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A new police unit has been set up to deal with dash cam and helmet cam footage showing drivers committing offences as part of a Government road safety initiative.

 

The announcement of the creation of this new unit was made by the Department for Transport (DfT) as a 2-year plan to make roads safer. In their announcement, they stated that it is intended, ‘ to combat road rage, encourage greater mutual respect between road users and protect the most vulnerable’.

 

The task force does not yet have a name but will be a ‘national back office’ serving police forces. An initial investment of £100,000 has been put in to test the waters. No information is yet available as to how the public will get the video footage to this team but according to AutoExpress they feel the new scheme will operate in the same way as Operation Snap that was introduced in Wales.

 

When piloted it reduced the time taken to review footage from up to 15 hours (really?) to just 15 minutes. There are 7 offences that the public can report using video footage as follows

Dangerous Driving

Driving Without Due Care & Attention

Careless Driving

Using A Mobile Phone

Not Wearing A Seatbelt

Contravening A Red Traffic Light

Contravening Solid White Lines

The DfT says that dash cam footage and video from motorcyclist and cyclist cameras could lead to investigations for ‘other offences where the driver is clearly not in proper control of the vehicle and which could lead to collisions’. By allowing drivers to submit video footage they believe that they will be able to increase detection rates at no extra cost.

 

The 2-year plan also includes allowing local authorities to issue tickets to drivers parking in cycle lanes with penalties from £70 to £130 in London. Councils will also be encouraged to spend 15% of their local transport budget on cycling and walking infrastructure. Personally, the whole thing concerns me as I can see a rapid increase in road rage. By Graham Hill

A Government Select Committee investigation has revealed that hand car washes can be ‘modern slavery in plain sight’. As a result of which they have called for them to be licenced. The Environmental Audit Committee’s probe into working practices at hand car washes (HCW) was told they play host to a ‘spectrum of exploitation’.

 

They raised concerns regarding the non-payment of minimum wage, workers at risk of trench foot and chemical burns. And untreated wash water having toxic effects on plant and animal life. As a result, the industry and various Government bodies launched a pilot Responsible Car Wash Scheme earlier this year with washes urged to sign up to a set of standards and display a Reasonable Car Wash Operator logo at their sites.

 

The Environmental Audit Committee recommended a trial licensing scheme for HCW’s to tackle the ‘widespread and flagrant rule breaking’ across the industry. The committee says that authorities should start by ensuring that car washes in supermarket car parks are compliant with labour laws. Much more to come I suspect.

I’ve done this myself and got really angry in the worst town in the world for driver convictions (in my opinion) – Croydon. I was fairly close behind a bus travelling through the town and as we crossed over a crossroad into the same road without seeing any sign to show that the road opposite was simply a two-way bus lane. Of course by the time I saw that the road was simply a bus lane it was too late. A No Entry sign showing ‘Except buses, taxis and cycles’ underneath would have been handy.

 

So I wasn’t surprised to read that drivers were fined £42 million for driving in bus lanes last year. One road alone generated £1.48 million in fines. Last year there were 888,760 notices issued. In London the fines for driving in a bus lane reached £7.57 million with Ealing council responsible for more than 40% (£3.1 million) of London’s total.

 

In Glasgow drivers were fined £6.52 million whilst Cardiff drivers had to part with £5.59 million for driving in a bus lane. Confused.com were behind the figures collated after a Freedom of Information request. It also found out that 39% of drivers admitted driving in a bus lane whilst 48% said they had done so unwittingly. 41% said that they had done so because of unclear markings or signage – I know what they mean.

 

Confused.com’s motoring editor, Amanda Stretton, suggested that bus lanes present the most confusing challenge to motorists. She also suggested that the money raised should be used to improve signage and questioned the level of fines as motorists felt they were ‘unfair and excessive’. The High Street in Oxford was the road that generated the most revenue at £1.48 million. Potentially because only buses, taxis and cycles are permitted to enter sections of the street between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

 

You’ve been warned. By Graham Hill

I’m about to add the following to the downloadable report following a note from a PCP customer.

 

The Decreased Monthly Rental Scam

 

A consumer ordered a car on a fairly long lead time and was asked to pop into the dealership when he had a moment as they have found a way to decrease his monthly rental. He called into the dealer to be shown a new set of documents and the good news that his monthly rental had dropped by over £10 per month, all he needed to do was sign up the new documents. Great news you would think.

