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When Nissan launched the Qashqai 360 that featured all round cameras (360 degrees – get it?) they probably didn’t realise that the cameras could be adapted to record accidents. Whilst Nissan and others started to mount cameras on their cars to assist with parking others were developing in car cameras that would record the bad behaviour of other drivers and record accidents for use in claims.

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.

Camera provider Smart Witness said that they have seen a 40% increase in sales of cameras to those wanting to avoid losing their no claims discount in crash for cash cases. The cameras automatically record everything that happens and can be switched on manually or activated by sudden braking such as in a crash.

Simon Marsh of Smart Witness said ‘It takes all the stress out of a road traffic accident. Liability is quickly established and claims can be settled much more quickly and without disputes.’ But this is likely to change as car mounted cameras, fitted by the car manufacturer, could be slightly modified to do the same thing with the recorded evidence sent via the driver’s smartphone to his or her insurance company.

With cameras mounted all round the car, as with Nissan they could even record damage being inflicted on the car by vandals – now there’s an interesting thought. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Introducing The New Nissan Smart Camera Technology (dipstix.co.uk)

Insurance bloody insurance, I seem to write something about this every week but for once I have something to report on that shows we aren’t so badly off after all. Young drivers pay more for their insurance than they pay for their cars unless they drive a car with pedals, have a tracker embedded in their arm and only drive between 10.00 and 11.00 in the morning.

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 days when your dad took out insurance on the kid’s car and named the youngster as named driver are long gone. In fact they have even given this heinous crime a name, it is called ‘fronting’ and if your youngster has an accident the insurance loss adjuster will turn somersaults to try to prove that your son or daughter is the main driver in order to decline the claim.

But just as I thought that our car insurers are the worst on the planet I read about the way that US insurance companies assess the risk of drivers over there. Everything looked fairly similar until I read that when you took out insurance in the US the insurer carried out a credit search.

Not for the obvious reasons that they want to convince themselves that you will make the monthly insurance premium payments but to use your credit score in assessing your risk!! What? It’s true. According to one of their large insurers if you have a low credit score you are believed to be more irresponsible and more likely to have an accident.

I couldn’t believe it when I read it. Are they for real? Now this fact has come to light various driver groups are campaigning to stop this ridiculous assessment. And I totally agree. Over here they don’t go through a full credit assessment even to assess whether you will make your monthly repayments, as the insurer would simply take you off cover if you didn’t pay.

But to suggest that you would be more of a car insurance risk because you have a low credit score is bloody ridiculous! So it would seem that the insurers in the UK are not so bad after all. By Graham Hill

I don’t know if you have seen the advertising offering lower ‘drive like a girl’ car insurance but it hasn’t half caused a stir. You know that the EU told the insurance companies to equalise the cost of insurance between men and women, which they did, but argued that insurance was a risk assessed product.

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.

And statistically young men between 17 and 25 were a much greater insurance risk than girls of the same age. So why charge them both the same for insurance? The counter argument was that you could keep breaking down statistics saying that girls in the north of England were more likely to have an accident than those in the south or that girls born in January were least likely to have an accident so their insurance should be cheaper and so on.

In fact why not just charge everyone a flat figure of £350 per annum and be done with it. That might sound far fetched but fleets have operated that way for years. The insurer would be told that the company had 400 company cars and they charged a flat fee of a fixed sum for all the cars and drivers. If claims went up then the flat rate  insurance premium went up also. Not rocket science.

But now, in order to fly in the face of the EU, and insurance company called Drive Like A Girl is offering cheap insurance not just to girls but lads also between the ages of 17 and 25 – provided they ‘drive like a girl’. Cars are fitted with a black box which assesses your driving style and from this information the insurer can assess whether you should be paying more or less premium.

The company argues that black box stats show that young men are 60% more likely to drive at night than women, are 49% more likely to speed and trigger twice as many aggressive braking alerts. So if young men drive in the same way as women they will receive the same insurance costs.

The same rules apply to women, if they drive in the same way they will achieve maximum discount. They are treading a fine line in my opinion but their low rates are achieving a lot of business. By Graham Hill

You are obviously aware that owners of private land can no longer clamp or remove  your car when parked there, I advised as such on my blog. Following this Government ruling owners of private car parks and land, where people parked without permission, could still issue parking tickets quite legally.

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.

Whilst drivers became more cautious about private car parks and land on which there was a parking warning posted, they generally ignored the fact that some of the worst culprits at issuing parking tickets are now supermarkets, hospitals and motorway service owners if you park longer than the allowed time.

But what you may not have known is that there is an independent adjudication service called the Parking On Private Land Appeals service which was set up to coincide with the new rules that came into force in October 2012. Since it started it has overturned more than half the tickets issued.

