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Insurance comparison website comparethemarket.com has found that car insurance rates are cheaper in the summer than in the winter. New figures showed that insurance rates were most expensive in December. They explained that over the past 4 years the cost of a typical car insurance premium was 13% higher in December than the monthly average for the rest of the year.

Summer and Spring months were found to have the cheapest policies. The comparison site said that in December, call centres are often less heavily staffed and closed for certain periods, leading to less competition in the market and higher prices overall for drivers.

As a result the comparison sites have suggested that drivers should look to take out policies in the summer. Very Strange! By Graham Hill

Nearly a million bus lane fines are issued a year according to the RAC. Between 2015 and 2017 3.4 million penalty charge notices have been issued by local councils, estimated to be £68 million a year or £200 million over the 3 years – so why has this been happening?

The RAC puts it down to ‘inadequate’ or ‘confusing’ signage causing drivers to accidentally move into a bus lane without realising it. It begs the question, is the signage poor in order to catch unsuspecting motorists? The problem is that whilst the local councils wring their hands the confusion causes traffic delays and jams leading also to increased emissions.

One of the problems, in addition to signage, is inconsistency. Some towns and cities have bus lanes that are reserved as bus lanes 24/7 whilst others allow other drivers to use their bus lanes outside set times. So when motorists travel from town to town, to be on the safe side, they stay out of the bus lane.

You will often see cars pulling over at the end of a bus lane to turn left at a junction or roundabout only to be prevented from doing so by those who have zoomed down the bus lane (as they know the rules) giving the impression they are doing something illegal – when they aren’t. This can lead to traffic delays at junctions and possible road rage. A motorcyclist also pointed out that in some towns he can drive along the bus lanes at any time whereas others he can’t.

If you are concerned about receiving a fine it was interesting to note that Manchester was top of the fine list. 2^nd was Glasgow, followed by Cardiff, Bradford and Nottingham. Strangely, whilst London was left off the list, it actually slotted in below Glasgow – quite a surprise. I won’t bore you with more stats but I would point out that in London the borough with the biggest increase was my good friends – Croydon with a 787% increase. I think if you sneezed in a car in Croydon you’de be done for driving without due care and attention!

So the warning, check the signage carefully and don’t assume that a car whizzing down the bus lane knows the rules and is taking advantage, then follow him, he’s probably just nicked the car and doesn’t give a damn! By Graham Hill

I first started using contract hire in the late 70’s. I was working for a large manufacturer and leasing company and as General Manager I had overall responsibility for over 700 vehicles. We owned all of our vehicles and I had to fight a massive battle to convince the board that we would be better off leasing our vehicles. I had progressed from being the Group Cost and Management Accountant through Group IT Manager to Group General Manager.

This background meant that I could put forward a very strong and convincing case. It also meant that in those days for a contract hire company to capture a fleet of that size they had to be very flexible. It meant that we could pool our mileage and whilst some cars would be returned in excellent condition some, with very high mileage, would go back in pretty ropey condition. Again they would take a view and we rarely received a charge for damage repair.

In other words, cars that were returned under mileage would use their mileage credit to offset any cars returning over mileage. So we effectively received a rebate. And cars in showroom condition when returned would help to balance out those in relatively poor condition.

Those days are long gone, causing many customers all sorts of issues at the end of their contracts. For example when you set your mileage at 10,000 miles per annum and at the end of 3 years you exceed the mileage allowance by say 3,000 miles you are likely to receive a bill for say £300 if your excess mileage charge was 10 pence per mile. However, if you sent back the car with just 27,000 miles on the clock, 3,000 miles under, you receive no rebate. That’s not fair. I wouldn’t even mind if your rebate was just 5 pence per mile for under mileage, I would be a little happier.

The same applies to end of lease damage, especially if you are a good customer. I have to say that whilst I’m currently taking on MB Finance over a lease extension, when it comes to returning a car with minor damage on it I have twice had the charge waived as a ‘gesture of goodwill’.