 

But upon closer inspection of the documents he found that the cost of the car had increased by £500 and the final balloon payment had also increased but by £1,000. On an APR of 4.9% he also noticed that he was paying an extra £100 in interest charges.

 

The argument here is that there has been a price increase since the original contract was signed and because the used car market is looking very buoyant the leasing company has decided to increase the resale value.

 

This is good for the dealer as he would have fixed the purchase price so the increase of £500 goes straight into his pocket and he still receives his commission for arranging the PCP. It also adds another £500 to his total amount funded which attracts a volume related bonus, based on the amount financed, at the end of each quarter or year. So we have a happy dealer.

 

Now the next part is a little harder to explain. The finance company is invariably the manufacturer’s own operation so there is a very tight relationship between the two. And this is where a lot of people get confused, and this includes, I believe, the Governor of The Bank of England. Let me explain. Let’s say you pop into Curry’s and buy a TV for £499. It obviously doesn’t cost Curry’s £499, if it did they would soon go out of business. It would have cost them say £300 making them nearly £200 profit.

 

So it makes a lot of sense that the finance company also makes a fairly good markup when it ‘sells’ a PCP agreement. I’ll quickly run through the process then I’ll sum up so that if you are faced with this conundrum you can make a value decision.

 

Example: Your original agreement stated:

Purchase price (After deposit etc.): £30,000

Balloon: £12,000

APR: 4.9%

Monthly Repayment: 36 x £587.67

Total Payable: £21,156.12  (Depn £18,000, Interest £3,156.12)

By the way I’ve used a standard PCP calculator to work out the interest charges.

Fairly simple so far and please bear with me as I’m simplifying what is a very complex set of calculations in the books of the lender. They will use expressions such as cost of funds, yield, interest spread – I’ve ignored that and am explaining as simply as I can.

 

In the books of the lender:

Purchase price: £30,000 – this is paid to the dealer for the car

Manufacturer’s subsidy, bonuses etc.: £3,000 (This is an amount paid by the manufacturer to the leasing company)

Net cost to the lender: £27,000

Balloon: £11,000 – This needs some explanation as even the Governor of The Bank of England may have this wrong. Let’s say that the car is expected to be worth £12,000 at the end of the agreement as shown on your contract. To stand the car in their books at £12,000 would be like Curry’s selling their TV’s for what they pay for them – commercial suicide.

They have to allow for the cost of collection, preparation, admin and selling costs. So this would require the lender to stand the car in their books at something less than the balloon on your agreement. I’ve suggested £11,000

Let’s say the cost of money (interest) is the equivalent to 1.9% APR

Having allowed for the £3,000 contribution from the manufacturer let’s look at income vs cost:

Interest Paid By You:                         £3,156.12

Cost To Lender:                                  £1,100.00

Net Income To Lender:                      £2,056.12

 

Depreciation Paid By You:                 £18,000

Depreciation Allowed By Lender      £16,000

Net Income To Lender:                      £  2,000

 

Lender’s Income From Disposal         £   1,000  (your balloon £12,000 – book value £11,000)

Total Net Income                                   £5,036.12

 

If you now recalculate the figures again (let me know if you would like all of the workings)

The dealer now receives £30,500 – an extra £500

With the balloon increasing to £13,000 you now pay £17,500 depreciation (£30,500 – £13,000)

With the change in figures you now pay £3,264.44 in interest charges.

The lender leaves the balloon at £11,000 in his books so as a result of the increase in cost of the car (£500) now has to pay £1,114.80 in interest charges, up from £1,100.

So let’s look at the effect on the books of the lender again if you sign the new contract:

Having allowed for the £3,000 contribution from the manufacturer let’s look at income vs cost:

Interest Paid By You:                         £3,264.44

Cost To Lender:                                   £1,114.80

Net Income To Lender:                      £2,149.64

 

Depreciation Paid By You:                 £17,500

Depreciation Allowed By Lender      £16,500

Net Income To Lender:                      £  1,000

 

Lender’s Income From Disposal         £   2,000  (your balloon £13,000 – book value £11,000)

Total Net Income                                £5,149.64

 

To Summarise

Sorry if you felt the need to work your way through the figures but this is the complexity of a PCP. I guess the first thing to take away from this, as mentioned elsewhere in the report, is that the calculations that appear in the books of the lender are different to those on the agreement.

