Insurance premiums are being secretly increased by the application of admin fees according to research firm Defaqto. In 2004 the admin charge on an insurance policy was 2% of premium but that has now increased to 7% in 2010. The insurance industry, like the finance industry, has realised that people ignore the terms and conditions attached to contracts and simply focus on the lowest rate so they use stealth measures to increase the return without touching the premiums. Mike Powell, Read more »
The motor finance industry was to see a potential new broker association being formed that would concentrate on providing benefits to consumers and small business operating predominantly in the retail sector. The NACFB (National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers) offered their support to any such initiative but when this came to my notice, as an ex director and president of the association, I saw a huge potential for the association and immediately got to work with the chief Read more »
Whilst all fatalities on UK roads dropped last year the figures are still too high. 2,222 people died on the roads of Britain last year, down 12% on 2008. Car occupant deaths fell 16%, pedestrians 13%, cyclists 10% and motorcyclists 4%. Whilst speed awareness courses are often not taken seriously by drivers who have been caught speeding and prefer to attend a course rather than suffer a conviction, the courses have been known to improve drivers’ attitudes towards speeding. This is particularly Read more »
Graham Hill’s in depth review of a new car gives the new Jaguar supercar the C-X75 the once over. Whilst I’ve never been a big fan of the big cat even I have to say that the car, being showcased at the Paris motor show, looks absolutely amazing. The car is driven by two gas turbines with a hybrid combination consisting of four electric motors. In fact the car has a battery only range of 68miles. The car can reach 205mph from 970bhp and accelerates from a standing start to 62mph in a staggering 3.4 Read more »
Warnings have been issued about the likely increase in the cost of fuel at the pumps. Of course we have the increase in VAT in January but the warning has come as a result of French firm Total putting their 500 service stations up for sale along with its supply contract to a further 300 independent outlets. At the same time Murco have also put their network of 200 retail outlets up for sale which means 10% of all the Read more »
Ford has announced their plans to create the ‘most significant’ engine ever. They are close to making a spectacular breakthrough that will drop the fuel consumption on some of their most popular cars to 100 miles per gallon. The goal will be reached within the next 5 years. The power unit is a new 3 cylinder engine has been created by their research team in Holland. The final decision to go into production lies with the development engineers based in Dunton in Essex. The engine will have a 1.0 litre Read more »
Graham’s gadget of the week is the CG-Lock system, which you fit to your seatbelt. The system causes you to be held into your seat more firmly which makes your belt safer and improves your posture. The system comes highly recommended and finance company Arval who has been testing out the system with their staff. The device is palm sized and takes up the slack in the seatbelt keeping the user in the safest position. It also keeps the seatbelt across the pelvis rather than the stomach. Arval Read more »
Kwik-Fit are to carry out some major training programmes of staff following a recent BBC Watchdog report. They have said they are going to invest a further £1 million in training as a direct result of the allegations made by the BBC. They are to also increase their mystery shopper programme in an effort to identify and stop overselling by staff. The company is said to operate a zero tolerance policy in cases where Read more »
Buying a used car from a dealer? Then you should be more aware of your rights according to the Office of Fair Trading, who have reported that the number of complaints against dealers, for faults that have come to light within the first 3 months, has increased by 18% during the first half of 2010. The Office of Fair Trading Direct received over 38,000 complaints and, as Michele Shambrook of the OFT pointed out, ‘Most of the faults that come to light are the dealer’s responsibility.’ Had a bad used car experience when purchased from a car dealer, please let me know? By Graham Hill