Here’s the point, All leasing companies tend to work the same when it comes to excess mileage but I have just quoted the same car on the same mileage with two different suppliers. The excess mileage with one company was 8 pence per mile whilst the other was more than twice as much at 16.7 pence per mile. It becomes very confusing.

The same applies to repairs if you return the car with damage. Most leasing companies use the BVRLA standard recommendations, which is good news. The bad news is that they charge different amounts for the same work to be carried out. We need more consistency if leasing is to expand at least cost to the customer. By Graham Hill

Far too often I’ve heard complaints from consumers who have made a warranty claim only to be told that the manufacturer won’t honour it – insisting that the problem was down to wear and tear or the driver’s driving style. In many cases the decision is wrong but what do you do if the manufacturer has point blank refused to carry out a repair?

Well first off you read the relevant sections in my PCP guide – soon to be available as a free download. The same rules apply whether you took the car on PCP, HP or PCH finance. You don’t own the car so your beef is with the owner of the car – the finance provider.

If you’re not satisfied with the response from the dealer and the manufacturer, make a formal complaint to the finance provider. If you still can’t get the problem sorted you report both the lender and the dealer to Trading Standards. They will contact the dealer and the lender. Still no joy? Move on to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) but only if you have financed the car. If you bought for cash there is nothing they can do. The official alternative is what used to be called Motor Codes, now the Motor Ombudsman.

This isn’t part of FOS. FOS is a government-run independent body very much on the side of consumers. However, the Motor Ombudsman is funded by the garages that sign up to their scheme and you can only complain about a garage that is one of their members. Are you starting to get the same feelings as I’m getting? How certain can you be that you’ll be treated fairly over a part that is very expensive and needs replacing? In my opinion, avoid the Motor Ombudsman.

Next down the list are the trade bodies, a route very rarely suggested but can be very effective. Your issue is actually with the lender so check on the websites to see if the finance provider is a member of the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) and the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), you should make a formal complaint against the funder if he fails to get involved or come up with an acceptable solution.

You can also ask the association for details of their Dispute Resolution Service and make an application to them to help if you are in a stalemate. Every trade body must have a Dispute Resolution Service that they can provide details of. The dealer and manufacturer must carry some responsibility, so make the same complaint to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) and if you want to take up the case with them (not the lender) you can, but beware of stepping on the toes of a lender. They will also have a Dispute Resolution Service which you can call upon.

Finally, you can file a legal claim through the small claims court but hopefully, you would have resolved the problem before you get to this stage at no cost other than your time. By Graham Hill

If you are a regular reader of my blog posts you will know how frustrated I can get when the advice that is handed out by so-called experts to drivers with a problem falls short of the full and accurate advice. Just because a fault appears on a car that is out of warranty doesn’t mean that you have no claim against the dealer from whom you bought the car. Or if the car is on finance against the finance provider.

I have explained that any complaints should be raised with Trading Standards and also with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Write a letter of complaint to the manufacturer if you feel that the dealer you are using, his franchisee, isn’t treating you fairly.

But there is another line of fire that I rarely discuss. A route that I am about to embark upon with Mercedes who have rather foolishly decided to take me on! Interesting times. You may know that you can go to conciliation if you have a complaint. There are various types of Conciliation. County courts offer a Mediation Service which is free and can resolve issues before they get to court. But to use it you must already have taken steps to sue the other party and that could end up costing you money.

The purpose of the Mediation Service is to see if there is a quick solution that could avoid court time and expense on the part of all concerned. Another form of conciliation service is one provided via a trade body that the supplier is a member of. And this is the real heavy guns in my opinion. First of all establish which trade bodies are involved. You can check out their website for details.

Most lenders are members of the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) with some also members of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). So first of all you need to explain that you want to use the conciliation service of the trade association. The finance company you are dealing with must do that. You can then make a formal complaint to their trade association then discuss the complaint with the independent adjudicator.

As the lender stands a chance of being disciplined or even thrown out of their trade association they will want to avoid this, especially if you are in the right. So you may find their approach relax once you have filed your formal complaint. You can then proceed with the conciliation service.

