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Warnings have been issued about the use of acid based wheel cleaners used by some roadside hand carwash outfits. The cleaner can actually damage the alloys as well as the brakes. The car washers can buy this cleaner for about £10 for 25 litres but it was only intended for building use, to clean brickwork. The car washers have to dilute the liquid but if it’s not diluted enough it can cause damage. If the wheel is in good Read more »

the EU is planning stricter rules on MOT testing. This will immediately increase the cost of the MOT as more items are to be checked. This has resulted from the European Union passing a new set of stricter rules on minimum road worthiness. The EU ministers agreed that ‘modern electronic systems be included in the list of items to be tested’. This change along with others already planned will be introduced in Read more »

Warnings continue to increase about the numbers of ‘accidents to order’ where fraudsters stage an accident then put in an insurance claim for the damage caused to their vehicle as well as any passengers. Some are known to drive the car on behalf of the owner, swerving in front of another driver causing the accident. Details are exchanged and the details of the owner are given along with his insurance details to the Read more »

Who are EuroNCAP? Do you know? Well it turns out that far too few people do so they are on a mission to become more visible. They are a group formed in 1997 by the Transport Research Laboratory and they are the organisation that crash tests every new car to award it safety stars from the driver’s perspective, passenger perspective and pedestrian perspective. Over the years many companies have insisted upon Read more »

A warning from Warranty Direct suggests that turbo charged engines are more likely to break down than non turbo charged. Around 11% of their customers suffer an engine failure with a typical repair cost of £619 but turbo charged engines have a failure rate of  28% with an average repair cost of £875, worth considering if you are thinking about buying a used car. Don’t forget that most diesel engines, especially those fitted in larger cars, are turbo charged. By Graham Hill

Calls have been made for more information regarding driving abroad to be more easily available. As I have reported previously countries have different rules regarding insurance, breakdown cover, warning triangles, emergency fluorescent jackets, replacement light bulbs and first aid kits. But there are other rules regarding drink driving, speeding and parking that could result in some very heavy fines and even Read more »

The recent major recall by Toyota, as a result of their brake and accelerator problems, has given rise to some knee jerk reactions amongst drivers when they now receive recall notices. As I recently pointed out, recalls are fairly common but not all faults that are in need of attention are life threatening so there is no need to stop using the car and start taking the bus to work the moment a recall notice arrives in Read more »

A few months ago I announced proposed changes to insurance claims procedures that should speed up undisputed insurance claims. The good news is that the new rules come into effect from April 30^th. The new rules should speed up payout and reduce legal costs on personal injury claims between £1,000 and £10,000 resulting from a motor accident. This covers around 80% of all personal injury claims so good Read more »

It’s bad enough trying to run a small business during a recession whilst at the same time ensuring that you don’t accidentally breach employment, health and safety, consumer etc. laws that could land you in all sorts of trouble. In the current climate its not unusual for small businesses to come to an arrangement with employees to use their own cars, rather than go to the expense of providing a company car, for Read more »

Government figures show that up to 1 million scrapped cars are still being driven on the road. Whilst 2 million motorists told the DVLA that their cars were being destroyed only half were issued with a Certificate of Destruction, the proof that a car has been destroyed. Dodgy dismantlers have been exploiting a legislation loophole whereby the DVLA doesn’t need to see the Certificate before it registers a car as Read more »