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Are electric cars the way forward? Clearly as far as the environment is concerned of course it is so why are many fleets taking them off their options list and consumers becoming reluctant to buy or lease them? Cost has always been a problem but the costs have been dropping whilst driving ranges increase.

So why are people not only refusing to take electric vehicles but also the plug in hybrids? The answer according to Business Car is charging points. There is still a grave lack of charging points but not only that, early points need to be replaced as many are no longer working and those that are, are simply inefficient or have the wrong connection points fitted.

The Government which was fairly and squarely behind this project has let the industry down according to experts, something that Transport Minister, John Hayes is well aware of. One of the issues that needs to be addressed is the mapping of charge point locations that was to be undertaken by Government. Not only the location but also which charge points were most suitable for which car.

In a survey it was found that only 25% of fleets offered a plug in model to its drivers whilst 69% of drivers said that they would be happy to drive an electric car. John Hayes has agreed to take the issues on board and look into the infrastructure as this is clearly a barrier to EV expansion.

He is also looking into driver education although I would suggest that this isn’t needed as drivers are very much in favour of electric vehicles. So if you are looking into an electric vehicle at the moment it may be worth some extra investigation before taking the plunge. By Graham Hill

Technology is advancing at an amazing rate in cars to the point where many new and used car drivers are quite oblivious to some of the latest features fitted to their cars. It is bad enough getting to find out what is fitted to your car when it is new but when you buy a used car from a used car lot the chances are that the dealer hasn’t a clue so you’ve no chance.

However, as always Hill is here to help so here is a breakdown of some of the latest features and what they do: 360 Degree Cameras: Rear parking cameras have been with us for about 15 years but the low cost of cameras and new technology enables you to have an all round view of the car and in some cases an image of your car from a position above. This technology can help with parking, especially into car park bays with cars either side.

However, what we need is continual surveillance and a voice that tells anyone, in no uncertain terms to F*** Off if they are about to key the side of your car and inform them that they have been photographed – something I could have done with a year ago. Bastards!

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB): This uses sensors to check to see if you are getting too close to an obstacle when driving. If, given your speed, you are getting too close a visual and audible warning is given. Get too close, where the system senses an accident is about to happen, and the brakes are applied with sufficient force to enable you to stop before impact. Euro NCAP safety tests favour cars with this feature fitted as it is believed to prevent 38% of rear end crashes.

Lane Departure Warning: Does what it says, if it feels that the driver is drifting across the lane markings the system will alert the driver with either an audible and/or visual alert and in some cars a vibrating steering wheel (leave it). This feature is already standard on many new cars.

Traffic Jam Assistance: This uses AEB technology along with lane departure technology to keep you in the lane in slow moving traffic with little intervention by the driver.

Blind Spot Warning: this detects cars approaching either side of the car from behind using radar technology to detect cars approaching in your blind spot. It doesn’t do this every time a car is about to overtake or a bike undertake – that would be silly!  Only when it senses that you are attempting a lane change and senses an approaching vehicle will it sound an alarm or lights appear around the door mirror on the side that the vehicle is approaching. Automatic Main Beam: You can switch this on continuously but will only automatically activate when the light dictates. The system senses when you are approaching a car in front or a car is approaching you from the opposite direction and automatically dips the main beam. It can even detect cyclists approaching and also drops to dip beam in lit up areas. Some new LED units can now give the driver as much light in front even though the headlights are no longer dazzling approaching drivers. Clever!

Rear Collision Warnings: This clever system senses a fast approaching car from behind and immediately switches on the hazard warning lights to alert the driver of both vehicles. If the car continues to close fast the seatbelt pre-tensioners are applied and the brakes are also applied to reduce whiplash injury and attempt to stop the concertina effect.

Evasive Steering Assist: This system senses an approaching vehicle on a single carriageway and prevents the car from veering into its path. Some systems can sense a pedestrian walking into the path of the car and allows the car to gently swerve to miss the person then return to the normal driving line.

Rear Cross Traffic Alert: This is activated when reversing out of a parking space and can sense anyone else approaching, possibly also in reverse, and stops the car in order to prevent a collision. Some can also sense cyclists and pedestrians.

