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I’ve just found another little snippet of information. If you are planning a trip to Germany in the future you may have to pay a toll to use their roads from 2016 if proposals announced by the German Government go ahead. Foreign drivers would have to purchase a permit costing 10 euros (£7.90) for 10 days or 100 euros for a year long permit, depending on your car’s emissions.

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Germany’s transport minister said Germans would also have to pay but would be offset by a tax cut elsewhere. They estimate that the toll will raise 2.5 billion euros over 4 years. Germany is one of the few European mainland countries that doesn’t charge cars.

Next door neighbours France and Austria have tolls but don’t distinguish between nationals and foreigners. According to the report I read it is still unsure whether Germany will be allowed to carry out its plan because of its discrimination against foreigners.

Toll Booths, Hong Kong (Photo credit: Ian Muttoo)

But re-reading the report it says that they will also be charging German drivers but giving tax cuts elsewhere to offset the cost. Maybe I misunderstood! Is it me? Anyway, watch this space. By Graham Hill

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• Autobahn Thrills to Cost Foreigners Under German Plan – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)

As you know I like a funny story and this one made me smile. A young lad of just 17 years his age had a rather sporty looking Corsa which he had fitted with a Carrot telematics box, as required by his insurance company, in order to bring down the cost of insurance. The black box measures his driving style, speed, acceleration and smoothness and adjusts his insurance cost accordingly.

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.

Unfortunately the young lad was devastated to find that his pride and joy had been stolen from outside his place of work in Oldham. However, the black box is also fitted with GPS which pinpointed the location of the car which the police managed to locate a couple of hours later and to the driver’s delight the car was in perfect condition other than a broken window.

However, his concern next turned to his black box, knowing that the car was probably stolen by joyriders and could have seriously damaged his driving score, escalating his insurance through the roof. Having contacted Carrot they found that during the two and a bit hours during which the car had been stolen the thief scored a perfect 10, the first time since this young driver had taken out his insurance.

The even better news was that Carrot allowed him to keep the score which will contribute to his overall score for the year. Brilliant news but I have news for you mate – it was probably your dad who nicked the car! It also suggests that if you are a young driver with one of these black boxes fitted, let your mum or dad drive your car occasionally, it could dramatically improve your score and reduce your insurance costs. By Graham Hill

You know how much I despair of the consumer credit legislation in the UK but I equally despair of the legal system in this country and not just because of the EU interference in the way we administer our own citizens. I read copious amounts of text in order to come up with interesting items for my newsletter and my blog.

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.

Some of what I read is funny and some very sad with some combining sadness with total injustice. For example there was a lady in Leicestershire who had an accident whilst on a mobile phone and driving at the same time. Sadly she collided with another car and two children were killed.

In my book, as a dad of three kids, that comes close to making the case for bringing back capital punishment. But our ridiculous legal system only found her guilty of careless driving resulting in an 18 month ban and a £3,000 fine. But it gets worse. As the lady was driving on company business there was a health and safety issue, surely her employer should be held liable for the actions of the employee who was taking a call whilst driving.

Apparently not so according to Leicester police who decided not to prosecute because ‘The call received by the driver was of a social nature and not work related, and therefore it did not fall within the Health and Safety at Work Act.’ How appalling is that? I would also suggest that the police take a more careful look at the act because it is my belief that whilst at work the law would cover personal calls.

The fact is that it is a disgusting end to an appalling crime. At the other end of the spectrum if you accelerate through a puddle and splash pedestrians or mount a pavement you could receive an on the spot fine of £100 and 3 points on your licence (this can be reduced by taking a safe driving course).

Since August of last year when the new laws, which include lane hogging and tailgating, were introduced 5,472 drivers have been caught. But just when you think that the new laws could be preventing accidents through better awareness and fines it comes to light that 5 forces, Northumbria, Dyfed-Powys, Durham, South Wales and Cleveland are not stopping inconsiderate drivers at all because they don’t have the facilities to offer the education courses. Is it me or are we seeing the fabric of this country deteriorating? Something really does need to be done. By Graham Hill

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• States With The Harshest Penalties For Texting And Driving (cheapcarinsurance.net)

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!

I hope, like me, you understand the need to cone off road works on motorways for the safety of those who work on the roads. I don’t even mind the mile or so of cones, aimed at slowing down the drivers before the actual road works begin, having read some absolute horror stories of workers, killed or maimed by drivers trying to jump one extra place on the road before being forced over by one lane.

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.

Having had the misfortune of having a flat tyre on a motorway and being forced to stop on the hard shoulder whilst cars and trucks come pounding past, even at 70mph, made for one of the most frightening experiences in my many years of driving. So I understand the need for worker safety but when I start throwing toys out of the pram is when I am travelling along the long stretch of M25 restricted to 50mph followed by a long stretch of A23 at the end of the M23 restricted to 40mph when there is no bugger working. In fact I am often, at 3.00 in the morning, the only driver for miles but I still have to stick to the road work restrictions for fear that the average speed cameras report me for doing 10mph over the restricted speed.

Even when I’m convinced that the cameras aren’t able of taking pictures or measuring your average speed at night. Having suffered these constraints for a couple of years already I was very pleased to see that the Highways Agency were considering introducing variable speed limits on sections of motorways being worked upon.

English: Road works This is a road works at this location, in time for summer driving. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The new average speed limits would be assessed on a case by case basis but it is expected that limits could be raised at off peak times and times when no one was working on the restricted section of road. About bloody time! By Graham Hill

We are back onto speed limits. A new study, carried out in Denmark over the last 2 years by the Danish Road Directorate, has concluded that higher speed limits on not just motorways but also single carriageway rural roads makes roads safer and saves lives.

