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Over the last few years we’ve seen changes in the law that have prevented children from sitting unstrapped in the back of cars, with very specific rules relating to baby seats and booster seats. Children over 12 years old or 135cm tall must use a seat belt.

There are weight and height restrictions that relate to different types of baby seats and booster seats, etc etc. The fact is that it is impossible to police. It’s illegal to smoke in a car with a child under 18 as a passenger and eating a sandwich, bar of chocolate or swigging a drink whilst driving can land you a fine of £100 if considered to be ‘dangerous driving’ by a policeman.

Again, unless part of an investigation following an accident, it is very unlikely you will ever be prosecuted so it makes you wonder about the effectiveness of setting down laws unless we have enough police to enforce them. Maybe by setting down the laws, there is an assumption that the rules will prick the conscience of drivers and stop them from breaking them. I would suggest that those with a conscience wouldn’t break the law in the first place.

I therefore question the benefit of setting down new laws to attempt to cut down on the number of young people if the laws are simply unenforceable due to the lack of policemen patrolling the roads. Theresa May has asked The Department for Transport to consider graduated driving licences. Changes could include a minimum supervised learning period and a restriction on the number of passengers.

Figures show that one in four young drivers are involved in  an accident within 2 years of passing their driving tests. Road safety charity Brake has called for a minimum of 10 hours of professional tuition before taking driving tests with restrictions in place for the following 2 years.

A similar system introduced in New Zealand dropped car crash injuries by 23% in 16 – 19-year-olds. What they don’t mention is the number of police patrolling the roads that might act as a deterrent amongst young drivers. I’m all for prevention but surely this sort of awareness should be taught at school along with other life skills. Introducing new laws with no police to enforce them is pointless. By Graham Hill

The technical expression is semi-autonomous when a car is fitted with safety equipment which allows drivers to do other things whilst driving. Many experts are starting to throw doubt on the accuracy of figures that suggest that accident rates will fall along with road deaths as a result of safety equipment being fitted.

There is no hard proof behind the statistics which are estimates that take account of lane markings, speed restrictions, proximity of other traffic etc. However, if drivers become more reliant on the safety systems and concentrate less, this increases the possibility of having an accident again. So they are now assessing the true benefits of these safety systems.

In the meantime, the European Commission last month announced that it wants 11 advanced safety features fitted as standard features on all new cars and vans launched from 2020 and all new cars and vans sold 2 years later. I mentioned in a recent report that it can take several seconds for the driver to take back control from autonomous systems that could result in an accident.

I would suggest that much more research is required before making some of the safety systems obligatory. By Graham Hill

Since the tightening up of personal data stored about us on various sites the question has been asked about car telematics, the data that is collected and stored about us when driving our car, especially our company car. Clearly companies do it to make sure that their cars and commercials are being driven efficiently and not abused.

They can also check driving style to see if you are driving the vehicle in an economical way. Are you taking the best route in order to minimise fuel consumption and time? All of these things can generally be justified and included in your terms and conditions of employment.

But what about when you are using the vehicle for your own personal use? Some would argue that as the car is owned or leased by your employer he has a right to know where his vehicles are, where they travel to etc. However, most people believe that this is a breach of data protection.

It has nothing to do with the employer what you do and where you go in the company car when it is being used for pleasure as part of your contract of employment. If you are an employer and agree with this then you should consider Geotab as your next Telematics provider.

They have developed a new system that has incorporated a privacy mode for personal use. So when an employee is using his company car personally he can switch off the tracking. It is controlled via the MyGeotab App that comes with the tracking system.

There are mixed views from employers but it is certain that drivers would prefer to be able to control their privacy. What may not be appreciated is that many new cars have Telematics systems built into them to assist manufacturers to improve their car design and features. We currently have no say over the use of data collected by manufacturers. That will have to change. By Graham Hill

What a surprise, the crooked fuel suppliers, having seen that people are massively switching from diesel to petrol, have seen fit to increase the pump cost to its highest for 18 years. OK, you can’t help it if oil prices increase and the reasons given for the highest increase, according to the RAC, since their records began in 2000, is that crude has increased as a result of the weakening pound and the drop in production from Iran.

That might seem quite reasonable. However, I heard that the fuel providers have increased the cost at the pumps because they were hedging against the cost of oil going up further in the future as a result of  Trump ditching the Iran Nuclear Deal. So we’re paying for an increase that may or may not happen!