Next is your decision:

First of all, if you have signed a regulated agreement with another party who has also signed, then following the legal period of grace it is ‘executed’ so you can refuse to sign a new agreement.

 

But should you sign a new agreement? You pay the same deposit followed by 36 payments that are about £10 per month less than the original agreement so money in your pocket which is fine if you simply hand the car back at the end of the agreement.

 

However, if you want to own the car at the end of the agreement you will now have to stump up another £1,000. The car may well be worth it with a trade value about the same as the final balloon but you still have to find the extra money. So whilst you may have saved 36 x £10 = £360 you now have to pay an extra £1,000 making the net loss £640.

 

As you can see PCP calculations can be very complex and it is easy to manipulate them to make it look like you are getting a better deal than you thought you were. If it was me I’d sign the new agreement and hand the car back at the end of the agreement unless there was still some equity between the balloon and the car value – which I would still take.

 

Note to the Bank of England: If you ever had fears about the stability of the motor credit industry take a squint on page 40 of the Ford Credit Europe (FCE Bank) accounts 2017. They show total interest income of £647 million less expenses of £181 million leaving a nice little profit of £466 million or 72% of income. So unless I’ve missed something I wouldn’t worry too much. By Graham Hill

I’ve warned about this before but since the tightening of Data Protection rules with GDPR it’s worth mentioning again. It all started a few years ago when the wife of a well-known football player part exchanged her car for a new one. When she sold the car she didn’t think of clearing down the information stored in her in-car telephone book.

 

The dealer who bought the car as a part exchange realised that he could access the telephone numbers and seeing that there were many mobile numbers of A-list celebrities he offered them to a National newspaper. When it came to light what had happened, after journalists were contacting the celebrities, a court case ensued. The dealer argued that as he bought the car he also bought the data stored in the car. The onus was on the previous owner to remove anything that wasn’t included as she would have done with any personal effects.

 

Data protection rules were not so tough at the time but even so the dealer was seen to be breaking data protection regulations and was fined. Since then, of course, the amount of data stored on your car has increased. Addresses, places you have visited along with telephone numbers and in some cases driving style. You may think that most of this information is pretty benign but it may not be.

 

If you own company cars or you are a company car driver there is an onus on the employer to ensure that they protect driver’s personal data. There is a now a company that will cleanse ex-fleet cars and remove all data but they only deal with company cars. If you are concerned about your data stored in your car you can always remove it yourself or ask your local dealer to remove it for you before you return it at the end of your lease or PCP or part exchange it.

 

If the car is part exchanged the dealer is responsible for ensuring that the data is removed before selling it on. With fines of up to 2% of global annual turnover this could end up having a major effect on employers and/or dealers. By Graham Hill

I am often quoted in the press when it comes to things like new car registrations and why diesel sales are up or down compared to petrol sales. I haven’t of late because many of the journalists, not all I would hasten to add, simply put out a story that they want to rather than the truth. Oops sounding like Trump there for a moment!

 

It isn’t all the fault of the journalists, often it is the fault of the so-called experts they approach for a comment other than myself. The sort of people who have probably never spoken to a customer or a member of dealership staff. They simply guess, then before you know it the guess becomes the truth.

 

One of the biggest problems in all the commentary is the fact that behind the comments are usually statistics and they don’t come with sufficient explanation – leaving it to the ‘experts’ to interpret the figures. Take new car sales in August and September this year. Quite correctly, following the announcement that new car sales in August were up on previous Augusts, the headlines picked up that due to the new WLTP emissions test rules cars had to be sold by the end of August – or any unsold cars that didn’t meet the new levels could be forcibly scrapped.

 

Not surprising that any cars in stock were heavily discounted. Hence the spike in sales – all fine so far. In the meantime, cars were being tested, failing, modified then retested in order to meet the new standards. In the case of Jaguar Landrover, they shut down their order book and stopped making cars that hadn’t been emissions approved.