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 increased the limits on rural roads from 50mph to 56mph which resulted in fewer accidents. Slower drivers were observed to drive faster and faster drivers actually dropped their speed by 1mph. This resulted in less frustration and less overtaking as the differential between the fastest and slowest drivers decreased.

On sections of their motorways where speed limits were increased from 68mph to 80mph 9 years ago fatalities also dropped. The Alliance of British Drivers suggested that the latest moves by the Government to restrict speed limits further could be a step in the wrong direction following these findings.

A spokesperson for the Transport Research Laboratory was a little more cautious and said that the findings were ‘interesting’ but was more interested in the risk of injury rather than the risk of a crash which is what the report focused upon.

I can see the argument for higher speed limits on motorways, certainly after certain times at night when there are fewer cars on the road but not sure about single carriageway rural roads. It will be interesting to see if the Government takes this up. By Graham Hill

New moan started, a few years ago a journalist with about as much knowledge about all things financial as a garden fork started a blog. In fact it was started about the same time as I started mine.

The difference was that I didn’t allow every John Henry and his mate to post things on my blog, unlike my charismatic friend. If anyone wanted to post anything on my blog I would mediate and if what they wanted to post was incorrect or simply trying to sell their pet insurance policy I would trash it.

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.

On the other hand many other blogs would allow complete (but often well intentioned) doughnuts to express opinions online which others would then take as absolute gospel. For example I have seen someone desperate because they are facing a £1,500 charge to repair a PAS pump, 3 weeks after the manufacturer’s warranty has run out on his car, seeking advice because he’d been told the repair was outside the warranty and therefore fully chargeable.

As you know from postings on my blog this isn’t unusual. In this case the car had only covered 15,000 miles but some numbnuts said, oh dear, sadly as you are outside the warranty there is nothing you can do, chat to your bank manager and arrange a loan. Which is what the poor sod did!! So this ill informed do-gooder just cost the driver with the problem £1,500.

The truth is that under the Sale of Goods Act the driver had a legitimate claim against the supplying dealer as the goods have to be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. The ABS pump should last as long as the car, at least 8 years, so the dealer should make at least some contribution towards the cost of repair as the item concerned would appear to not be of satisfactory quality.

Oh and notice I said dealer and not manufacturer, the claim is against the company that sold you the goods, not the manufacturer. It’s up to the dealer to seek compensation from the manufacturer. This is just one of many pieces of advice given by ignorant subscribers with no legal knowledge whatsoever.

Sometimes on this and other blogs the advice has been accurate at the time it was given in say 2009 but the law has since changed and the advice is now wrong. So if you are one of those people that searches through blogs for accurate information, tread very carefully, the advice you follow could cost you a fortune.

It’s about time that blogs were properly policed before too many people catch a serious cold. 2^nd moan over! By Graham Hill

Department for Transport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The news of the moment relates to the raft of new driving laws that could end up with on the spot fines of £100 and 3 points on the offender’s driving licence. In addition the old bill’s powers have been increased when dealing with existing offenders in order to reduce the number of cases going to court.

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.

Much of the industry feels that this may be a bit of a cash cow and with targets set for the number of tickets issued it could also cause tickets to be issued in a somewhat ruthless manner even though lives are not apparently put at risk.

So what are the changes? First of all it is illegal to now hog the middle lane of the motorway. It is also illegal to tailgate, either of which will attract a fine of £100 and 3 points on the offender’s licence. In the case of serious offenders the police can still opt to issue a ticket that will require the driver to attend court.

There will also be a degree of flexibility as the authorities will be able to provide training as an alternative to the points on the licence, as currently happens with speeding first offenders. As with other fixed penalties drivers will still have the right of appeal through the court system.

Some fines will increase such as using a phone whilst driving, up from £60 to £100 as will also be the case with less serious speeding offences. Non endorsable offences such as not having a visible tax disc or failing to give way at a junction will attract fines of £50, up from £30.

Not wearing a seatbelt will now cost the driver £100 and 3 points, up from £60. Finally driving without insurance will increase from £200 to £300. Defending the new fines the Department for Transport said that fines hadn’t been increased since 2000 and were now out of step with other non vehicle related offences.

My personal view is that some of the more serious offenders may get off lightly with a fine when previously they would have ended up in court which is much more of a wake up call than a fixed penalty ticket which is simply an inconvenience for many offenders.

Mobile phone laws need to be tightened, I’ve seen so many potential accidents whilst drivers have tried to negotiate a roundabout or weave their way through parked vehicles with disregard for pedestrians, that something more needs to be done but will an increased fine be enough – probably not!

Let’s see what happens in 12 months when I report the road accident statistics. I suspect they won’t be any different to now. We need education, not random penalties.

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After the recent F1 disasters with their tyres exploding on a far too regular basis you would think that Pirelli would concentrate on making them safer.

Used Tires (Photo credit: www.ericcastro.biz)

Well in an effort to multitask it would seem that the designers have not only improved the reliability but they have brought out a new series of road tyres that they say reduces the road noise in a car by 50%.

Assuming that we won’t see a repeat of the F1 blowouts it’s worth noting that developments continue on road cars. The first cars to benefit from this new technology are the Audi RS6 Avant and RS7. They will be offered as optional extras (no I don’t know how much), but I guess they must be expensive if they are only offered as options on two of their top of the range cars.

In order to reduce the noise the tyres have a layer of noise cancelling sponge under the tread blocks. Pirelli says it reduces the amount of vibration and noise through the steering wheel.

Let’s hope the tyres don’t suffer the same problems faced by Hamilton & co.

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I just love the way that the press looks at a fact and pretty much turns it into fiction in an effort to make a headline. Lets take all the talk recently about raising the speed limit to 80mph from 70mph. Whilst 79% of company car drivers are in favour of the increase we hear all the arguments from the do-gooders that spout on about increase in accidents, Read more »