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As I write this on a beautiful bank holiday Monday I see out of my kitchen window several neighbours with their hosepipe, bucket and sponge to hand doing that most tedious of jobs, washing the car. Well if the experiments being carried out by Nissan are successful this mundane weekend job may well be a thing of the past.

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.

They are currently testing a ‘self clean’ paint on a prototype Nissan Note which the makers claim is resistant to rain and dirt. The coating is sold by Florida based company, UltraTech International Inc. It works by repelling water and oils, creating a protective layer of air. Yes you did read that correctly they claim to create a layer of air.

For me that is one step too far, how on earth does it create a layer of air? Confused the hell out of me but no doubts someone will get back to me with an amazing answer based on chemical reactions or the pull of the moon against gravity. The real test will be whether at the end of the trials the car is still clean or not.

So far the tests have gone well, according to Nissan, the only manufacturer to apply the nano-paint to date. According to reports Nissan will make this an aftermarket option should the tests go well. What?

How to you make paint an aftermarket option? Carpet mats are an aftermarket option, a tow bar is an aftermarket option, things that the dealer can fit once the car is built are aftermarket options. Are they considering re-spraying the car with Nano Paint after the car has arrived at the dealership? Is it my age???? By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Nissan shows self-cleaning car coated in nano paint (autoblog.com)

I have never had a particularly high opinion of insurance companies, not helped by the refusal of Zurich, probably the most crooked insurance company that I have ever encountered, not paying out on a perfectly valid claim when I accidentally spilled a bottle of Lucozade into my laptop computer.

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.

They conveniently retained no copy of the original conversation that I had with the claims person, then produced a scrappy piece of handwritten paper considered to be a ‘transcript’ of our conversation which was a complete fabrication and actually a disgrace and fraudulent in itself.

This didn’t compare well to the transcript provided by Saga of the conversations I had when I took out my policy. The transcript was independently created, word by word, by an outside agency and the script went on for many pages. I was accused of fraud in the most ridiculous of fashions. I complained to the Financial Ombudsman service.

In the first instance an adjudicator reviews the case and gives an interim decision. This is not legally binding but gives an indication as to what the Ombudsman would conclude. On two separate occasions the adjudicator found in my favour and twice the crooked Zurich refused to accept the obvious conclusion reached by the adjudicator.

Finally after two and a half years, yes I said two and a half years the Financial Ombudsman was able to review my case and immediately found in my favour, instructing Zurich to remove all references to fraud or any other references to ill doing on my part from all files. To pay for the replacement of my damaged laptop and compensation along with interest.

Whilst, in my opinion, Zurich are the worst insurance company on the planet, they are probably not alone. A recent report showed that the average car insurance policy runs for 18,000 words taking the average driver over an hour to read. Whilst insurers would claim that they are making sure they cover all eventualities, the cynics, me included, would simply say that they are including as many reasons as possible in order to decline an insurance claim.

According to Fairer Finance, the creators of the report, Endsleigh had the biggest policy containing 37,674 words, more than George Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm. Sheila’s Wheels were next with 32,860 words followed by Esure at 32,631 words. LV was by far the lowest at 6,901 words with next best being Nationwide at 9,302 words.

Fairer Finance are running a campaign to remove unnecessary small print in insurance policies. In order to make the point they analysed over 40 insurance policies, coming up with the average number of words. I agree with them, finance documents have already been scrutinised to keep them simple so applying the same rules to insurance policies is way overdue.

73 percent of people admit to not reading their insurance documents whilst only 17 percent admit to reading and understanding their policies. The conclusion reached by Fairer Finance was that paper is being wasted and raises the question why one company can have a policy of just 7,000 words whilst another uses 5 times as many words to say the same thing.

The Plain English Campaign said that the findings which revealed that some policies were longer than a major novel is a disgrace. A spokesman went on to say, ‘It is difficult to see that this is anything other than a cynical ploy, designed to confuse and frustrate the customer.’

