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The RAC Foundation is to receive funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) to look into the ways that accidents, resulting in fatalities and injuries, are investigated in order to find out the genuine cause and how the accidents may be prevented in the future.

£480,000 is being invested in the project allowing the Foundation to recruit the services of specialists and use sophisticated data analytics to come to more accurate conclusions. For example, speed may result in an accident but why was the driver speeding?

Was there a distraction, a fault with the car or simply trying to meet unrealistic appointment or delivery targets set by an employer? Beyond individual cases, the data will be used to identify patterns relating to the make and model of car, the driver, temperature, time of day, road conditions, number of passengers etc.

By analysing the accidents in a totally different way to the police, who are looking to apportion blame, they are hoping to have a positive effect on the number of accidents and the outcomes. Let me be clear, accidents resulting in death or injury are down massively.

In 2016 the number of deaths was 1,792, up 4% over 2015 but compared to 10 years earlier the death rate is down 44%. However, the rates are starting to flatline so new ideas have to be developed if we are to bring them down further. The RAC Foundation believe they will be having a positive effect very soon.

They are introducing some of the techniques that accident investigation teams use when working for Maritime, Air and Rail organisations when trying to find the cause of a crash. By having an independent body it will take a lot out of time spent by the police investigating accidents leaving them to get on with other duties. By Graham Hill

Knowing the best products to use on your car can be a bit daunting. Ask the advice of a shop assistant and you have to ask if he or she is giving you best advice or is he simply looking at the commission he can make or the product with the most profit in for the shop?

Well, I’ve got the answer thanks to Auto Express who evaluated 236 products and came up with the best. To help you I’ve shown them below:

So there you have it, the results of tests carried out by Auto Express.

Fleet News highlighted the problems faced by most of us in the industry this week as manufacturers try to resolve the problems they face attempting to get their cars through the WLTP (Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Test Procedure). As cars are tested and fail the more stringent tests they are removed from the manufacturers’ price lists whilst they work on a ‘fix’.

They fix the problem, test it themselves, feel that the car is OK and back on the list they go ready for the next test. The car then fails again because the manufacturers haven’t been able to totally replicate the test conditions imposed on their cars at the test centres. So the car is removed from the price list again.

This means that some manufacturers have stopped taking orders and stopped production of some of their models altogether. Orders can’t be placed as the manufacturers can’t say when their cars will be approved and without knowing the cost of the modifications necessary to get them over the line they can’t set the list price.

Without the cost, they can’t calculate the new list price. Without the list price the leasing companies can’t release their rates – it’s a mess! As a result of all the confusion, one leasing company has decided to take all cars off their lease quoting system unless they have been WLTP approved. One of the reasons for this is the confusion caused over interim arrangements put in place to calculate benefit in kind tax for those driving company cars.

The rules tighten further from the 1^st September which means that if cars have not been approved under the WLTP rules they cannot be sold. This will, in theory, lead to a lot of cars being pre-registered in August at big discounts unless, like the rest of Europe, our Government allows an extension. This has led to uncertainty amongst those waiting to take out a new lease expecting some mega-deals in August.

This situation could well lead to some brilliant lease deals – but it may not. It’s a gamble that I won’t advise on when asked if customers should wait. What with the uncertainties of Brexit life is tough at the moment in the car industry and confusing for customers. By Graham Hill

We hear so much about the UK, what we think, what we want, our trade relationships etc. etc. but what is going on in the EU? Clearly, companies who import goods from the UK are getting worried about supply and more important, costs if a free trade deal isn’t thrashed out.

Unknown by many is the size of our car components industry. They not only supply parts to UK based car manufacturers but they also export across Europe. The Dutch Government recently announced a Brexit Impact Scan service which asked businesses ‘Do you want to be less dependent on the British market? Consider focusing your activities on other countries’.

Dutch authorities advise that ‘After Brexit, parts made in the UK will no longer count towards minimum production in the EU’. And here’s the rub, goods made in the EU can pass across EU countries without facing tariffs, as long as the proportion of their components, typically around 55% – have been made within the EU.