If the car wasn’t financed you can still raise your complaints with the conciliation service run by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. You don’t have to accept their findings, you can take up the case with the Financial Ombudsman Service and/or pursue them through the court.

What I do is make a formal complaint against the company to its trade body for bringing the industry into disrepute. This will be followed by an enquiry into what happened and some sort of penalty if they were found to be in breach of the rules. All the time you are breaking them down to the point where they normally roll over.

Too many people are being abused by both lenders and manufacturers when dealing with legitimate complaints. This has got to stop! By Graham Hill

I’ve written about this before but as the Government is putting the squeeze on fleets, private drivers and manufacturers to push the green agenda and at least take the first step along the greener road by moving to hybrids or plug-in hybrids, car warnings were issued by fleet experts that they could be costing more to run than diesel cars.

Employees love the idea of plug-in hybrids as they dramatically drop their benefit in kind tax. And some individual drivers have moved from say their Prius hybrid to a plug-in hybrid and wondered why their fuel usage has gone up when they haven’t been charging their new car from the mains.

First, let me explain the difference. The original hybrids, cars like the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight were petrol driven but with rechargeable batteries, like the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) system on Formula 1 cars. When freewheeling or braking energy would transfer to the batteries giving you a small boost whenever you needed it from traffic lights or pulling away on a roundabout, the times when the engine burns most fuel.

You didn’t need to do anything – just drive and you would achieve better fuel consumption and emit fewer CO2’s than your old petrol or diesel engine. The plugin hybrids go one step further with some manufacturers claiming 140 + miles per gallon. But to achieve this fuel consumption you need to plug in the car in order to charge the batteries as the car is far more reliant on the battery power.

The problem is that many companies, under pressure from over-taxed employees, adopted a plug-in hybrid approach, only to see fuel consumption higher than it was with their diesel fleet. The problem is that if you don’t charge the car and drive it as you would have driven a Prius the 140 MPG that you should be achieving drops to around 25 MPG.

So if you’re thinking of going greener by taking a plugin hybrid (PHEV) make sure you are able to plug in your vehicle, either at work or at home, and if you are supplying company PHEV vehicles to staff, in order to save them BIK tax, make sure that the employees are able to and more important, willing to, plug them in at night and use them as they were intended. By Graham Hill

I’ve mentioned this in that past but surprisingly few people are aware of its existence and what it does. So just a reminder if you are buying or leasing a new diesel car or have recently taken delivery of one – quite simply it’s an additive.

It sits in a large at the back of the car, normally around 12 litres in size, and is squirted in small amounts, when the engine is running, into the exhaust gas causing a chemical reaction turning NOx gas into its constituent parts, Nitrogen and Oxygen.

Adblue is a trade name, created by its manufacturer to bring down NOx emissions in some cars that couldn’t meet the Euro 6 emissions tests. It isn’t always clear if your car uses Adblue, some include Blue in their name whilst VW uses SCR in the model name.

For most people, driving low mileage, the tank won’t need topping up between services but if you need to, following a warning light illuminating on the screen, some garages have Adbue on the pumps, costing around 60 pence per litre. Or you can buy it in Halfords or your main dealer for more.

Some cars have the top up away from the fuel filler to ensure that you don’t put Adblue in the fuel tank and vice versa. You need to check your handbook as some fillers can be well hidden, even in the spare wheel well. If you are unsure it might be wiser to call into the main dealer or Halfords who I believe offer to top it up for free if you buy the Adblue from them of course.

Warning:  The AA attended about 20,000 Adblue callouts last year, often because the car ran out of Adblue. A warning light will glow on the dashboard when you have about 3 litres left or about 1,200 miles. If you run out whilst driving, the car will continue but if you turn the engine off with no Adblue left in the tank it won’t restart. So if you need Adblue and you find somewhere to top it up – don’t turn the engine off just in case they’ve run out also. By Graham Hill