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When a used car dealer buys a car he either buys it at auction, takes it in part exchange or buys it from one of many other sources. As a registered trader he simply advises the DVLA that he is now the owner and has the car up for sale. Thus avoiding another owner in the log book (V5C). All good so far.

As a result of this he must keep the car off the road and when driven on the public highway he needs trade plates. The trade plates identify the dealer and also prove that he has Trader Insurance. As a result he can use the car for his own trips but predominantly the trade plates are used when a customer takes the car for a test drive.

A little like having fully comp insurance with the ‘any driver’ clause. But, unlike a domestic policy that generally only covers other drivers for Third Party Only the trader policy covers all drivers fully comp.

Now here’s the thing, a firm of lawyers has found that under the Road Vehicle (Registration & Licencing) Regulations 2002 a dealer who has held a car in stock for more than 3 months i.e. the three months period of grace, he or the company must register the car in their name (PART 4, Regulation 24).

This means, according to the lawyers who picked this up, that the dealer can no longer use the trade plates on the car once registered in their name, they must tax the car and insure it independently. It could also have a more sinister consequence.

Once the car has been owned for more than 3 months as a ‘stock car’ very few dealers are aware that they must buy the car so continue to take potential buyers out on test drives using their trade plates. As the DVLA would consider that the car was illegally on the road, after the 3 months period, unless registered, it could render the traders insurance void.

So you could be on a test drive, have an accident, and either be uninsured, or if you have fully comp on your own car, your own insurance may take over. However, you will only be covered for possibly third party with potentially a massive excess to pay.

Worse still I understand that many fully comp policies no longer include any cover at all when driving any car other than your own unless requested at the time of taking out the policy.

With over 8 million used cars changing hands each year there must be many car dealers carrying stock over 3 months old. Ask the question when you go for a test drive. By Graham Hill

I read an interesting story about a car crash that happened whilst a car was being driven by a car mechanic. A firm of lawyers was using the story as a case history of what can go wrong when evidence is lost or disposed of. Basically the driver, taking the car on a test drive, had an accident that not only injured him but also several other innocent motorists.

A forensic investigation took place following a police interview with the driver who could recall nothing of the accident. Evidence collected at the scene and an investigation of the wreck showed that the most likely cause of the loss of control was a deflated rear tyre.

However, at this critical point of the investigation, as it was several weeks after the crash took place, the suspect wheel had been thrown away. It was devastating for the driver as the lawyers needed the tyre to be able to prove whether the loss of control was, in fact, the tyre or  whether it was down to driver competence, his input and/or that of those who serviced the car?

Without the tyre they couldn’t tell whether the deflation was the cause or result of the crash. Did the sidewall collapse or did it have a puncture? Without this vital evidence the mechanic was found guilty of causing the accident – seen as unjust by the lawyers as the mechanic suffered and the garage saw its insurance sky rocket, all because a vital part of the car wasn’t kept.

The important message here is never destroy evidence. Which got me thinking. At the end of a contract you often find that a service is due. Some cars tell you on a ‘condition based counter’. This means that the service is due based on the way that you drive the car, time and mileage. On the other hand it could be an annual service per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

As most lease cars are registered a day or two before the car is delivered the service becomes due a day or two before the car is due back. Read the contract but the chances are that you will have to get the car serviced.

It’s a pain in the neck for you but a profit opportunity for the garage to charge for repairs/replacements that aren’t necessary. Typically they will tell you that you need fluid changes or replacement brake pads, even though warning lights haven’t come on.

On one occasion I still had a month to go and my brake warning light came on so I popped in to a garage for a new set of pads. Whilst they were carrying out the work the service manager came out and told me that the discs needed changing as well. I asked if they were illegal and as soon as he said no I told him to leave them. Worse still if I’d said change them and they invoiced me without doing anything. Which is my next point.

Some main dealers and garages take a video of the work they carry out which you can watch in real time on your phone or tablet or have it sent to you after the service/repair has been completed. If they don’t video make sure you ask for the replaced parts to be put into a box and placed in your boot.

If you feel that the item didn’t need to be replaced have it checked and be prepared to challenge the dealer if your expert says the work didn’t need to be done. It seems Trading Standards are getting more pro-active. By Graham Hill

I read an interesting story this week about car dealership Robins and Day who had to pay a fine of £5,000 plus £500 costs and £1,000 compensation to their customer for not declaring that the car was an ex-hire car.