Immediately following the trashing of the Nuclear Deal crude rose as Iran decreased production but, according to experts, the pump prices have increased by more than that dictated by the increased crude price. You can draw your own conclusions, especially as Saudi Arabia has agreed to fill any production gaps left by Iran.

So supply should remain the same. In May the average cost of petrol increased from 123.43p to 129.41p. Diesel increased by more but that was still less than the highest increase that occurred in 2008. Simon Williams of the RAC said that crude oil has flattened off and that there is an OPEC meeting on the 22^nd June when they are expected to step up production so we could see a small drop in the cost of petrol and diesel. By Graham Hill

I have had a lot to say about PCP’s of late and my new revealing report is now complete – just waiting for the press launch. In the meantime, I’ve received a confidential note from a lawyer to a dealer he represents revealing an interesting twist.

Let me first explain how HP and PCP agreements work and the relationships they create. You may have spent your time researching your car, test driving models and finally making the decision as to what car you want. You may have even added options to the car and negotiated the price but what happens when you enter into an HP or PCP agreement?

Once you’ve been approved for finance the lender will ask the dealer for an invoice that agrees with the price on the order you placed for the car. In turn, you sign an agreement with the lender. At this point, having paid for the car the lender owns the vehicle.

The car never has been and won’t be your car unless you have made all your payments, per the agreement, and an option to purchase fee at the end of the contract term. Now, there is a rule that can confuse the issue which is the 14 day cooling off period rule applied to the finance.

You have a legal right to cancel the finance agreement, which is good news for those who believe they may not have taken out the most favourable finance or may prefer to use their cash to pay for the car. But supposing you decided that the car isn’t quite what you wanted or maybe you feel that your heart ruled your head and you committed to more than you wanted to spend. This is a different situation.

Whilst the law allows you to withdraw from the finance agreement you still have to buy the car, cancelling the finance puts you back to where you were having ordered the car but not taken the finance so you will need to find another way to finance the vehicle. You can still cancel the car order but you will be charged by the dealers for his losses.

However, the law firm has warned dealers that when the dealer sells the car to the finance company they enter into an agreement. Often these agreements are very long and quite complicated but tucked inside the terms is sometimes a clause that says that if the customer fails to accept/take possession of the car or cancels within 14 days of taking the purchase, you, the trader, agree to take back possession of the car and rescind the agreement. As they say, ‘Simply, the consumer can decide they’ve had a change of heart’.

This could be bad news for the dealer but good news for buyers if that clause is in the agreement so if you feel the need to exit the agreement and don’t want the car either you should speak to the finance company and not the dealer. I should finally add that this is not the same as ‘buying under duress’.

For example, you may have had no intention of buying a car but the salesman has put you under so much pressure that you end up signing an order and a finance agreement. In those circumstances, you need to speak to the finance company, Trading Standards via Citizens Advice Bureau and the Financial Ombudsman. This is known as ‘pressured selling’ and is illegal. You are protected under the ‘Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008’.

Always remember that whilst a vehicle is sold to the finance company your legal rights remain the same as if you bought the car for cash from the dealer. It must be fit for purpose, as described and satisfactory quality. So even if the dealer wrongly described the car you have a claim against the finance provider. By Graham Hill

The headlines from car data company CAP HPI, said ‘Vehicle Finance Fraud On The Up’. Auto Express reported the same release from CAP HPI with the headline: ‘Third Of Used Cars Sold With Finance Still Owing’. Great headlines but fake news and something that makes me seriously angry!

Until I heard the expression ‘Fake News’, constantly being used by Donald Trump, I pretty much believed most of what I read but closer investigation of the release, put out by CAP HPI, has shown that the information released by them and reported on by Auto Express and others was simply a marketing ploy by CAP HPI.

Are a third of used cars sold with finance on them? Of course not, it’s a load of crap! Let’s look at the statistics. They first reported that 6 million cars were flagged as having finance on them in 2017. What does this mean? It means that out of all the searches that took place on HPI 6 million had finance on them.

They go on to say that in the first 4 months of 2018 2,437,025 searched vehicles had finance on them. So in pro-rata terms, the figure is up. Those figures actually mean absolutely nothing! The report doesn’t explain, as I suspect, that the figures could include multiple searches on the same car.

