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For most people WLTP probably doesn’t mean a lot but for anyone in the motor industry it’s been an absolute pain over the last 12 months. It stands for the Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Test Procedure. It’s an attempt to get all vehicles properly tested, following the VW emissions debacle, making it more difficult to fiddle the results.

New model cars for this year had to be approved using the new testing criteria. The tests were still carried out in the rolling road laboratories but instead of self-testing examiners were in attendance to oversee the testing and the tests were more involved and took much longer.

A few failed but when the new models were designed they took the changes into account so most successfully got the approval they were looking for at the first time of testing, keeping them in the same emissions brackets. However, the next phase was to test existing models which caused major challenges as they were found to be way out.

An even bigger challenge was not so much carrying out modifications on the production lines in order to make new cars (but old models) compliant and back to their previous readings, it was the time it was taking to wait for a re-test. The authorities hadn’t allowed for the massive increase in test facility requirements for not only cars that had previously been tested but the re-test requirements.

Cars that were tested under the old regime must be sold by the end of August so we’ve seen some extra discounts but we’ve also seen orders and production lines shut down whilst manufacturers have carried out modifications to their engines and exhaust systems in order to make their latest production compliant.

In an effort to reduce the burden the DfT has allowed 10% of the manufacturer sales or 2,000 vehicles that haven’t made it through the new emissions tests to be registered after 1st September,

However, this takes us to the next challenge. The Real Driving Emissions Tests (RDE). This compliments the WLTP tests and takes us a little further towards accurate emissions tests. The RDE tests require that standard cars be fitted with test equipment for testing on real roads in real conditions.

They check amongst other things low and high altitudes, year-round temperatures, additional vehicle payloads, up and downhill driving, urban, rural and motorway road driving. So it looks like we’ll be in for even more disruption as we move to the next ridiculous level.

The fact is that everyone drives differently which provides widely differing emissions and performance results. And that’s all before we Brexit. More pain for the industry and customers. By Graham Hill

I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years and it worries me greatly the levels of incompetence displayed by those at the sharp end. I don’t blame the sales staff, it often stems from the top. Directors and senior management struggle with basic product knowledge that spreads like a cancer throughout the organisation.

Whether it’s an independent dealership, dealer group, bank owned finance company, manufacturer-owned finance company or independent their basic knowledge is abysmal. Unfortunately, this attitude spreads throughout the organisation which means that customers are incredibly poorly informed and likely to make wrong financing decisions or the right decision but unaware of all the implications and the potential true costs.

I broke the story over 2 years ago that the PPI claims industry was eying up the car finance industry and the new regulations that were being introduced by the relatively new FCA. They were getting a sniff that all was not well inside the industry and there was potential for mis-selling claims.

If you think of what happened when a PPI claim was successful, people were having all their premiums returned. Could this mean that customers could have all their payments returned and the car given back as a result of being given bad information by an ill-informed or crooked salesman? The first test cases will give us an idea.

In the meantime, I see false reporting in the press and idiots masquerading as experts giving poor advice to consumers. There is little doubt that I am rapidly becoming the most influential person in the UK when it comes to vehicle finance. My appointment as non-executive director of one of the most progressive PR companies in the UK will help this along. Especially as the company chairman is as gung-ho as I am and supports me.

To illustrate my point I’m not going to mention names in order to avoid any unnecessary legal challenges but the Chief Operating Officer of one of this country’s largest dealership groups wrote a pile of nonsense in response to a poorly written piece in the Times. He, first of all, criticised the paper for the warning about potential problems with the claims industry. Defending the indefensible!

He then rants on about the difference between PCP and Personal Contract Hire (PCH) making a big issue about PCP not being a lease. This is fundamental. It is a form of HP agreement and HP agreements are leases – idiot. Any finance other than a loan is a form of lease. If someone else owns the goods whilst you have the use of them – it’s a lease! That’s basic accounting something one would expect someone in his position to know.

With HP or a PCP you only own the goods when you have paid all the money owed plus an option to purchase fee. If you want to read my views of the industry and reveal masses of PCP secrets go to Grahamhilltraining.com and register to download my PCP report. I’m explaining just about everything once and for all. Next on my target list is PCH. By Graham Hill

As most of my customers know you don’t pay your initial rental until after the car has been delivered and you have had the opportunity to inspect it. There is a reason for this and it’s not because my funders are really good eggs and don’t like taking money off you before you receive your car.

I’m sure they would love to but that would mean that by taking money from you before delivery the transaction would fall inside the distance selling rules. That would give you 14 days during which for any reason whatsoever you could return the car and ask for a refund.

