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Hyundai and Kia (one and the same company, by the way), are to fit solar charging panels to selected models from next year. Sounds like a good idea to me. From the pictures I’ve seen it looks like it will just be the roof that will become a solar panel but why not make the whole of the car a solar panel?

Seems to make more sense but what do I know? I guess the cost of repairs would sky-rocket. Anyway, I wasn’t aware of the fact that this has been tried before but technology in this area has moved on considerably making it cheaper and more efficient than when first trialled.

The two companies will be offering it on petrol and diesel engine’d cars (not sure why) as well as hybrid and fully electric cars. First to have the technology will be hybrid cars. The manufacturers reckon that the solar panel will be capable of charging 30-60% of the battery during a day in the sunshine.

This stored energy can then be used to reduce the engine use and thus fuel consumption. A thumbs up for this one! By Graham Hill

OK, before I question my sanity here are the statistics according to the Home Office. Reported vehicle thefts have increased from 75,308 in 2013/14 to 111,999 reported in 2017/18. That’s a jump of 48.7%. The Home office doesn’t report on how the vehicles were stolen but the rising numbers correlate to the increase in keyless entry and go systems fitted to cars and the drop in police officers of 21,958 since 2006 – a 15% reduction.

What? I think the answer to the problem is in the above. As has been widely publicised keyless entry makes it very simple for crooks to steal your car. So I wonder what the solution could be? Let me think about that one? Hmmmm! Could it be the banning of keyless entry until an alternative can be found which cannot be abused by an oik with a laptop and his mate with a small signal generator?

As for the increase in thefts being blamed on the drop in police numbers – how daft is that? Now, first of all, I don’t approve of the massive cut in police officers but to blame the increase in thefts on the number of police is frankly daft. If they blamed the low number of stolen recoveries on the police I could understand but they’re blaming the number of thefts on them.

And where are the insurers in all this? Paying out fortunes to those who have had their car stolen should, one would think, get them to set up a recovery team to find the cars that they are paying out on. I’m sure they could justify the costs. And as for the car manufacturers, knowing that keyless entry doesn’t protect their cars one would think that they would immediately withdraw the system

Whilst some manufacturers have a means whereby you can deactivate the keyless devices they need to go further. Remembering to switch off the keyless device or storing it in a protective case puts the onus on the drivers – totally bonkers.

And as for blaming car thefts on the drop in police numbers, unless previously we had a policeman by the side of every car at all times preventing the theft of each and every car I fail to see how a few more bobbies in every town or a few more traffic cops would deter the oiks from stealing cars.

We need sentencing to fit the crime. What happens if they’re caught? They’re given a community order or forced to wear an ankle bracelet for a couple of months. No point in banging them up as it ends up clogging up the prison system so maybe some hard labour would do the trick!! By Graham Hill

Yes you read that correctly, your car could report you for being in charge of your car whilst intoxicated. We’re not talking about normal cars we’re talking about autonomous cars (driverless). This raises a couple of questions, the first is a major misunderstanding about autonomous cars.

I went into detail in a previous report so I won’t repeat myself about ‘drivers’ of autonomous cars but basically if you are one of those that thinks that in a few years time you’ll be able to jump unto your driverless car, go down the pub or club and get absolutely legless then get in the car and tell it to take you home – you’re badly mistaken.

If you are in charge of an autonomous car you will need to be as sober as the driver of a normal car. So that’s possibly messed up your plans of being in a state of permanent inebriation.

The next question is how and is this big brother gone mad? The how is a patent filed by Huawei on a system that measures sobriety of an autonomous vehicle’s occupants. According to Auto Express the system consists of a number of sensors and processors that monitor the condition of the driver, checking to see if they are in a fit state to take over the manual controls of the car in an emergency?

If the system detects that the driver is drunk, it could issue a warning, deactivate the car, or even inform the police. The system not only detects drunkenness the patent describes the car detecting if suspicious items such as weapons or drugs are on board and if the driver is driving whilst using a mobile device (really? One would have thought that if the car can drive itself it would have Bluetooth fitted). It can also sense tiredness.