I would go further and say that the longer the policy the more likely they have included obstacles to meeting  legitimate claims. Avoid them and also avoid Zurich who are incompetent crooks. Let’s see what they have to say when they read this, I still have all the evidence – give it your best shot you idiots! Oh and this isn’t the end – this is just the beginning!

That’s why I respectfully accepted the findings of the Ombudsman but refused the proposals as the compensation after 2 and a half years was insufficient. If you have had a claim with Zurich refused please let me know, whether it is car related or not. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Car insurer small print can be longer than Animal Farm, study shows (theguardian.com)

We have seen, over the last few years, some changes to car lighting. Halogen and Bi-Xenon lights have been lighting up our roads brighter than ever and we are now seeing some very strange driving lights/headlights and tail lights thanks to strings of very powerful LED’s. But according to experts ‘We ain’t seen nothing yet’.

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.

We are likely to see some major influence from China as car designers develop cars with the Chinese market in mind. If you look around any big Chinese city you will see buildings that appear to glow. This same technology will be used to give cars a glow with a very defined outline making the car easier to see at night.

VW/Audi are already looking into this technology for the outside as well as looking at new ways of lighting the interior with different types of ambient lighting. According to VW’s design director in China, Simon Loasby, we will see many more Chinese influenced design changes being introduced into cars for the European market.

One such design development will be the windscreen air filter, seen to be essential in China due to the high levels of pollution. No I haven’t got a clue as to how it would work either! What next? Built in Wok and free Geisha girl? Hmm, don’t get me started. By Graham Hill

Last week I was thumbing through the latest edition of Credit Today, one of the journals I always try to read more thoroughly than any of the others, not only because it has a fairly good handle on the industry but also because a very good friend of mine, Fred Crawley, is the managing editor.

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.

So I was disappointed to see that a round table event had been held without my presence. I was more disappointed about the comments of the good and the great in the industry.

Motor finance currently runs at a massive £28 billion per annum and not only accounts for a slice of profit earned by the dealers but more important, and often overlooked, is that finance contributes heavily towards the sales of new cars, making it possible for consumers and small businesses to afford new cars rather than used cars.

The thrust of the debate was the effect of the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations and the effect on the industry. Virtually everything that was raised was to do with us, being dealers or brokers and them, being the lenders. There was a complete dog’s dinner of comments, speculations and suggestions but guess what?

I couldn’t find one sentence that mentioned the potential problems to consumers and small businesses. There was a lot of sympathy and even empathy for the lenders but what about the bloody borrowers. Why is it that the Government, and virtually all of the consumer and small business finance industry, walk around with their heads firmly planted in their jacksys?

They continue to make bold statements, explaining how they are setting out to protect consumers and SME’s but when you want to finance a replacement fridge, TV, car or essential equipment for your business how does it help when the lender explains that you have failed the new FCA imposed affordability test?

And where will all this leave the economy, it’s a sad fact of life that when people borrow money from a payday lender they often need it for essentials or some sort of an emergency like the freezer breaking. Either way the money doesn’t sit around in a bank account – it is spent which continues to help the recovery.

Creating barriers to lending will flatline the economy and could send us back into recession. We are in sensitive times, we need finance to keep the economy moving forwards but I seem to be a lone voice in the wilderness. Only time will tell, lets hope that common sense prevails and lenders continue to do what they do best – lend bloody money! Rant over! By Graham Hill

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! That was me uttering under my breath as I slip on my Mr Grumpy hat. I just read about a Fiat driver who took his car into an independent garage to diagnose a problem. The problem was a faulty turbo unit.

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 garage called a Fiat dealer and was given the price of the replacement re-conditioned part as £399 which the customer agreed to pay. However, when the part arrived it also arrived with a bill for £542 with no explanation, an increase of £140. The independent garage said that they would have to pass on the increase but provided no explanation.