Their customer bought a Peugeot from their dealership in Gateshead in January 2017 for around £10,000 marked up as ‘one previous owner’. Within a few days of purchase he noticed a smell and, having returned the car to the dealer, was told that the clutch needed replacing.

He was then told that he would have to pay the major part of the replacement cost, £650, as they suggested that it was because of his wife’s driving style. You know me, my blood started to boil when I read this. How on earth could a driving style wear out a clutch in a matter of days? Personally I would have rejected the goods.

In the meantime the customer received the V5C (log book) which showed that the previous owner was car hire company, Europcar. The customer took up the case with the local Trading Standards Office who confirmed that the car had indeed been owned by Europcar so had been driven by many drivers with varying driving styles.

Gateshead Council Trading Standards prosecuted Robins and Day under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. The company pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay as shown above.

But the interesting point here was that in amongst the report they explained that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that dealers now have to disclose the full history of any car before selling it.

This includes whether the car was leased, hired or used for fleet purposes. In my opinion I feel it is right that you are told if a car was hired out because it would have had many drivers and, as a result of the different driving styles, cause abnormal wear and tear on certain component parts.

However, in my experience, most lease and fleet cars are only driven by one person or possibly the main driver along with another family member. They also have to be maintained to the highest standard to avoid end of lease charges as well as making sure that the car spends as little time off the road awaiting repairs as a result of driver abuse.

So in fact this could work in your favour. Judge the car by its mileage and service history. If you find an ex lease car with relatively low mileage and perfect service history you could still argue with the dealer that as the car was leased ‘and probably abused as most company cars are’, you need more off the price.

Of course the car will be perfectly fit for purpose but the ex-lease or fleet info puts you into a strong negotiating position. By Graham Hill

It is now becoming ridiculous as Government policy on vehicle emissions falls into disrepute. We have Chris Grayling and Mayor of London Khan along with other ‘experts’ destroying the diesel market by demonising diesel cars and forcing new car buyers to consider moving back to petrol.

Fleet operators are now considering moving over to petrol cars under pressure from environmentalists. However, we still judge the environmental friendliness of new cars by the amount of CO2 they emit.

The higher the CO2 output the more customers will pay in first year road fund licences and employees, who drive company cars, pay benefit in kind tax based on CO2 emissions. So those considering changing cars, whether businesses or consumers, are left totally confused.

To add to the confusion we hear from the Department for Transport in a release from Buyacar.co.uk, that CO2 emissions from new cars have risen for the first time in 14 years. 2017 saw an average CO2 emission rise from 120.3 g/km to an anticipated 121.1 g/km.

So the next thing we will see is a change to the ozone layer and fears that holes will be re-appearing. So on the one hand we are being told that diesel cars are out but those eying up the ozone layer are suggesting that we should be moving back to diesels to bring back down CO2 output.

We need clearer direction from the Government as to what cars should be bought or the environment will continue to suffer and customers paying more for their cars than they need to. Graham Hill

Following the VW debacle the EU has introduced fines on manufacturers who’s cars don’t meet EU emission standards.

Each member country is expected to carry out emissions tests and any cars falling below the EU emission standard will cause the manufacturer to be fined 30,000 Euros PER CAR.

The EU has introduced tougher rules to compliment new laboratory and real world emissions tests for new vehicles. It seems that only the manufacturer will be fined and not the driver, which is fair.

Each member country is expected to carry our random inspections and if cars are found to be outside certain emissions limits not only will the manufacturer be fined a Europe wide recall will be imposed so it’s important that the manufacturers don’t fiddle emissions in the first place.

The new rules come into play in 2020. This could result in some massive fines which will result in the cost of new cars increasing. And I feel very uncomfortable with these ‘real life’ tests not being as accurate as many would expect.

I like the idea that we are trying to clean up our act when it comes to the environment but such heavy fines are, I feel, a little over the top.

The UK Government is expected to adopt the new emissions tests and the associated fines, even though we should be out of the EU in 2020. Graham Hill

I start the year in total confusion, not because I’m dosed up with anti flu treatments but the fact that we are seeing tighter and tighter legislation being introduced by the FCA and now Data Protection with the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) to be introduced in 2018 but little that genuinely helps consumers.