This is the first time that engineers have considered the possibility of using technology to report drivers for offences. Alongside this development, it was reported last year that autonomous police cars of the future could be mini courtrooms. They would be kitted out to test drivers for alcohol and drugs and scan for weapons. Sentences would be delivered by videolink and offenders autonomously delivered to jail.

The theory behind this is that Bobbies could return to the beat whilst the new cars increased the prosecution rate by removing the courts from the system. Makes you wonder where this is all taking us? By Graham Hill

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By Graham Hill

I’ve already opened this week’s email with some of my views on the legal implications but aside from those PCH is definitely gaining traction. It took quite a while for consumers to get their heads around PCP with the idea of either handing their car back to the finance company, buying it or using it as a part exchange. With over 5 million live PCP contracts running it is clear that people are getting it.

However, of those who took out PCP’s on new cars, not willing to consider any other alternative because they still had the option to buy the car at the end of the lease if they wanted to, they then felt that they were misled by the dealer. They believed that there would be some equity in the car at the end of the agreement which could be used as part of the deposit on the replacement car. In many cases drivers have ended up giving back the car to the finance company because the car wasn’t worth the balloon payment let alone providing some equity.

In fact according to themoneysavingexpert.com 80% of those who take out a PCP hand the car back at the end of the agreement. So having had that experience they then realise that they could have saved a considerable amount of money by taking out PCH with no option to purchase. So whilst PCP looked great on paper it isn’t surprising that there has been a massive growth in PCH over the last 12 months whilst PCP has dropped for the first time ever.

I will be explaining much more over the coming weeks so watch this space as I reveal some of the closely held secrets of the industry. By Graham Hill

Before you think I’m getting all political – I’m not. I’m talking about one of the major successes of EU membership and that is safety systems on cars. Across the whole of the EU safety standards have been set to protect drivers, passengers and other road users – very successfully. But will this still be the case after Brexit when we take over the rules and regulations ourselves?

My hope is that we will continue to maintain the high standards that, like many EU laws, we were responsible for in the first place. If you drove around Spain or Italy in the 70’s and 80’s you would have taken yours and everyone else’s lives around you in your hands the moment you got behind the wheel.

But with the introduction of consistency throughout Europe when it comes to car safety you can feel relatively safe in every country you drive in. But will this apply moving forward? There have been times when the UK manufacturers have questioned some of the enforced safety features imposed upon us by the EU but will that mean that there will be two levels of safety applied when we build cars in the UK?

Safety costs money so if the car manufacturers can save money – will they do so, especially if the safety feature doesn’t count towards the global NCAP safety tests. If we export to Europe we will need to meet the EU standards but will they apply in the UK especially as we are more and more price driven? As an example take the Indian car market where above all else cost is the main factor followed by cost to run, mileage and performance.

Safety is way down the list of priorities so manufacturers manufacture to meet the needs. And that includes European manufacturers. In a recent case a VW Polo was reported to be given 0 stars on the global NCAP test without it affecting sales. I believe they improved the safety of the cars and as a result achieved a higher score but that was a good case of car manufacturers meeting demand. In the UK Polos achieve either 4 or 5 NCAP safety stars.

By removing ourselves from Europe I sincerely hope that we don’t remove ourselves from some of the good things they were responsible for. I wouldn’t like to think that it would be safer to drive a new car in Europe than in the UK. By Graham Hill

Then you probably need to read the findings of Warrantywise when they surveyed claims made on used cars revealing the most and least reliable cars.

Most & least claimed-against brands:

Most & least claimed car models

So if you’re thinking of buying a used car and you want one that is least likely to go wrong and potentially cost you money in repairs choose from the least claimed list. On the other hand you could take out a lease on a new car and benefit from a new car warranty. By Graham Hill

If you were told this by the manufacturer of your car and that he would fix the problem if you popped it into your nearest dealer for free, why wouldn’t you go? Or if you needed to check a website to see if your car was one that had the fault wouldn’t you check it?

Well in 2013 this problem was identified. Takata airbags were fitted to 66 global models and all could have the fault so a massive recall got underway. In the UK 2.9 million cars were affected but to date, 991,333 cars remain unrepaired – could yours be one of them?