So far they have received 2,000 appeals of which 1,058 fines have been overturned with 911 found in favour of the operator. In the past the only way to appeal a ticket was to go to court at the risk of losing and having to pay court costs. This service is totally free so now you know and if you or someone you know receives a ticket it is worth appealing. Here is the website: http://www.popla.org.uk/ By Graham Hill

Related articles

• AA warns of surge in private parking fines (telegraph.co.uk)

Drivers are generally happier with their servicing than ever before according to a survey carried out by the self regulating body, Motor Codes. They surveyed 57,000 drivers and found that 95% of those using a Trading Standards approved Motor Codes garage would recommend it to a friend.

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.

It also revealed that one in ten had reason to make a warranty claim whilst there was also a 10% rise in satisfaction from 84% to 94% over the last 5 years when using a main dealer to maintain their cars. Surprisingly the age of cars maintained by Motor Codes recommended garages has risen from 10% in 2010 that were 11 years old or older to 18% in 2013.

This could be down to a number of factors as older cars are becoming less capable of being maintained by the DIY’ers or it could be that there is more money about as we come out of recession making it affordable to have cars maintained by a garage rather than a mate with a set of spanners. By Graham Hill

If you are of the opinion that you prefer to buy a used car, as opposed to a new car, you probably opt to either buy a car that comes with an AA or RAC inspection or you are one of 85,000 buyers who have the car RAC inspected before you buy it. However, following a concern expressed by Motorcodes and an investigation carried out by Auto Express it was revealed that RAC will not attend court as an expert witness if a customer has a dispute with the dealer supplying the car.

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 AA subcontracts its inspections to Dekra, which is recommended by Motorcodes, and offers an expert witness service. On the other hand the RAC will not provide a similar expert witness service. Motorcodes said to Autoexpress ‘Motorists were being told by the RAC that they can’t be called upon as an expert witness.

It’s a waste to pay for a report that cannot be used in a legal setting should the need arise.’ It would seem that even the Citizens Advice Service were unaware that the RAC would not attend court following an inspection that would be used to reject the car ahead of going to court. They are changing their website. A spokeswoman for the RAC said, ‘With so many inspections taking place, the cost could be significant.’

Well Mrs RAC Spokeswoman, so would the cost of having an inspection carried out that couldn’t be presented in court, so much for customer relations. I should add that the RAC should make the fact that they will not present their reports in court as expert witnesses (unless summoned by the court) before the inspection is carried out, it should say so on the form you sign to authorise the inspection.

They say on their website ‘Our inspection is produced for you only and we do not undertake to provide witness statements/reports in any civil proceedings.’ So there you have it, you have been warned. Whilst I have personally always been happy with RAC reports they won’t come to court with you to back up their findings. How daft is that?! By Graham Hill

Bits & Pieces: Britain’s most expensive parking space is up for sale in London’s Kensington Area. The underground bay is up for sale at £400,000, 15 times the average UK salary of £26,500. It is also double the average price of a house in the UK. But with property prices in the SW7 region of London averaging £2.3 million the parking space will soon be snapped up I’m sure.

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 reported a while ago that electric cars will soon be charged wirelessly (like your kettle) in the near future. I can now confirm that Toyota are carrying out field trials on a wireless charger embedded into the floor of a number of domestic garages. The car is parked over the bed and fully charged in 90 minutes.

Trials are being carried out on the new Prius Plug In Hybrid. Again talking about Toyota they have closed on a deal with BMW to supply them with a family of diesels. The 1.6 currently fitted on the Verso will be extended across other cars in the range whilst platforms developed for 2.0 litre units are already prepared for production. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Next-Gen Prius Plug-In Will Auto Park Over Wireless Chargers (caranddriver.com)

There is a motor journalist who frequently bangs on about things that are of little or no importance causing the little hairs on the back of my neck to bristle. Not because they are all of no importance but often because I disagree with his views. I don’t want to give him any publicity through my blog or newsletter by mentioning his name but it’s Mike Rutherford.

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.

This time he is banging on about car manufacturers not telling buyers of their cars when and where their cars were ‘made’. He says that it is wrong for ‘German’ manufacturers not to tell you that the car you are buying was made on a certain date in South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Hungary or anywhere else.

He suggests that like a low-fat yoghurt cars should come with a tamper proof sticker showing its place of birth and date of birth. Good grief – what a doughnut. First of all does he think with the cost of stocking cars that they will be sitting around for any length of time before they are sold.

The days of Mercedes changing their design once every 5 years are gone. I have had notice today that Volvo are about to stop taking orders on 2014 and a half model year cars to replace with 2015 model year cars that will be available from April. I don’t know what Mr Rutherford thinks will be revealed but few cars sit around in stock for more than weeks, a couple of months at the most.

As for where the car was ‘manufactured’, firstly it wasn’t, it was assembled, mainly on fully automated production lines on equipment that was made by just one company to an exact design from the manufacturer and shipped around the world to wherever they can get the car assembled as cheaply as possible.

