had no stock of spare gearboxes but they would pay the two months of Jill’s finance as – you guessed it ‘a goodwill gesture’.

They are also looking to replace the Qashqai with an X Trail to provide a better spec car and more space. Now here’s the thing. First of all every car manufacturer has a legal obligation to stock sufficient parts for repairs of new cars sold. Clearly they have failed to do this being more interested in building more new cars than supplying spare parts for customers who have already bought.

Whether the car is on HP, PCP or leased it is the property of the finance company so you first need to involve the funder who can bring more pressure on the dealer or manufacturer than you. But here is the best piece of advice. Make sure that when you take out your car insurance that you take out legal cover that can be as little as £20 per annum.

When you find yourself in this situation get in touch and get a barrister on the case. It’s amazing how quickly dealers and manufacturers act when a lawyer is on the case. In this case Jill has a case to claim compensation for finance payments and any other out of pocket expenses. So Nissan should not only be paying the two months they have agreed to they should be paying for all the finance payments whilst the car is off the road. And not as a goodwill gesture!

Oh and one final thing on legal cover, make sure you also take it out with your contents insurance. If you make a genuine claim and the insurer doesn’t pay out you can call on your insurance for legal advice and get them to act against the insurance company – I kid you not, well worth the few extra pounds. By Graham Hill

It was 2 years ago when I announced that the Government was to instigate a detailed report into the cost of insurance. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) were to carry out the investigation and over the subsequent 2 years it seemed as though the results and recommendations would be hugely beneficial to motorists as information leaked out.

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.

The two areas of major concern were (and still are) the cost of replacement vehicles and the cost of repairs, both of which were completely out of control and adding fortunes to drivers’ premiums. But sadly common sense has flown out of the window and the CMA has made a U turn on both of these critical issues.

The original proposal was to place a cap on replacement car costs and a cap on repair charges, both of which the CMA supported and seemed were working on them. However, it now seems that neither are to be implemented because ‘any changes would require full-scale law alterations and savings would be minimal.’ I would add that this report has cost the Treasury £millions and for what?

I am confused as to how a cap on repair costs and a cap on charging for replacement cars would result in ‘full-scale law alterations.’ I could write the bloody changes myself in an afternoon and who would resist the proposals. This must surely call into question the integrity of those carrying out the investigation. And why did it take two years and several millions of pounds to come to that conclusion?

Even the Association of British Insurers (ABI), whom one would assume would defend the way in which its industry works has criticised the report for failing to tackle the excessive cost of replacement cars, saying that this failure would be ‘a bitter pill to swallow for honest motorists.’ This has simply handed those who provide replacement vehicles, such as accident management companies, an open chequebook to continue charging extortionate hire charges.

The ABI appear not to have commented on the capping of repair costs, which may be a more difficult problem to be solved, but it clearly costs more than it should and was another major issue to be addressed that was avoided. Unbelievably, I was not aware that agreements existed between the insurance comparison sites and their advertisers that the advertisers would not advertise cheaper rates elsewhere.

The fact is that I have found the cheapest rate in the past on a comparison site then approached the insurance company direct and achieved a better rate. So this move is hardly likely to make a lot of difference to premiums as many people stay on the comparison site once they have found the most suitable product. Consumers will now receive more information with regard to no claims bonus protection and the CMA has asked the Financial Conduct Authority to look into the way that insurers inform customers of policy add ons (smacks of PI).

Janet Conner, MD of AA Insurance suggested that the changes should save motorists about £20 a year but she questioned the way that the investigation was carried out and if it could have been better approached from a different angle.

Alasdair Smith, CMA deputy panel chairman defended the meagre proposals by saying, ‘These changes will benefit motorists who are currently paying higher premiums as a result of the problems we have found.’ You may have found them my friend but it would seem that you have done precious little to resolve them. Yet another example of jobs for the boys. By Graham Hill

When people move house they tend to look for certain things in the area into which they are planning to move. Ease of access, closeness to schools with high teaching standards, where the shops are, likelihood of flooding etc. etc. But it is felt that a new credential is starting to surface, as a result of which those crazy girls and boys at Confused.com have carried out a survey in order to help.

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.

What is this new credential? Obviously it is the greenness of your nearest town or city. What they did was look at every car  registered to an area and calculated the average CO2 emissions figure.

Now I have to say girls and boys this isn’t the most scientific way of arriving at the greenest and dirtiest towns and cities across the land but it is a start and must have nicely filled a few otherwise boring days with something productive and incredibly useful (better than sitting in front of your PC’s playing Candy Crush – just).

In terms of cities, and according to Confused.com, London is the worst of all for CO2 emissions, followed by St Albans (is that a city?) then Brighton & Hove. This is what Gemma Stanbury, head of motor at Confused.com, had to say, ‘With so many Brits relying on their cars for work and other commitments, it’s unrealistic to think that people will be able to do without their cars.

But it’s encouraging to see that many drivers are making an effort to become greener.’ Are they? I have to say Gemma that I don’t have many clients that make their final decision based on the car’s CO2 unless they are looking at the benefit in kind implications which is more of a financial decision rather than a ‘save their local environment’ decision.

In case you are at all interested here are the vitally important stats in the event you are considering a move in the near future:

UKIP’s Nigel Farage may believe that he is onto a winner by fighting the general election on immigration policy, Labour think the same about the Health Service and Cameron on the Economy whilst Nick Clegg will no doubt fight on the first thing that comes to mind!

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 according to a latest survey they are all off beam. It seems that when Auto Express polled over 1,000 drivers they felt the most important two things that had to be addressed by the various parties, vying for your vote, were reduced fuel prices (55%) and increased speed limits (9%).

It’s true, if any of the parties are to succeed in their efforts to entice motorist voters, they should have clear policies on the aforementioned. Unfortunately, when Auto Express contacted the 4 main parties none had a specific policy for addressing these vote winning issues. For a long time now Governments have attempted to entice people onto public transport but with few exceptions they have generally failed.

We still love our cars and for many the car is essential in order to get to work or get the kids to school. So whichever party can solve the problem of continually spiralling motoring costs and added taxes to make motoring more affordable would certainly notice a swing in their favour (ooer missus). In the words of Andy Sylvester of the Tax Payers Alliance, ‘…it’s not acceptable for the Treasury to use people picking up their children or heading to work as cash cows.’

It did not surprise the Auto Express that drivers would want lower fuel costs but it came as a bit of a surprise to see that drivers wanted speed limits on certain roads increased. What do you think? Answers on a post card to Nigel Farage. By Graham Hill