That would prove to be very costly so it’s avoided. Of course you can still return the car if it’s faulty or not as ordered but not because you changed your mind. However, many people now buy new and used cars online unseen which means that the transaction falls within the scope of the Distance Selling Rules provided the car was bought from a dealer or trader (not privately).

You have 14 days starting the day after delivery of the car to reject it as long as you haven’t physically seen the car. If the whole transaction is completed online then you just visit the dealer to collect the car it is still a distance sale.

However, some sellers will issue terms and conditions for you to sign or tick online. You must read them as some are now including a term that states that the contract is only concluded when you collect the car, i.e. on the trader’s premises.

This takes the transaction outside the Distance Selling Regulations, so no cooling off period after you’ve driven the car away. If you have bought the car from a private seller online the distance selling rules don’t apply so no cooling off period. By Graham Hill

I have to say that I fall foul of this one myself. Do you allow your car insurance to auto-renew or do you compare rates? It has been a concern of the regulators for years but they’ve done very little about it. In one report a driver had his premium increased by over £200 with no explanation even though his car and circumstances hadn’t changed.

For ages the insurers have rolled out the same old tired excuses – hikes in Premium Tax Rates, increased cost of repairs and increased vehicle thefts. OK, we can see that but a rise of £200 – get outa here.

Some insurers we know offer cheap 1^st-year rates to capture new customers in the knowledge that a large number won’t shop around and will remain with them in future years when they can increase the premiums. That being the case it opens the door to consistently achieving low rates if you swap every year.

In the meantime, the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have signed up to an agreement to prevent ‘excessive’ premium hikes when ‘auto renewing’.

Insurers will be expected to be more transparent and advise customers that rates could increase in the future and they will also need to review rates for long-term customers. That all sounds very good but I simply don’t believe them. First of all what constitutes an ‘excessive’ increase?

And in the second place what penalties will be doled out? No answer to either question was forthcoming. Maybe a step in the right direction but in the meantime stop auto-renewing and search the internet for better deals. By Graham Hill

With so many drivers switching from diesel to petrol, often after many years of driving a diesel car, the AA is reporting an increase in misfuelling callouts. The majority of callouts are from company vehicle drivers, accounting for 59% with consumers accounting for 41%.

Not all were for petrol cars being topped up with diesel, many were the other way round but the majority was a result of changes in company car policy or attitude of consumers towards diesel vehicles. I must say that after many years of topping my car up at the local Tesco filling station and automatically knowing that the diesel pump was the one on the far right.

In their wisdom they decided to change the pumps for new ones with the new pumps having the diesel nozzle on the far left. I didn’t do it myself but it caused many drivers to top up from the wrong pump through not paying attention. The AA offers a fuel assist programme for just this purpose, probably not a bad thing to take, especially if you are moving from one fuel to another.

The AA put down the mistake to drivers being pre-occupied, driving an unfamiliar car or visiting an unfamiliar filling station. So if you are about to change from one fuel to another make sure you don’t misfuel, if you do don’t start your car and lastly don’t even move it as this can cause all sorts of problems. By Graham Hill

Finally, after banging the drum for the last two years, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has agreed with my views that diesel still has a part to play, especially when the Bosche system starts to find its way into new car production. By 2020 when the Bosche system is fully rolled out across all manufacturers the NOx emissions will be a tenth of that required when Euro 7 rules are introduced making diesel cars more environmentally friendly than petrol.

In the meantime,, Nissan hasn’t helped by being caught out doing something similar to VW and falsifying emissions tests in Japan. That aside Chris Grayling supported diesels by saying, ‘If you’re driving long distances and are out and about on the road for work, diesel is a perfectly sensible option.’

The Government is aiming for zero emissions by 2040 but as Grayling pointed out this has to be industry and consumer-led and technology neutral – no I haven’t got a clue either but that’s what he said. But he went on to say, ‘Diesels can still play a valuable role in reducing CO2 emissions during that transition period to a low-emission future.’

However, Grayling told the SMMT that diesel engines need to continue getting cleaner. The response from the SMMT was to question whether his views would translate into positive changes to the tax regime. The Government promised to remove the 3% diesel company car supplement from April 2016.

However, not only was that decision reversed in the wake of the VW emissions scandal it was increased to 4% from April 2018. Of course, if I was being cynical I would say that the UK Government along with Germany and France have allowed false information to circulate in order to penalise drivers of diesel cars.

However, this attempt at crucifying diesel drivers will end up biting them on the rear end because diesel car sales have dropped through the floorboards leaving them with far fewer drivers to rob. Time will tell how this argument pans out but I’m pleased that the Government has come out positively. 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.

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