 

So when Joe Public walked into their local dealerships to buy a new car on the new registration for September there were no bloody cars. So they either bought second hand or they placed an order for a new car. So orders and new car sales in September may have been on target or even up on previous years (I’m not saying they were) the ‘experts’ immediately searched for reasons.

 

Things such as Brexit, EU manufacturers turning their backs on the UK, the economy not as strong as was thought, consumers and businesses not confident about the future. When all they measured was sales and not orders it’s not bloody surprising – there were no damned cars to register – good grief.

 

And don’t even get me started on the diesel vs petrol debate. Such appaling information on the issues related to either petrol or diesel emissions confuses everyone. And whilst the debate goes on London and other cities see a bit of a cash cow and treat all diesels as destroyers of the universe and tax them for entering the city and parking. Whilst environmentalists report an increase in CO2 emissions last year for the first time since records began. That’s the stuff that petrol engines generate more than diesels.

 

On the other hand a lifetime of breathing in NOx whilst walking down the street has been statistically proven to shorten lives – by an average of 3 minutes. Look, I’m not making light of car emissions and their effect on health but as with new car registrations and all other statistics – can we please add caveats to the stats. in order to bring some reality into the comments? Probably not – they won’t make such exciting headlines! By Graham Hill

Citizens Advice have warned about unreasonable behaviour by bailiffs. According to CAB 850,000 consumers have had a bad experience with a bailiff, from forced entry to near illegal threatening behaviour. Charities have called on the Government to take action and regulate the industry.

 

When it comes to cars, some lenders will use bailiffs to recover cars that are still on a finance agreement. Far too often ‘Innocent Buyers’ are forced into handing over keys when in fact they legally own the car. If you buy a car from someone and it turns out to be on HP, provided you’ve asked if the car is on finance and the owner has told you that it isn’t then you are the legal owner of the car (doesn’t apply to contract hire).

 

You don’t have to check that the car is on HPI because there is no legal obligation on lenders to record their finance agreements on there in the first place. Some bailiffs will turn up with a copy of the agreement showing that the finance company that has appointed them still owns the car. They will explain that you should contact the seller of the car and sue him to recover what you paid as he was not entitled to sell the car in the first place.

 

They will often have a form that they will ask you to sign that effectively passes the car over to the Bailiffs ‘innocently and without pressure’ and ‘voluntarily’. Once you have signed the form and handed over the car keys it is virtually impossible to get your car back.

 

Whatever the circumstances unless bailiffs turn up with a court order tell them you want to verify what they are saying, leave their card and give you 24 hours. Then phone Citizens Advice or if you have legal cover on your contents or car insurance phone their helpline for advice.

 

If you are visited by a bailiff who is acting unreasonably call the police and if you are unsure of your rights and you don’t have access to a legal helpline call the company that the bailiffs work for. Yet more examples of the law being toothless. It’s a disgrace! By Graham Hill

My previous blog was entitled Is The Consumer Rights Act Fit For Purpose? I give a typical example of how consumers are being ripped off by dealers not willing to honour their legal obligations. I also give a number of actions that customers can take that will help them to get a result.

 

After a lot of research, I have come across what I believe is a better solution. The RAC has a legal insurance policy called Legal Care Plus. It covers much more than a normal legal cover extension on the average car insurance policy.

 

The important cover is:

 

Motor Vehicle Consumer Disputes

RAC will cover up to £5,000 in legal costs following a breach of an agreement relating to the sale, purchase, hire or servicing of a motor vehicle.

 

I spoke to a representative who confirmed that this would cover warranty disputes as a result of the vehicle being faulty. In addition, it covers legal costs and expenses for uninsured loss recovery, for example, loss of earnings to the tune of £100,000. Where you have an accident that was not your fault you can also recover your excess.

 

Along with other cover, the policy looks really good to me. And the cost? Just £15 per annum. Always take professional advice before taking out an insurance product. By Graham Hill

I’ve just been reading yet another story about someone trying to reject a faulty car and not being allowed to by the dealership. What the hell is the point of an act of Parliament to protect consumers if it is totally toothless when you try to apply it?

 

What Car reported an incident that involved a lady who was driving a nearly new BMW 1 Series, bought with 2,200 miles on the clock for £22,000. After 5 days and 93 miles the car broke down, it shuddered, misfired and lost all power. The oil warning light came on and the onboard computer stated there was a problem with the drivetrain.