After querying it Fiat explained the increase by saying, ‘Many components are improved and upgraded over time but, on this occasion, it seems the old unit was still on the system, even though it was no longer available, hence the different price.’ However, no doubt as a gesture of goodwill the customer was given £150 worth of vouchers to be used against service costs and parts over the next 12 months.

What a load of bull poo! First of all why are dealers and manufacturers so crooked and secondly why are customers so bloody naïve? There is such a thing as the Sale of Goods Act that protects buyers of goods and an Office of Fair Trading from whom you can get advice and support so why are people writing into magazines and newspapers who guess at the answers to legal problems?

Let me explain the situation we have here. Don’t confuse this transaction with walking into a shop and buying something on the shelf that has a price ticket attached. The price ticket has nothing to do with the contract of sale it is what is known as ‘An Invitation To Treat’.

The shopkeeper is not obliged to sell the item to you at the price on the ticket. It is a suggestion, you then make an offer to buy the goods at the price on the ticket and the shopkeeper normally accepts. If the shopkeeper has made a mistake when pricing his goods he doesn’t have to sell it to you at the mistaken price.

That is a fact! However, this isn’t the case with respect to the turbo unit. The independent garage entered into a contract with a Fiat dealer to supply a part for a car. The dealer agreed to supply the part and the garage agreed to pay £399 for the part, in turn agreed with the customer. That’s it, end of story, turn out the lights on your way out!

If either party fails to perform then they are in breach of contract and the aggrieved party can seek compensation. In this case, if the dealer agreed to supply a part that no longer existed that was his problem not the garage that ordered the part or the customer. If, in order to perform their part of the contract, the dealer had to supply a more expensive item he has to suffer the loss, not the garage or in turn the customer.

This is absolutely ridiculous and Fiat probably know that this is the case but have screwed the customer – it’s simply not on. When will the car industry start to act honourably but more important when will consumers wise up? Oooh I get so angry! By Graham Hill

Currently when you reach the age of 70 you have to renew your driving licence. However, according to the Department for Transport this should be extended to the age of 80 in order to reduce DVLA costs and make it more efficient.

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.

Following a review, on behalf of the Government, the DfT concluded that we should change the rules to bring the UK in line with Europe who already have a renewal age of 80. At present there are over 4 million motorists over the age of 70 which represents a substantial amount of administration at renewal time, so by extending the renewal date the admin costs will be cut significantly.

But safety campaigners object to the proposal on the grounds of health and safety. In fact they suggest that there should be increased controls on the elderly not less which could cost lives. I don’t agree, not least of which as I am edging my way towards 70 I don’t really want to have to renew my licence.

Department for Transport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the other hand the government could take the savings and fix a few more potholes which would prevent many more accidents than extending the licence renewal dates! By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Cost-cutting Coalition to let pensioners drive till they’re 80 without renewing licence (mirror.co.uk)

How safe do you feel driving to work on a Monday morning? If the statistics produced by swiftcover.com are anything to go by you should feel less safe than any other day of the week. According to their 2013 claim data drivers were more likely to have a driving incident resulting in a claim on a Monday (17%) than any other day of the week.

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.

You are 36% more likely to have a windscreen claim on a Monday than any other

A car crash on Jagtvej in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

day, their statistics showed that the average was 10,000 on a Monday compared to the daily average of 7,922. Monday also sees a rise in single vehicle incidents, i.e. a car that hits a bollard or lamppost with no other vehicles involved. So what are the reasons for this higher number of incidents on a Monday?

Maxine Tighe, head of motor claims at swiftcover.com, suggests that it is the result of bleary eyed motorists recovering from the weekend and trying to get back into work mode lacking concentration. They found that whilst Monday was a bad day for single vehicle collisions Friday was the worst for multi-vehicle collisions as people dash home for the weekend, especially during the rush hour mayhem.

The weekend is safest as there are fewer cars on the roads. On the other hand loss of keys, vandalism and theft all rise on a Saturday and Sunday as cars are more at risk parked outside homes. How very very interesting swiftcover.com! Yawn!