If you take your old car into a car dealer with outstanding finance on it the dealer will want a settlement cost from the funder and to do that, with permission from the customer, he will first, as a matter of course, carry out an HPI check.

In no way is that the customer trying to sell a car illegally it’s just normal process. And even then, having checked the car once on HPI, they will probably check again, just before parting with their cash to the lender, in the event that the customer has refinanced the car or taken out a further loan secured against it.

Not to mention the fact that the customer could have spoken to several dealers about a part exchange with each carrying out their own HPI check. They say themselves in the report: Fraudulent activity only takes place if the vendor tries to sell the vehicle with existing finance still owed, without letting the buyer know.

So to be clear the buyer does nothing illegal if he innocently buys a car with finance on, it’s the seller. And there is nothing in law that insists that buyers of used cars should check HPI as there is also nothing in law that insists that lenders list all finance agreements on HPI.

The only legal requirement on the buyer, for title to pass (for him to own the vehicle) is for him to ask the seller if he has the car on finance. If he says no you are entitled to keep the car. But this is what appears in the press release:

Commenting on the increase in used cars being identified as already on finance, Fernando Garcia, head of consumer at HPI said: “Buying a car with outstanding finance can land the unwitting buyer in trouble as most finance agreements or loans will grant the lender ownership of the vehicle until the debt has been paid. The debt stays with the vehicle not the borrower. Even if a buyer bought the vehicle in good faith, if the finance hasn’t been settled then the lender could repossess the vehicle, meaning you could lose the car and the money you paid.”

This disgraceful comment is legally incorrect and may cause me to raise an official complaint with Trading Standards. Why did they make this statement? Read what Mr Garcia said next:

Fernando Garcia added: “The first thing any used car buyer must do is ascertain whether the potential purchase is actually paid for. It’s impossible to tell if a vehicle has outstanding finance just by looking at it, which makes a vehicle history check an even more vital form of protection for buyers. An HPI Check can help protect consumers from buying a vehicle with something to hide, saving them cash as well as keeping them safe.

“Comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date car check data with a £30,000 data guarantee, the HPI Check gives protection from buying a vehicle with outstanding debt such as logbook loans and car finance plus is the first line of defence against car scams and motor fraud, including stolen, cloned and clocked cars.

This is clearly an attempt to get more naïve car buyers to use their HPI checking service and increase their income. Putting the frighteners on like this is wrong. Certainly, draw drivers’ attention to the benefits of checking a car’s history before buying but don’t twist statistics to mean something they don’t and certainly don’t suggest that lenders can repossess the car when the new owner is an ‘innocent buyer’ and therefore legally owns the car.

An innocent buyer could voluntarily hand over the car keys, in which case he can’t get the car back. Let me explain something, if you buy your car from a car dealer, trader or company you are protected because they can only sell you a car if they have clear title. If they sell you a car that is on finance, that is their problem not yours.

The only risk is if you buy from a private individual and again title passes if the seller says that he has no outstanding finance. The exception is a car that is on rental, could be a daily rental owned car or a car on contract hire. In which case the seller won’t have a V5C (log Book) with his name in it as the owner/keeper of the car.

This type of fake news could cause innocent buyers of cars to lose their cars when in fact they have good title, it’s a disgrace. By Graham Hill

Martin Chalker from Keston in Kent bought a Mercedes E Class Cabriolet on a 15 plate from a main dealer. He noticed sap like bubbles on the paintwork that seemed to be spreading.

After taking the car in for an inspection when it became clear that the marks weren’t as he thought, tree sap, it was agreed that the problem was with the lacquer.

It was proposed that the car should be re-sprayed under the warranty but that Martin would have to pay for the sills and bumpers to be re-sprayed. I’ve never heard of anything so daft!

As it was close to Christmas the dealer agreed to take the car in for the work to be done during January with the re-spray expected to take 6-8 weeks.

So Martin was not only facing a long delay he was also looking at a bill for £1,589 to repaint the sills and bumpers. Why? Whilst he was provided with a courtesy car, after 2 months he still didn’t have his car back.

He wrote to AutoExpress who contacted Mercedes, following which the dealer started work on the car the following day and 2 weeks later the car was returned with a full respray.