 

The lady driver stated that the car broke down in a dangerous position but she managed to get it to limp to a safe place then made a long walk to a friend’s house. After advising the supplying dealer it was a week before the car was collected. They then called a day later saying that they had driven the car for 60 miles and couldn’t find a fault so suggested that she could collect the car.

 

Following the non-repair the car has suffered sporadic electrical problems leaving the lady with no confidence that it might break down again leaving her stranded. As a result the lady wrote to the supplying dealer telling them that she wanted to reject the car under the 30-day rejection rule as part of the Consumer Rights Act. She was told by the dealer that she couldn’t reject the car as there was nothing wrong with it.

 

As reliability and safety were all important to her, especially as she is normally in the car alone, she still wasn’t happy. She wrote to the dealer advising them as such and informing them that she wanted to return the car for a full refund.

 

They replied by explaining that as there was nothing wrong with the car she couldn’t return it for a refund. But they offered another 1 series that they had in stock as a replacement. The car was cheaper than her original car so she would be financially out of pocket as they refused to refund the difference. The lady felt that she had been treated appallingly – sadly she isn’t alone.

 

So what was the outcome when she wrote to What Car?

 

They, first of all, confirmed that she was within her rights to return the faulty car for a full refund. The car was considered to be of unsatisfactory quality as the car was, and continued to be, faulty. And as it was likely to break down again leaving the lady stranded it was also considered to be unfit for purpose. All of which I totally agreed with.

 

What Car suggested that the lady go back to the dealership and reiterate what they had said to her. She did that and on the same day the dealer got straight back to her and said she was wrong about her consumer rights and she could not reject the car. As a result What Car contacted BMW’s UK head office to ask for their intervention – which they duly did. The following day the dealer called her and agreed to a full refund.

 

Now whilst this may look like a great outcome and in the case of the lady concerned – and it was but in my opinion, it is wrong on so many levels. Not least of which the dealer will receive the car back with a fault – so given their attitude will they fix it? No, they won’t because they don’t believe the car is faulty. So will they continue to sell the car until someone accepts their argument and accepts the faults or pays for the fix themselves – if it can be fixed? I suspect that this is the route they will take.

 

Solution 1: Record on HPI and Experian that the car had been rejected and list the reasons. The dealer wouldn’t do this automatically because it alerts the new owner so they would need to be obligated to by law. But if we do that we will need to make it compulsory for lenders and insurers to record finance links and insurance damage – something that isn’t compulsory at the moment. Ridiculous. We need changes.

 

If you experience a fault immediately after taking delivery of your car (within 30 days), either new or used, from a dealer or trader (not private) you should reject it immediately by putting it in writing. An email or a letter should do (I suggest a letter that is signed for). If the issue is minor such as say a loose piece of trim that can be easily fixed you can give the dealer an opportunity to fix.

 

Remember you don’t have to give the dealer an opportunity to fix within the first 30 days but the fault does have to be genuine, you can’t just change your mind about the car. I’ve heard of situations whereby the customer has a fault and insists that the dealer refund the cost. The dealer (as in the case above) takes the car back, repairs the fault then says that a fault didn’t exist. So this is where my next piece of advice is all important.

 

If your car suffers a fault take as many photos and/or videos that you can with your phone showing the car running badly, an item not working and certainly warnings that appear on the dashboard. Don’t put yourself at risk so get the help of a friend or relation to take photos if the fault occurs and you can get someone else to video it whilst you’re driving.

 

The next thing is to register your complaint with Trading Standards. The more people that complain the better the picture that Trading Standards will have of the dealer. If the dealer has a bad record of not treating customers fairly and meeting their legal obligations you may find that they come to a quick solution. And Trading Standards have legal clout.

 

The problem is that you can no longer contact Trading Standards direct. You have to go through the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline and they decide whether to refer to Trading Standards. In most instances that won’t be a problem – just a minor delay.

 

Make sure that you don’t sign any forms, simply write to the dealer advising that you want to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to hand the car back for a full refund and explain why. Some dealers will hand you a form to sign which may have a string of conditions included – they are not legally enforceable but they’ll try it on. Don’t sign it.

