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If you are a regular reader of my blog posts you will know how frustrated I can get when the advice that is handed out by so-called experts to drivers with a problem falls short of the full and accurate advice. Just because a fault appears on a car that is out of warranty doesn’t mean that you have no claim against the dealer from whom you bought the car. Or if the car is on finance against the finance provider.

I have explained that any complaints should be raised with Trading Standards and also with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Write a letter of complaint to the manufacturer if you feel that the dealer you are using, his franchisee, isn’t treating you fairly.

But there is another line of fire that I rarely discuss. A route that I am about to embark upon with Mercedes who have rather foolishly decided to take me on! Interesting times. You may know that you can go to conciliation if you have a complaint. There are various types of Conciliation. County courts offer a Mediation Service which is free and can resolve issues before they get to court. But to use it you must already have taken steps to sue the other party and that could end up costing you money.

The purpose of the Mediation Service is to see if there is a quick solution that could avoid court time and expense on the part of all concerned. Another form of conciliation service is one provided via a trade body that the supplier is a member of. And this is the real heavy guns in my opinion. First of all establish which trade bodies are involved. You can check out their website for details.

Most lenders are members of the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) with some also members of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). So first of all you need to explain that you want to use the conciliation service of the trade association. The finance company you are dealing with must do that. You can then make a formal complaint to their trade association then discuss the complaint with the independent adjudicator.

As the lender stands a chance of being disciplined or even thrown out of their trade association they will want to avoid this, especially if you are in the right. So you may find their approach relax once you have filed your formal complaint. You can then proceed with the conciliation service.

If the car wasn’t financed you can still raise your complaints with the conciliation service run by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. You don’t have to accept their findings, you can take up the case with the Financial Ombudsman Service and/or pursue them through the court.

What I do is make a formal complaint against the company to its trade body for bringing the industry into disrepute. This will be followed by an enquiry into what happened and some sort of penalty if they were found to be in breach of the rules. All the time you are breaking them down to the point where they normally roll over.

Too many people are being abused by both lenders and manufacturers when dealing with legitimate complaints. This has got to stop! By Graham Hill

In this next story, Mel Buchan bought a Mini ‘off page’ from an Arnold Clark garage in Inverness. He saw the brand new car advertised on their website, with all its equipment listed, paid a deposit and waited for the car to be built and delivered.

Mel works offshore so couldn’t be at home to sign for the car but was sent photos. Upon inspection, he noticed that the car didn’t have the multifunction steering wheel, as advertised. He complained and was told that the advert was wrong but if he wanted the upgraded steering wheel he would have to pay £425 for it.

By now my blood was boiling and not because I was standing by a radiator. But it gets worse. He actually agreed to pay the extra £425 for the steering wheel – because he wanted it! It was only after this that he realised that the car was advertised as having parking sensors and floor mats. Again these items were missing despite them being clearly shown in the advert.

The only option given by the dealer was to re-order the car with the ‘bits’ on and pay thousands of pounds more! This is when he contacted my dear friends at Auto Express. Following contact between Auto Express and Arnold Clark the extras were fitted – all free of charge, with an apology for the incorrect advert due to ‘human error’. Does no-one read the Consumer Rights Act?

It covers inaccurate advertising and the big no no – supplying goods – ‘NOT AS DESCRIBED’. Whilst Arnold Clark appear to pat themselves on the back for being so nice to the customer someone needs to slap them with a bill for the inconvenience caused to Mr Buchan for inaccurately advertising the car and then giving him the runaround. If there was ever a more straightforward case of providing goods – not as described – I haven’t seen it!

I always support the guys at Auto Express because they constantly fight battles on behalf of consumers but unfortunately they don’t quite get to the right result in the right way, they probably need me on their panel of experts to help them in these sorts of cases. By Graham Hill

Roelant De Waard, Ford Vice President of Europe, announced at the Geneva Motor Show that Ford is to continue its diesel push. Something that must have surprised a few. In the UK Ford’s combined car and commercial vehicle sales in February made it the lead manufacturer with its highest vehicle sales for the month of February since 2004.

Roelant explained, ‘We wouldn’t find it the right decision to move away from diesel because it’s best for CO2, we’ve got NOx under control, it’s better economy wise, it has cheaper operating costs and it’s therefore, by far the most efficient choice. We’re basically putting it back on the map and allowing it to be the powertrain of choice for us.’

Their new Edge SUV is planned to have an 8-speed auto later this year and with an already fuel efficient engine, it is planned to have an even more environmentally friendly engine as it’s planned to be Euro 6.2 compliant. From an NOx point of view, it will be comparable with a petrol engine but with lower CO2 emissions.

With the further planned downsizing of diesel engines from 2.0l to 1.5l the fuel efficiency will continue to improve. So will this change of heart by the UK’s leading car manufacturer bring diesel back into focus? Personally, I think it will and certainly may convince the Government that we need clearer direction rather than the petrol, diesel flip flopping!