They didn’t charge for the sills and bumpers and in addition they made a payment to cover the finance cost of his car whilst he was suffering the faults and driving a courtesy car. In total, £4,657. Whilst Martin was delighted why did he need to get AutoExpress involved?

In the first place the car wasn’t his so he should have immediately got the finance company involved. The attempt to get him to pay for the sills and bumpers to be repainted was a disgrace, no doubt relying on the ‘betterment’ rule but that flies in the face of EU Consumer law or simply just trying it on.

Good on AutoExpress but so frustrating!! If the customer wasn’t entitled to everything he claimed for you can guarantee that Mercedes would not have rolled over and paid up. By Graham Hill

A shocking survey has been released showing that all new diesel engine cars fail to meet EU standards in independent real-world emissions tests. The survey carried out by the International Council Of Clean Transport (ICCT) found that 4 manufacturer groups had average emissions more than 12 times above the Euro 6 diesel type-approval limit, with the highest emitting vehicle family having emissions 18 times the limit!!!!

Petrol cars performed better with all Euro 6 petrol models receiving a ‘good’ or ‘moderate’ rating. In fact, the highest emitting petrol Euro 6 vehicle family had approximately the same level of NOx emissions as the lowest-emitting diesel vehicle family.

And this wasn’t a test on a few hundred vehicles the tests were carried out on 700,000 cars and 4,850 vehicle models, nearly all designed and built to Euro standards 3-6, across Europe.

The project named CONOX and funded by the Swiss Federal Office for The Environment, had an initial dataset comprising of samples collected in France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

In London, for example, researchers used remote sensing technology to measure the emissions from more than 100,000 vehicles during a 5-month sampling campaign that stretched from November 2017 through to March 2018.

Measurements were carried out over a period of 45 days at 9 locations in the Greater London area. All results have been put into a searchable database by the Real Urban Emissions Initiative (TRUE – no I couldn’t work that out either) which aims at bringing transparency to the public debate and awareness of vehicle emissions and urban air quality.

The way that the readings were obtained involved using technology developed by ICCT which required a beam of light to be passed through the exhaust emissions from a sampling location on the road. Automatic number plate recognition technology was used to determine which model of car was being tested.

They also felt that this method of monitoring real-world emission made it almost impossible to cheat or falsify the figures. Their results were graded Good (Green), Moderate (Yellow) and Poor (Red). They also grouped them under Euro 3, 4, 5 and 6 and even Euro 6 results only showed a few diesel cars that had climbed out of Poor to Moderate.

No Euro 6 standard diesel engines received a green rating but the yellow ratings were achieved by only 1 top-selling brand and that was BMW. Euro 5 performed particularly poorly and it was one of the car families in this group whose NOx emissions were 18 times over the limit.

You can read more about these frightening results by visiting the TRUE website. By Graham Hill

So often I’ve looked at the standard list of equipment fitted to cars and asked myself the question – why? Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to me but of course to others it is an essential must have feature. Business Car has had a look at some technology and having surveyed a number of business drivers who clearly spend a lot of time behind the wheel they have come up with an essential list of equipment that drivers look for. Here you go:

DAB Radio:   This got off to a very shaky start and is still problematic in some cars and in some areas of the country but for those reliant on radio weather reports and like to listen to crystal clear music a DAB radio is essential. The changeover came and went and frankly I don’t actually know if all new cars have to be fitted with DAB but I’m pretty sure that all new cars are.

Parking Assist: Once only fitted to top end cars it is now percolating down to family cars and smaller cars. The car finds a suitable parking spot. You activate, change gear, accelerate and brake but take your hands off the steering wheel and the car steers itself perfectly into the parking space. I have it but very rarely use it. Others feel they can’t live without it.

Lane Departure Warning & Blindspot Detection: Pretty much self-explanatory, a warning buzzer and/or light illuminates to let you know that you’ve drifted out of your lane if you cross over the white lines, possibly because you are nodding at the wheel. Blindspot detection alerts you if there is another car in the blind spot that it senses you’ve missed – pretty straightforward but useful.

Adaptive Cruise Control: There are some good videos on YouTube showing this in action. Basically, let’s say you’re travelling along the motorway, cruising at 70 miles per hour with cruise control engaged. You’re not properly concentrating and you run up behind the car in front travelling at 50 mph. The system will slow you down to match their speed, then as you indicate and move out to overtake the system picks up your speed back to 70 mph.