Here is an interesting scam that is apparently on the rise. Crooks are buying cars from dealers, often using stolen credit cards, then selling the car privately to an unsuspecting buyer. When the dealer realises that the payment has bounced the car is listed on the Police National Computer (PNC) and the police alerted that the car has been stolen.

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.

Following this, and often with the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (APNR) Cameras the police apprehend the innocent driver and confiscate the car. But there is a question mark over the legality of this confiscation. If a crook stole a car from say a car park and sold it to a third party title doesn’t pass and the owner has every right to recover the vehicle.

However, if a car is sold by someone who has HP on the car and the buyer wasn’t aware of the HP at the time of purchase then he is regarded as an ‘Innocent Buyer’ and title passes but what happens if the car is bought with a credit card and therefore subject to finance does title pass?

The question for the police to answer is, ‘Has the car been obtained by fraudulent means or by theft?’ Theft is clear cut – title does not pass but where the transaction is fraudulent then title can pass to the innocent buyer. The problem for the buyer is that it can be hard to trace whether the car was stolen or not.

You may be able to locate the last owner but he may have sold the car privately, to a dealer or through auction and it could have passed through several hands before ending up on a dealer’s forecourt from whom the car was either fraudulently purchased or stolen.

As always you should  check with HPI to see if the car has been written off or on finance when buying privately, also if the person selling you the car isn’t the person to whom the car is registered check the previous owner and find out who bought the car from him and check that title has passed. Better still lease a new car from me – so much easier and trustworthy. By Graham Hill

Back in the 60’s, when I lived in Slough, obviously we are talking a very young age, they came up with a unique traffic calming system on the A4 that ran alongside the huge industrial estate.

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.

They had a series of traffic lights, about 8 I believe, and if you stuck exactly to 30mph you would breeze through the lot without stopping, much to the joy of the locals and much to the annoyance of them there strangers just passing through.

My dad would be sitting at the lights and a boy racer would turn up on the outside lane with his supped up Cooper S, sitting at the lights whilst revving the piston rings out of the car and glancing over at my dad who would have a bit of a wry smile on his face. Lights change to amber and the Cooper S is off like brown smelly stuff off a shovel.

Next set of lights he would be sitting there whilst the old man sedately cruised by at 30mph just as the lights turned. And so on and so on. Why have I shared these joyous memories with you? Because technology has finally caught up nearly 50 years later thanks to Audi. They have brought out a traffic light recognition system that they say could put an end to waiting at the traffic lights.

The system works via the in car’s Audi Connect which creates a link between the car and the local traffic light network. The system displays a required speed that the driver must stick to in order to smoothly glide through each set of traffic lights.

The system is apparently developed and ready to go. Can’t wait! Oh, and if you are driving down the A4 and the traffic calming is still operational I’d love to know. Drop me a line! By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Audi’s Innovative Traffic Light Assist (auto2014.wordpress.com)

Road markings are in a terrible state of repair. So says a report prepared by the Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA). Yep there is actually an association for road markings. They explain that nearly 50% of lane markings on major roads need replacing with only 16% of motorway lines considered to be excellent.

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 study was carried out over 2,500 miles of English roads which came to the conclusion that pot holes are not the only issues on our roads. The report suggested that 52% of markings on motorways, 42% on dual carriageways and 48% on single carriageways should either be replaced right now or scheduled as a matter of urgency.

National director of the RSMA, George Lee, said, ‘It’s shameful that half England’s road markings are so worn out.’ The worst road in England isn’t far from me, the M3 between Bagshot and Camberly in Surrey where they found 94% of white lines in need of work.

As usual the Department for Transport kicked out a spokesman who explained that the country’s roads were among the safest in the world, and that the Highways Agency took prompt action to repair markings as part of a planned maintenance strategy.

Apparently not Mr DfT spokesman or there would have been no need for the sodding report! Good grief, when will we ever see action rather than excuses? By Graham Hill

M65 Junction 5 - geograph.org.uk - 1187545 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)