If the UK leaves without favourable trading arrangements, EU car companies using UK components could push them under the 55% figure, removing their ability to trade freely across the EU tariff-free. The European Commission has previously said that businesses should, ‘Treat any UK inputs as ‘Non-Originating’ when determining the EU preferential origin of their goods’ after Brexit.

To put this into perspective the UK employs 82,000 people in the Automotive Supply Chain industry. 65% of British manufactured components are exported to EU countries with the sector being worth about £4.9 billion (according to the SMMT).

It will be bad enough if we are forced to walk away with no deal and fall within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, whereby imports and exports are subject to tariffs and the issues arising that are related to cost. It has been suggested by the SMMT that new car prices from Europe will increase by an average of £1,500.

But what about the component manufacturers? And where did this 55% rule come from? I’ve never heard of it and yet it is crucial to the negotiations and certainly puts us on the backfoot. It just keeps getting worse! By Graham Hill

It is now getting ridiculous. How long are we going to allow local Government to demonise diesel and force drivers to pay unfair penalties for driving cars that just a couple of years ago the Government was encouraging consumers and businesses to drive?

There is now little to choose between diesel and petrol cars when it comes to environmental damage. Last year saw CO2 output from cars rise for the first time since records began and for the first time in years we saw warnings issued about the damage that petrol cars could be causing to the Ozone layer as a result of increased CO2.

And with some particulate filters believed to allow zero soot emissions from the exhaust of diesel cars it seems ridiculous to demonise the cars and punish the drivers the way that local authorities do. London councils are leading the way when it comes to hating diesel cars (or loving them in terms of increased income).

Charging extra for older (pre-2005) cars to enter the central London congestion charge area may seem to make a little bit of sense but some boroughs charge premiums for parking permits for diesels irrespective of their age.

Merton charges an annual surcharge of £115 for all diesel cars, Islington is £99.65 and Hackney is £50. Kensington and Chelsea and Lambeth charge £43 and £40 respectively for pre-Euro 6 diesels. Camden and Barnet charge a surcharge on all diesels.

The problem is that this unjustified surcharge could well spread across the rest of the UK as local authorities see the opportunity to rip off diesel drivers and add to their income.  By Graham Hill

It seems that a lot of claims could be turned down because drivers aren’t making complete and honest returns on their insurance proposal forms.

Saying that a car is stored in a garage overnight when there isn’t enough space to store a bike in your garage could cause a claim to be rejected. It now seems that even silly things can lead to an insurance company rejecting a perfectly normal claim.

In some extreme examples, explained by one of my colleagues on Rip Off Britain, an insurer could reject a claim because you didn’t mention that the car was fitted with a tow bar or a roof or cycle rack. Even if the part fitted had nothing to do with the accident you could still have a claim thrown out.

The most ridiculous and extreme examples include the fixing of stickers and say company adverts or logos, regarded as ‘adjustments to the bodywork’. So be warned, better to advise than not. By Graham Hill

As you get older it’s pretty common knowledge that you become more grumpy. I like to think that I’m not grumpy but I probably am.

However, alongside being grumpy – or not in my case, I find myself worrying more about things around us than I ever did when I was younger.

I worry about the health service, possibly because I’m no doubt getting closer to the time when I could become reliant on it. I worry about our kids’ education and the way we don’t prepare them for the real world.

Kids should have better life skills such as opening a bank account, credit cards and how they work along with debt advice including car finance – right the way through to basic cooking skills, how to iron, get a passport and especially, with so many youngsters dying on our roads, attending a speed awareness course – BEFORE they start driving.

I worry about the environment and I worry about the disgraceful state of our roads. Accidents are happening daily as a result of poorly maintained roads but what are we doing about these avoidable accidents? Naff all.

The SMMT suggests that there are 37.7 million vehicles on our roads but I agree with Mike Rutherford who writes for Auto Express that if you take into account drivers on our roads driving cars that are unregistered and the many more foreign trucks delivering bits from Europe massively outnumbering the number of our trucks in Europe we probably have over 40 million vehicles on our roads?