The FCA rules deal with fine detail, record keeping, annual returns and providing contractual information that few customers ever read. But there are no competence tests on those providing or arranging the finance and when you start digging around the various Acts of Parliament, as I’ve been doing recently to prepare my latest report on PCP’s, they are shockingly weak.

Whilst we are now going to have to come up with data storage routines that protect customers from having data collected from our computer systems via a virus with all sorts of penalties if something goes wrong there is still no protection against false information being provided on the Internet that could be costing customers fortunes.

As an exercise I went onto a well known legal forum before Christmas and posted a problem. I said that I had bought a car costing £14,000 from an individual. At the time I asked the seller if there was any finance on the car and he told me there wasn’t. In fact I wrote on his receipt ‘Free from any finance’ and got him to initial it.

Several weeks later I had a knock on the door from a representative of a finance company. They showed me a copy of a PCP agreement, signed by the person I bought the car from, and said that as this was their car I should hand the keys over and it was then up to me to recover my money from their customer.

I said that I had fobbed off the representative but what should I do? They would be calling the following day to collect the car. I quickly got a response from one of the forum members asking if I had checked HPI to see if the car was on finance. I told him no.

He then inferred that I was pretty stupid and that there was nothing I could do about the situation, I would have to hand the keys over as the car remains the property of the funder until the final payment has been made, along with any option to purchase fee. Others on the forum were agreeing, some with sympathy at losing £14,000.

The fact is that this was totally incorrect advice and had I followed it I would certainly have been out of pocket to the tune of £14,000. The finance company would have asked me to sign a document confirming that I had voluntarily surrendered the car and the problem would then be passed to me. This is incredibly bad advice. In fact I would be regarded in law as an innocent buyer.

There is no legal obligation on the part of lenders to record finance details on HPI, or any other platform, so there is no legal obligation on your part to check it. Of course it would be wise to carry out a check but you shouldn’t lose your car if you don’t. And this is my point.

This information was provided on a legal platform so who should take the blame for my loss when I find out that I could have kept the car? Who is responsible for the data? It’s all well and good going to extreme lengths to protect client information but what about the quality of data presented to you on web sites? Wrong priorities! Graham Hill

Now here’s some strange advice I thought I would never be sharing. Michelin has urged drivers not to change their tyres too early. The reason, because changing tyres early is not good for the environment and costs individuals and companies money.

Research that was carried out by Michelin found that if tyres were changed with 3mm of tread remaining instead of the legal limit of 1.6mm would cost drivers in the EU an extra £6.9 billion per annum in extra tyre purchases and extra fuel consumption through increased friction on the road surface.

So there you have it, you should wait till your tyres are just about on their limit before changing them. By Graham Hill

It’s been a while since I mentioned baby and child seats. As designs and rules have moved on since I last talked about them I thought it would be a good idea to bring things up to date. High street store suppliers now make sure that they send staff on IOSH courses to qualify them to discuss requirements with customers. Mothercare sends out mystery shoppers to assess the quality of advice given by staff.

Seat manufacturer Britax provide training for retailers to enable them to fit car seats properly. The most frequent problem is that parents move the child up to a larger seat too soon. This was a major finding by What Car in which 36% of children were found to be too small for the seat whilst a very small number were still in seats that were too small for them. What Car has listed 10 checks that you should carry out to protect your youngster as follows:

Is your child too small or large for the seat? If in doubt seek advice of an expert.

If the seat is secured by the car’s seatbelt make sure that it isn’t twisted and that it is fitted tightly enough around the child seat. It should be tight enough not to move if you push it.

When moving from wearing thick winter clothes to thinner summer clothes make sure you adjust the harness so that it isn’t too loose. Pinch the harness in front of the child’s collarbone and if you can pinch a lot of fabric between your fingers the belt is too loose.

If you’ve adjusted the seat’s headrest because your child has grown ensure the harness has been correctly routed back into place.

If using a travel system seat with a carry handle, don’t forget to put it back to the correct position after putting your child in the seat.

If using an Isofix seat, check that it is correctly clipped in. Indicators will change from red to green on the seat when fitted correctly.

If using a seat with a leg support check that the leg is fitted firmly to the car’s floor, that it’s at a 90 degree angle to the floor and that it’s not resting on an underfloor storage department unless this has been filled with a car manufacturer approved filler.