Seems like I’m having a week of moaning and talking about the environment – it wasn’t planned like that. By Graham Hill

The Chancellor announced last November that grants would be extended till 2020 but they are still to clarify the rules. For the moment the Government has confirmed that the current grants will last till at least the end of April whilst they continue their review.

Whilst the Chancellor confirmed that a scheme would last till 2020 they only confirmed that the current rates would last till the end of March. I hope that for the sake of the industry the DfT doesn’t simply extend the current rules a month at a time, especially where orders are placed on cars that won’t be delivered till after the end of April.

The best information we have at the moment is that the Department for Transport will advise any changes in due course. However, this hasn’t encouraged manufacturers to come up with some cheap rates for this month although we have just had a reduction on the all-electric Nissan Leaf.

The current structure, that many think will continue, is as follows: Cars with CO2 emissions less than 50g/km and a range of at least 70 miles with zero CO2 emissions – the grant is up to 35% of the cost of the car, up to a maximum of £4,500. Cars with CO2 emissions less than 50g/km and a range of at least 10 miles with zero CO2 emissions – the grant is up to 35% of the cost of the car, up to a maximum of £2,500.

Finally, cars with CO2 emissions of between 50g/km and 75g/km that can travel a minimum of 20 miles emission free – the grant is up to 35% of the cost of the car, up to a maximum of £2,500. The latter two categories exclude cars costing over £60,000.

I somehow feel that if we are to encourage investment by manufacturers in low and zero-emission cars we need a more serious approach by the Government. We are badly lagging behind Europe when it comes to fast charge points and if they end up lowering the grants we will be back to fighting over the emission differences between petrol and diesel. By Graham Hill

You may have read the sad story last weekend about the accident that took place in Arizona when a lady was killed by an autonomous Uber car. traveling at 40 miles per hour when it hit her whilst crossing the road with her bike. The car, an XC90, modified for driverless travel and operated by Uber, had a backup driver behind the wheel.

There were no passengers in the car and investigations are underway but the accident has certainly caused US States, the Government and operators to re-think the potential dangers. Arizona chose to impose very few regulations on autonomous cars in order to attract operators away from neighbouring California which attracted a lot of operators and developers but imposed tough regulations.

As a result, it now looks like the US Government will step in and create countrywide regulations that will overrule individual states. It has also caused many operators in both the States and around the rest of the world to review their safety systems and ask whether the drop in regulations in Arizona and other states has caused development in some developers to drop safety down the list of priorities.

The real worry for many is that there was a driver at the controls of the car that had the accident, acting as backup, and still an accident happened. Was the driver locked out of the controls at the time of the accident? The eyes of the world are now on the findings of the investigation. Much depends on what is uncovered as to how soon we will get to see autonomous vehicles on the road.

And if I may make a final point, I don’t see the benefit of a driverless car if it still needs a driver – just putting it out there. By Graham Hill

Over the past 3 years car thefts are up by 30%. In the past the cars were stolen by joyriders or in the case of prestige cars, stolen to order, stuffed into a container and on its way to India or South Africa within 24 hours of being stolen.

But these days there is a higher likelihood that cars will be stolen to sell on to unsuspecting buyers after changing its identity. As 50% of stolen cars are never recovered and with only a small proportion being shipped abroad you have to be on your guard if you are buying a car privately.

If you buy from a dealer and the car was found to be stolen you will still lose the car but you have much greater legal protection. But if you buy the car privately and the car is discovered to be stolen you could lose the car and the money you paid for it.

But even worse you could be arrested for handling stolen goods. To add to the pain it’s highly unlikely that your insurer will pay out if you make a claim. Andy Barrs, head of Police Liason at TRACKER, has some suggestions as to how you can protect yourself.

When inspecting the car check to see if new registration plates have been fitted and if they have ask why? Thieves may be trying to disguise its identity. Make sure that both sets of keys are present and working as this could also indicate that the car is stolen.

Check the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for visible signs of alteration. Also, go to the GOV.UK ‘check you’re not buying a stolen vehicle’ website for valuable advice. An HPI check records mileage so if a car has been cloned you may see a discrepancy in mileage records. Take care there’s a thief about as they say! By Graham Hill

We still measure the environmental cleanliness of cars by the number of CO2’s that they emit even though, according to many experts, it’s NOx and particulate emissions from older diesels that are causing the most damage. Having said that, those running city and town centres, seem to have ignored the word ‘older’ and tar all diesel cars with the same brush.

Could this be because by demonising all diesels they can screw every diesel driver, who thought he was helping the planet and doing the correct thing by going diesel, and charge premiums for entering and parking in the centre of town, irrespective of the age of the vehicle. And as a result, contribute to the coffers of the Government and local authorities. Or am I being cynical?

Anyway, off my soapbox, do you know who produces the cleanest cars, by CO2 emissions, in Europe? Do you want to know? I’ll tell you anyway, the top five are:

1.    Toyota – 101.2g/km,
2.   Peugeot –  104.5g/km
3.   Citroen – 105.5g/km
4.    Renault – 106.6g/km
5.   Suzuki – 114.9

So there you have it, a choice list for your next car! By Graham Hill