We are not only running out of space but the roads we have are a disgrace with potholes big enough to drop an elephant into without it touching the sides. I know there are many other things to worry about but if we don’t get our roads in good repair and build new, wider roads the whole of our road transport system will come to a standstill. Having travelled on the M25 last week I think it already has! By Graham Hill

If you are old like me you will remember the days when you used to collect empty beer and soft drink bottles, take them to the off-licence or local shop and get a few pence for each returned.

In those days, of course, the bottles were re-used so it was good for us kids, boosting our pocket money, and good for the environment. I’m not sure if the creators of Britain’s first recycling reward bins had this old idea in mind but the principle is the same.

Each plastic or glass bottle or empty coffee cup that you put into the recycle bin, installed in the services in Maidstone in Kent, earns you a 5p voucher towards your cup of coffee. Researchers have measured the litter levels in the Kent service centre over the last 4 weeks and will compare the impact of the machines over the next 6 months.

If successful we will see them installed at many more sites. The trial is being run by environmental charity Hubbub and has been backed by Highways England. The company has calculated that litter thrown out by motorists costs taxpayers £8 million a year.

Wayne Moore of Highways Agency is in favour of the initiative as he points out, employing people to pick up litter is not only dangerous, they can be a distraction to motorists and they could be used elsewhere more productively. Funny how some of the old ideas are still the best! By Graham Hill

I have been speaking a lot about the Real World emissions tests recently and the way that they have affected vehicle availability. The actual name of the tests is World Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedures (WLTP) and frankly, it is confusing just about everyone involved.

One of the big problems is the way that the changed tests are finding that emissions are actually much more than the readings recorded previously. At the moment we are in a period of transition.

New and facelift cars in 2018 are tested and must conform to emissions levels before 1^st September but existing models have been given an extension with a formula applied to the old and new emissions to arrive at a new CO2 emissions figure.

In theory, CO2 emissions should have ended up roughly the same after applying the formula so that company car drivers weren’t suddenly hit with increased BIK tax bills.

In fact, the revised CO2 emission figures have increased on average by 20%. The problem is that all real-world readings come into force in 2020 which means that if a company took out a 3 year lease for an employee they could face a massive hike in BIK tax from year 2 onwards.

So many companies are extending their current leases to see if the Government will do anything to soften the blow for those paying BIK tax. Beyond that manufacturers are saying that the only way to reduce and control CO2 emissions is to change our attitudes.

First of all Kwik Fit have said that we will have to reduce the size of wheels that we fit to our cars in order to reduce the rolling resistance and in turn the CO2 emissions. Car manufacturers are suggesting that we will see a falling off of the small SUV’s as these are the least efficient cars and generate the most CO2.

The prediction is that we will revert to standard saloons and hatchbacks in place of the small, less efficient SUV’s. The shape of cars may well change also in order to make them more streamlined. Boring times ahead! By Graham Hill

The Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) has reported an imbalance in diesel demand which is causing all sorts of headaches with leasing and PCP providers.

New car demand for diesels has dropped through the floorboards causing manufacturers to scale up petrol production whilst dropping off production of diesel cars.

However, demand for used diesel cars is still running at the same level with no sign that it will drop soon. With fewer diesels finding their way into the used car market diesel prices will increase as times goes on.

This could start to make leasing and PCP costs for new diesel cars lower and more competitive again. New car supply has also had an effect on used car prices as people switch to used cars when they can’t get their new car quickly enough.

So there has been a slight increase in demand for nearly new petrol cars created by buyers who would normally buy new and who have decided to go for petrol this time around.

With lower running costs and better fuel consumption, experts feel that diesels are still here to stay even though some manufacturers have announced that they will be dropping their diesel engines fairly soon.

Personally, I feel that they have been a bit premature especially in light of recent reports that the ‘real-world’ emissions testing on petrol and diesel cars have found that there is very little to choose between petrol and diesel emissions.

We are still desperate for guidance from the Government. By Graham Hill