Rear Parking Cameras & Parking Sensors:  This is the next step down from Park Assist whereby the parking sensors and rear camera can assist you in not denting the back of your car or a pedestrian. Parking sensors normally come with an audible as well as a visual warning with the sound getting louder and warning LED lights increasing in number and in some cases moving from orange to red as you get closer. Some cars also come with front sensors. Some cars come with a rear camera instead of sensors whilst others have them in addition to the sensors. Particularly if rear visibility is restricted. Some cars even have all-round cameras and sensors which can give you a view on your screen as though you were looking down from above the car. Looks great but not sure if essential.

Autonomous Emergency Braking: In simple terms this stops you from running into a car (or person) in front if you lose concentration. I should add that most of these systems are not meant to stop a high-speed crash, it only activates at low speed but statistics show that this is one of the most common accidents in built-up areas. If you move forward in a queue and the car in front stops quickly the system will activate and stop you from running into the back of the car. Many manufacturers have their own system with mixed reviews but I have to say it has stopped me from having a shunt on a roundabout.

Heated Windscreen: This is becoming more popular as the cost comes down. It consists of a very fine filament built into the windscreen that will superheat and not only clears the screen of frost or snow but also the dreaded interior fog or mist without the need to take a cloth to it leaving irritating smears. The heated screen can also release wiper blades stuck to the windscreen. I would certainly say a must have in the UK.

Satelite Navigation: I believe that BMW is the first car manufacturer to fit Sat Nav into all their new cars. They are so much more these days than just a route planner they will also divert you if there are road works and direct you to garages if you run low on fuel or restaurants if you need some food. They still aren’t standard on all cars but we are moving in that direction.

Apple Carplay and/or Android Auto Capability: Effectively these systems allow you to use all the apps you have on your phone on the screen in your dashboard. You can use a sat nav app and play your Spotify playlist through the car’s audio system.

Speed Limit Monitoring System: This system simply warns you if you drift over the speed limit. They work differently, some give off an audible sound whilst others either flash up the speed limit on your screen or a warning light illuminates. Either way the system could save you points or even your licence.

Wireless Charging: More important if you are driving a lot and making a lot of calls on your mobile. Having wires connecting between your phone and USB port can be untidy and distracting so a wireless charger could be very useful. May not be that essential but useful to have.

There you have it – a round up of techie equipment that business car drivers would like in their cars and worth considering when you change next. By Graham Hill

Years ago I was the ‘Man To Go To’ for many middle eastern members of their various royal families when they wanted to buy anti-terror protected cars. Most were top of the range stretched or LWB Mercedes S Class. We would buy the cars from the factory and delivered to a company near Gatwick who would carry out all of the security modifications.

It generally took about 3 months, the car with its armour plated body and bullet-proof glass and special bullet-proof tyres (yes there is such a thing) ended up weighing about 4 times its original weight and cost around 4 times the original cost.

They obviously didn’t need finance but each car had to be overseen by me personally but on the bright side I made a lot of money out of each car. They generally kept the cars in garages under West End houses for use when they came over for a visit.

They tended to keep them for 2 years then part exchange for a new car. On average, after 2 years they had travelled less than 1,000 miles. It cost them a fortune but such was their paranoia regarding safety and security. Who would have thought that many years later a specialist armour plating company would modify a fairly standard family car and for it to be available from a franchised dealer (so I’ve been told)?

An anti-terrorist car in their line up – what’s it all coming to? And I’m not talking Bentley, Mercedes, BMW or Jaguar. I’m talking Skoda – a Skoda Superb Estate. The cars are modified by a British based company and takes about 4 weeks to modify but when the bodywork has been modified and the glass replaced by bulletproof glass the car will meet PAS 300 standards for ballistic and blast protection.

The modified car will weigh much more making the acceleration lower than the standard car’s, 0-60 in 8.4 seconds with the top speed dropping about 20 miles per hour. Rather than bullet-proof tyres they have modified special wheels that will still work even if the tyre is full of holes.

It seems that if you have the money you can have one but with a price tag starting from £118,688 I think I’ll pass. Although I seem to recall reading that some police forces were looking at Skoda Superbs as replacements for current cars – maybe this is why! By Graham Hill