 

You can write to the manufacturer as well, as happened with What Car and also to any trade association of which the dealer is a member. Most are members of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. They should be able to refer you to an independent dispute resolution body but make sure that it isn’t the Motor Ombudsman as I don’t believe they are totally independent. You can only use them if the dealer is a member which costs them money so I believe their advice cannot possibly be totally independent.

 

It should also be born in mind that if you buy goods from a shop, say a kettle from Argos, it is the responsibility of the shop if the goods are faulty, not the manufacturer. Once the shop has resolved your complaint it is then up to the retailer to take up the issue with the manufacturer – nothing to do with you. A manufacturer’s warranty is in addition to your legal rights – not a replacement. However, this isn’t the case with a Franchised dealer. He trades as an extension of the car manufacturer as a ‘franchisee’ so when you deal with the dealer you also deal with the manufacturer.

 

The manufacturer has a reputation to maintain so it isn’t unusual for them to overturn a local decision made by their franchisee. So if you don’t get satisfaction from the dealer certainly go for the manufacturer.

 

Finally, check your home and car insurance policy if you have legal cover. At worst they will give you legal advice at best their lawyers will write to the dealer. By Graham Hill

Have you ever had a headlight bulb blow on your car? In truth, if you only ever drive new cars with a full manufacturer’s warranty you could be excused for believing that they would be covered for the term of the warranty so it wouldn’t matter if a bulb did blow. But if you think that – you might like to check the terms of your warranty.

 

Some manufacturers cover your light bulbs till the warranty runs out but others will cover the bulbs for a fixed term or until you reach the first service. They all seem to have a different approach. So I found it interesting to read the results of an investigation carried out by What Car.

 

Now, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t bother reporting on such an article. Especially as I had a bulb blow on my Mercedes after about 2 years. I simply popped into Halfords, bought a bulb for about £18 and they fitted it for me. In fact it took no more than seconds to disconnect the connector, flip a clip, replace the bulb, clip it in place, reconnect the connector and it was all done.

 

However, a friend with a Renault Megane found that in order to replace a headlamp bulb you have to practically dismantle the whole of the front of the car which can be extremely expensive, especially if this replacement isn’t part of the warranty. And it isn’t a job you could do yourself unless you are an engineer.

 

But it gets worse. When What Car carried out its survey it found that exchange bulbs varied greatly. The cheapest they found was a Suzuki Swift Halogen bulb, costing £4 with prices increasing up to a maximum of £20 for a Citroen C3 Halogen bulb. But that’s just Halogen bulbs.

 

If your car has High-Intensity Discharge bulbs fitted you could be in for a shock. According to some bulb manufacturers, the bulbs should last for 10 years whilst others say they should last the lifetime of the car.

 

So you may not have to replace a bulb but if you do it will be then that you will find out that you can’t simply replace the bulb, you have to replace the whole sealed unit  which, according to What Car, can cost from £211 on an Audi A1 S-Line to £846 for a replacement unit fitted to a Polo GTI. A Vauxhall Corsa can cost £317 whilst a Honda Jazz can be £714. And those prices don’t include fitting.

 

At these prices, it has been known that used cars with a blown bulb have been written off as it costs more to replace the bulb or headlamp unit than the car is worth. This is what What Car says: If you’re going to keep your car for many years or are buying second hand, we’d recommend avoiding models and trim levels that have sealed headlamp units. Stick with halogen bulbs if you want the cheapest replacement bulb costs, or go for a model such as the Mini Hatchback that lets you replace HID bulbs separately.

 

They go on to say that ‘If your car fails its MOT test because the lights aren’t bright enough, rather than replacing the light units, you can buy a headlight restoration kit for less than £20. You can use this kit to polish up yellowed or lightly scratched headlight lenses so they’re crystal clear again’. But of course, this won’t help if the bulb has blown.

 

Yet again a hidden cost that really should be made apparent when you buy your new or used car. And it raises the big question that I’ve been discussing around warranties. If your warranty has bulbs covered till your first service and a bulb goes after the service is this an enhancement of your legal rights – which is what a warranty should be? I would suggest not.

 

Don’t forget (see my PCP Report free on grahamhilltraining.com) that at the moment you are covered by the EU 2 year guarantee that comes with anything you buy, new or used, from a trader or business (not privately). By Graham Hill