Speed Limit Detection: This picks up the speed limit from speed limit signs and adjusts the cruise control speed automatically. It can also place the speed limit on the screen if you are exceeding it and it will gradually adjust the adaptive cruise control speed down to within 5mph of the limit. So there you have it, some of the latest advances in technology, most of which is either available as an optional extra or fitted as standard on new cars. By Graham Hill

I recently heard at a Motor Industry conference, to the point of annoyance, about the continued move towards the totally connected car. Manufacturers seem obsessed with the collection of data for a number of reasons. Some data helps them with the design of future vehicles, collecting information such as true MPG, emissions, faults and systems failures.

This information along with other data/information relating to where the vehicle is during working hours, scheduling servicing, monitoring deliveries and customer calls, calculating running costs and evaluating efficiency can help larger company fleet managers. Personally, a driver could use data to challenge speeding fines, tickets collected by cloned cars and identify ‘cash for crash’ scams.

But this increase in data collection could have sinister implications. Especially as there seems to be no differentiation between the cars that are bought or leased by large fleets and those bought or leased by SME’s and consumers. Within the large organisations employee rights to privacy are laid out in their conditions of employment but what about consumers and SME’s running cars within their businesses?

I don’t recall any customer ever being asked to sign a release allowing manufacturers to collect data from the new cars they drive. And when does the transmission of data stop. If you buy a used car that is 2 or 3 years old does data collection continue. Also if you are connected to the Internet it would seem that not only Google, or whichever search engine you use, can collect search history, so can the manufacturers it would seem.

And if large companies can collect information about where their drivers have been or currently are located why can’t a crook with a bit of IT nous do the same to find out where you are before breaking into your house? Or if the vehicles are out on business a competitor could see where all your sales and delivery staff are and target the same clients. We are entering a dangerous world and one over which we are having less control.

Little did I know that when I explained that you should clear down your telephone contact list held in your car when you sell it or return it at the end of your lease, that so much more data was likely to be collected and passed on. And how do you clear that down and prevent future transmission? We need legislation to protect us and our businesses urgently, it is a big flaw to this whole Big Data tsunami! Oh and I don’t doubt that the private eyes out there preparing divorce cases are all over this like a rash!!! By Graham Hill

I’ve talked about this subject before but recent statistics has caused me to mention it again. It seems that nearly six million drivers are caught out by auto renewals of their insurance, losing on average almost £120 per annum. I have to say when I changed my insurer at my last renewal I saved nearly £400 per annum so I know how important it is to shop around every year.

The research was carried out by comparethemarket.com and revealed that the average saving by shopping around is £119.39, up from £106 at the start of the year. Younger motorists suffer most when auto renewing with premiums being up to 30% more than could be achieved by shopping around.

And don’t just go onto the comparison sites, don’t forget that some of the cheapest insurers such as Direct Line are not on the comparison websites. So make sure you try them as well. Although I would strongly advise against Zurich who tried every way they could to avoid paying out on a damaged laptop of mine.

The Financial Ombudsman Service told them on 3 occasions to pay out but it wasn’t till the Ombudsman made a final ruling, two and a half years later, that they were told that they were wrong not to payout. They are crooks – don’t use them! Also don’t overlook insurance brokers, they certainly come into their own in the event of an accident and dealing with the paperwork. By Graham Hill

Could we see a new use for dash cams? It has cost tax payers a staggering £14.5 million to clear rubbish from our roads over the last 3 years. According to the Highways Agency 364,000 bags of rubbish have been collected at an average cost of £40 per bag.

That’s 333 sacks of litter collected every day from the 4,300 miles of Strategic Road Network. This is rubbish simply tossed out of cars by thoughtless drivers and passengers. This cost could have gone some way towards repairing thousands of potholes that are a serious danger to motorists and cyclists.

The Canadians came up with an app that you could use to report illegal parking to the local authority and receive payment for reporting it after the driver was fined. We could do the same with litter louts, record them chucking litter out of their vehicle windows, forward to the police who then issue a fixed penaty and you receive part of that fine for carrying out your duty as a concerned member of the public.