If using a seat with a top tether, ensure that it is routed over the back of the seat and clipped into the correct mounting point, not a luggage hook.

Don’t secure a high back booster with the car’s head rest: this needs to be moved out of the way so the child seat sits flush with the car seatback.

If you’re using a seat that is suitable for a wide age range, check it regularly for wear and tear; don’t just assume that it will stay safe for many years.

One final piece of research showed that babies should be kept as flat as possible as long as possible so avoid long journeys during which the baby is angled at 45 degrees. If it is necessary make frequent stops and lay them flat as often as possible.

By Graham Hill

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has issued a notice regarding rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 vs Distance Selling Regulations. Consumers taking cars on finance are confusing the two and looking to reject the car they have just taken delivery of simply because they don’t like it. The distance selling rules allow you 14 days from receipt to reject anything you haven’t seen i.e. goods you have ordered on line.

You don’t need a reason to reject, you can simply return and get your money back. In the case of the Consumer Rights Act you have 30 days to reject the goods, i.e. a new or used car in our case, but there must be a problem. It must have something more than a minor fault, be not as described or not be fit for purpose for a rejection under the Consumer Rights Act.

You can still allow the dealer to put right the fault but it is your decision and if he doesn’t repair the fault you can still reject the car at a later date. But you can’t simply return the car because you don’t like the shape any more or you’ve gone off the interior colour. It seems that the FOS are receiving complaints from consumers because the dealer won’t take the car back because confused consumers think they can reject the car for no reason as they can under distance selling rules.

Having said that there are far too many dealers refusing to accept car rejections for absolutely genuine reasons as they will lose money as a result. Many feel the law isn’t working and I have proof that it isn’t from disgruntled customers – not mine I hasten to add. So it’s a good reason to make sure you have a professional independent broker working on your behalf when buying or leasing a new car in particular. That’s my plug over! By Graham Hill

More leasing companies and PCP providers are now insisting that cars be serviced at main dealers. Where the manufacturer either owns the funder or has major influence over the funder, through discounts provided on the vehicles supplied, you can understand that they may wish to protect their franchised dealerships.

And of course with changing technology having your car serviced at a main dealer with his specialist knowledge makes sense. But at what cost? I have told you what I do when my car has a service due. I call around and get a quote from an independent then ask the main dealer if he can match or beat the quote and guess what?

They beat it every time. Aftermarket warranty provider, Motoreasy, has carried out a survey into car servicing and found hourly rates from £36 per hour, charged by an independent, to £234 per hour charged by a sports car dealer in Reading. 6,000 independent, fast fit and franchised dealers took part in the survey. Other than the highly specialist sports car dealer the highest average rate was £81 per hour, charged in Surrey, whilst Selkirkshire had the lowest average of £49 per hour. In terms of individual quotes the cheapest was a garage in Manchester charging the £36 per hour.

Breaking the figures down further they found that the average rate charged by a franchised dealer was £99 compared to the average independent rate of £56 per hour – quite a difference. Now at this stage, and before it starts to get boring, I should explain a bit of a misunderstanding. You may have seen in the press or elsewhere references to the EU Block Exemption Rules.

In summary this enables those who buy a new car to have the car serviced at any independent garage or fast fit centre provided they use manufacturer approved parts and conform to the manufacturer’s service schedule. Provided they do this the warranty cannot be invalidated. However, this is different to the rules that the lender can impose upon you whilst you drive their motor car, this applies to PCP and Contract Hire (both business and personal).

He is entitled to insist that you have your car serviced at a main dealer as he owns the car and you are simply the registered keeper. Whilst this may not be in the spirit of the EU directive if it is part of the agreement you should adhere to the terms. Just thought I’d mention – make sure you read the contract. To finish off, 87% of those using an independent for servicing were happy with their experience compared to 80% who used a main dealer. 65% found independents more convenient whilst 55% found main dealers more convenient (what a dopey statistic).

Dealers scored higher in areas such as professionalism, knowledge and customer service. In an attempt to put up an argument on behalf of the independents Stuart James, Director of the Independent Garage Association said that independents are better at diagnostics as they have to work on a wider variety and age of cars – really?? Just make sure you don’t breach the terms of your contract. By Graham Hill