You may recall in 2015 Vauxhall hit the headlines as a result of their Zafiras built between 2005 and 2014 possibly having faulty heating components fitted causing the cars to catch light. The affected cars were identified and recall notices were sent out to 234,000 drivers. 30,686 have still not been repaired so any of those could catch fire at any time. Might be a good idea to check your car out if you’re driving a Zafira.

As with the Zafira, BMW issued a recall in 2018 on their 3 series built between 2004 and 2011. Again faulty heater wiring could lead to a fire but of the 279,104 cars affected 197,352 remain unrepaired. According to the DVSA there are still 2.39 million cars subject to safety recalls that have still not been repaired, an estimated 1 in 13 cars.

According to Auto Express, Edmund King – AA President, said that ‘Generally the recall system in the UK works quite well…’ What? A third of cars that have a potential fault that could result in shrapnel being fired into the face of the driver or passengers doesn’t suggest to me that the system is working quite well!

As a result of this highly dangerous situation, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is proposing to align two of their systems, the recall register and MOT test records. They propose that if a car is subject to a recall it is noted in the advisory section of the MOT certificate. If it appears the following year the car should fail the test.

Personally, I don’t feel this goes far enough, the recalls should be aligned with road fund licence and if the car hasn’t been repaired the driver can’t renew the tax – surely if the car is a danger to the driver, occupants and other road users they should not be allowed on the road. If we rely upon the MOT test the car will be 3 years old before the note is made on the certificate.

If you would like to check to see if your car has a recall go to: https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/   By Graham Hill

As a consumer, you are probably aware that you have a very strong position in law whenever you have disputes with a supplier whether or not finance is involved. When it comes to cars your position is stronger if you have taken out finance because you have even more Acts of Parliament to protect you.

But what if you are a sole trader, partnership or SME without the resources of a large corporate? Certainly not enough money to take on a large dealer group when you believe that the car isn’t fit for purpose or as described and the only course of action is to go to court.

What many small business owners are unaware of is that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is available not only to consumers but also small business owners. At one stage the facilities were available to sole traders and small partnerships only but this has been extended to limited companies provided they are what is termed in EU law as a Micro-Enterprise.

To qualify as a Micro-Enterprise you must have a turnover of less than 2 million Euros AND employ less than ten members of staff – even if you are a limited company. Now here’s the interesting thing. If you look through consumer credit legislation it pretty much excludes businesses. But the Ombudsman isn’t constrained by the law and will sometimes find in favour of a supplier or customer based simply on his sense of fairness.

The thing is that even if it doesn’t go your way you don’t have to accept the Ombudsman’s decision. You can still go to court if you have the money to do so, whilst on the other hand, if you are successful the other side must accept the decision of the Ombudsman if you choose to accept the ruling.

So in future don’t despair if you aren’t being treated fairly by a dealer or their finance provider. Register a complaint with the FOS. By Graham Hill

I’ve done this myself and got really angry in the worst town in the world for driver convictions (in my opinion) – Croydon. I was fairly close behind a bus travelling through the town and as we crossed over a crossroad into the same road without seeing any sign to show that the road opposite was simply a two-way bus lane. Of course by the time I saw that the road was simply a bus lane it was too late. A No Entry sign showing ‘Except buses, taxis and cycles’ underneath would have been handy.

So I wasn’t surprised to read that drivers were fined £42 million for driving in bus lanes last year. One road alone generated £1.48 million in fines. Last year there were 888,760 notices issued. In London the fines for driving in a bus lane reached £7.57 million with Ealing council responsible for more than 40% (£3.1 million) of London’s total.

In Glasgow drivers were fined £6.52 million whilst Cardiff drivers had to part with £5.59 million for driving in a bus lane. Confused.com were behind the figures collated after a Freedom of Information request. It also found out that 39% of drivers admitted driving in a bus lane whilst 48% said they had done so unwittingly. 41% said that they had done so because of unclear markings or signage – I know what they mean.

Confused.com’s motoring editor, Amanda Stretton, suggested that bus lanes present the most confusing challenge to motorists. She also suggested that the money raised should be used to improve signage and questioned the level of fines as motorists felt they were ‘unfair and excessive’. The High Street in Oxford was the road that generated the most revenue at £1.48 million. Potentially because only buses, taxis and cycles are permitted to enter sections of the street between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

You’ve been warned. By Graham Hill