When it comes to the manufacturing process the car will be fitted with brakes made by Bosch, windscreens made by Pilkington, Tyres made by Goodyear, Lights made by Lucas and I have a customer in the UK who makes dashboards for about 5 different manufacturers.

So who gives a damn about where the cars are ‘manufactured’? Are you going to roll up to your Mercedes dealer to find that the brand new C Class that you are about to buy was built 3 months ago in Brazil and say ‘Don’t want that, have you one that was made in Germany yesterday please? Silly man! By Graham Hill

I listened very carefully as the debate over smoking in cars with children onboard rolled on. As someone whose father smoked like a chimney in his car whilst my brother, sister and I breathed in the disgusting smoke, when we were very young, I know how uncomfortable it can be.

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.

It was bad enough in the house but in the confined space of a Morris 8 it was very uncomfortable and very selfish although I accept that at the time he didn’t know the potential harm he was doing. Fast forward to the 21^st century and the fact that cigarette packs tell you that smoking kills I find it hard to come up with an argument for not banning smoking in cars that are carrying children.

It is already illegal for drivers of company vehicles to smoke in their cars, vans and trucks so I couldn’t understand the ‘impossible to police’ argument as there are already legally enforceable laws banning smoking. If laws were only introduced if they were easy to enforce we would have very few laws on the statute book so like most people I agree with the ban and that we shouldn’t simply rely upon the responsibility of parents.

Lets face it if parents were responsible we wouldn’t be considering the new law in the first place to protect children, it would be unnecessary. It is illegal to batter kids even in the parent’s own home but virtually impossible to enforce, unless a child is taken to hospital and the police alerted so the ‘unenforceable’ argument doesn’t wash as a reason not to pass the law.

If parents light up in the car their babies and children can’t simply scramble out of their childseat or babyseat, climb out of the car and continue their journey on foot (or crawling) to avoid the smoke that they don’t know is harming them in the first place. So it now looks like the law will have grudging approval but how serious are those that say they are in favour?

On the 4^th October last year, in an old blog posting, I revealed that a Canadian company had developed an App that allowed anyone with a smartphone to photograph cars that are illegally parked which would be date and time stamped, located by GPS and with the use of plate recognition, the driver of the car identified.

This information would be forwarded to the local authority for a ticket to be issued, using the information captured by the app to convict the miscreant. Once convicted the person providing the information will receive part of the fine imposed. This apparently works in Canada whilst in the US there is a similar app used to convict anyone parking in a disabled parking space.

But could and should it be extended to cover other crimes such as driving without a seatbelt fastened, using a mobile phone or smoking in a car with children onboard? I’m sure that there are passionate people out there that would provide the evidence through a purpose created app for no fee. So if enforcement is the problem is this the direction we should be moving in? I would welcome your thoughts – without the expletives! By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Ban smoking in cars carrying children: Labour forces vote on new law to fine offenders £60 (dailymail.co.uk)

As we get closer to the time when the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) takes over control of the Consumer Credit Act it is important to make sure that you and your business, if you are an SME that isn’t a limited company, are in good shape for credit. In future lenders will want to carry out an ‘affordability test’ to ensure that you can afford your repayments.

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.

Whilst some lenders claim that their own affordability tests are already working well and therefore won’t change I personally think that you should assume that lending will tighten up, certainly in the short term. This strengthened affordability test may be in the form of an income and expenditure account or it may be copies of your last three months bank statements.

Whilst your income and expenditure report may show that you can afford repayments the one thing that will kill an application is a returned item shown on your bank statement, if asked for, because you have exceeded your overdraft limit or dropped into an unauthorised overdraft and the bank has not paid an item.

Having an overdraft that is being used isn’t a bad thing although it will probably knock a few points off your credit score but nowhere near as bad as having a returned item. So make sure that your last three months are clean. If not wait until any adverse drops off the last 3 months statements.

You can avoid a returned item if you cancel a direct debit before the money is applied for from your account but beware, this shouldn’t be a direct debit for finance, especially car finance, as a missed payment will show up as arrears. This is another situation that would cause finance to be refused.

You will also be asked for a copy of, or the original of, a current driving licence so make sure that you have both parts available, the paper and the plastic parts. Also make sure that if you have the newer licence that it hasn’t run out of date (has to be renewed every 10 years) and that it is showing your current address.

If you only have an old style licence then make sure that you have a current passport for photo ID to be provided at the same time. One of the issues I regularly address is the need by some funders to see a utility bill dated within the last 3 months. So if you are about to apply for credit make sure that you haven’t thrown away all of your bills as soon as you have paid them.

Mobile phone bills are never accepted and we are finding that fewer funders are now accepting credit card statements and council tax bills as proof of address. Landline telephone bills, water, gas and electric bills are all acceptable along with bank statements as long as they are paper statements not printed off the Internet.

In my book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide, I dedicated the first section to preparing for finance. Essential reading. Final piece of advice on the subject – if you are thinking of changing your car, do it now before the new rules kick in. By Graham Hill