Nice little earner and would help to keep our streets cleaner. If you are one of those culprits, keep a bag in the car and put your rubbish in it then dispose of properly when you get home. By Graham Hill

One of the most common questions I get asked is how to finance your leased car. You have a number of choices if you run your own business, less of a choice if you are employed and only have one option provided by the company – finance the vehicle yourself then recharge the company for your business mileage.

But for many of my clients it can be a dilema which the HMRC is about to complicate further if their proposed changes go ahead. We knew that they were looking into Salary Sacrifice schemes which can get very complicated because it allows employees to pay for their car out of gross income rather than what the rest of us do and pay out of income after tax and NI has been paid.

I wasn’t surprised when it was announced that the HMRC were looking into this as they not only miss out on employee tax and NI payments but also employer NI. However, because of the very complex recording and reporting of car usage it has only been viable for providers of salary sacrifice to make available to companies of over 100 employees. And with only 80 – 100,000 cars on such schemes it has not grabbed the attention of the guys in HMRC.

However, it now seems that the net is widening and the tax man is now looking at the way company owners, directors and employees finance their cars in an effort to raise more money. They have taken the view that the provision of a car allowance should be lumped into the investigation.

With the proposals potentially being included in the Autumn Statement 2016 we could see the new rules effective from April 2017 this is worrying for those receiving car allowances, especially if they have opted for an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV). If they had opted for a company car they could end up paying less tax than taking a car allowance. Very complicated but worth discussing with your accountant before making the decision. Once they have completed the consultation and finalised the rules I will let you know. By Graham Hill

The reason to install a dash cam in your car was originally to avoid arguments over insurance claims following cash for crash claims. These claims come about following an incident whereby a driver swerves in front of you, brakes hard, giving you virtually no time to stop causing you to run into the back of their car.

The driver and the passengers of the car in front all claim for whiplash injuries whilst you lose all your no claims bonus. With dash cam evidence the police can carry out an investigation and often prosecute the driver of the car in front on a variety of charges.

However, whilst dash cams are one of the biggest selling gadgets right now and Citroen have started fitting them as standard in their latest C3 to combat cash for crash crime, there are other reasons why you should install dash cams. They are invaluable for general claims as insurance companies become increasingly lazy.

In a recent case I read about a young driver who was sitting stationery in a backed up queue on a roundabout, when another impatient driver decided to take a quick route then cut in modifying the front end of her car. She was clearly not at fault so she claimed through her insurer for the repairs only to find that the other driver had made a claim against her insurance company, not only for repairs but also, guess what? Yep, whiplash.

The advice from her insurance company was to accept liability as in court a judge would be unlikely to find in favour of a newly qualified driver having an accident on a roundabout. That is a disgrace. However, had the young driver, whose premium was already ridiculously high and set to go higher, had a dash cam fitted the case would have been open and shut.

So isn’t it about time that manufacturers followed Citroen’s lead and started to install cameras as standard into the back of the rear view mirrors to help drivers to keep on the road and minimise claims times and costs as well as help police investigating accidents? After market dash cams are unsightly with wires dangling which puts drivers off installing them but maybe if the insurance industry and car manufacturers got their heads together we could see an end to cash for crash, quicker claims turnarounds, a decrease in insurance premiums, less time spent by police investigating accidents and more prosecutions. GH climbs down off soapbox for a sit down and cup of tea! By Graham Hill

I’ve warned in the past about selling your car that has hands free Bluetooth fitted and the need to delete your stored telephone numbers, especially if you have stored sensitive numbers that you wouldn’t want others to know. Well the situation is getting worse now that ‘connected’ cars are now being sold on or part exchanged.

Some cars built over the last couple of years are capable of connection to mobile devices via apps which is great for the owner of the new car but it can lead to all sorts of problems when these connected cars are bought by used car buyers down the line.

Tim Church from Weston-Super-Mare found this out when he sold his Land Rover Discovery Sport only to find that sometime later he was still able to access the car’s InControl App via the app on his phone. From his app he could still see the location of the new owner as well as whether the car was locked or not.

The latest connected facilities can include pre-warming or cooling the car from your app, remotely unlocking the car, downloading music as well as knowing where the car has been and is currently located. When questioned by Auto Express Land Rover said that it was the responsibility of the previous owner to remove the vehicle from their account when they sell it. I’m sure this will be of great comfort to new owners of Land Rovers! By Graham Hill