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As we know, we tend to follow behind America, whether it’s the weather, release of new technology, a recession, an economic recovery and so on. So I was pleased to read in the Wall Street Journal that the leasing industry is just taking off big style in the US with (surprisingly) Toyota leading the way with Honda following up offering incredible deals to move new cars with rates dropping lower than they were at the Read more »

According to Auto Express size matters, something, of course, that I have always subscribed to! Ooer missus, stop that tittering in the back, I’m talking about car safety – obviously. It seems that the bigger the car the less likely you are to be injured. Mind blowing as that might be, equally mind blowing is the most dangerous car is one of the smallest, the Rover Mini (not to be confused with the BMW Mini). The figures Read more »

Auto Express have named their Driver Power 2010 top 100 cars. More of this next week but I can report that the Jaguar XF has been knocked off the number one position and replaced by, wait for it, the Hyundai i30. The survey was polled amongst 23,00 drivers with cars being assessed on 10 factors including reliability, comfort, build quality and performance. More of this breaking story next week but this week we are offering the i30 on special terms as our deal of the week – I don’t just throw these things together you know! By Graham Hill

The new road fund licence rules come into force on the 1^st April. For some it is good news as those with low emission cars will see the cost of their RFL or road tax reduced, in some cases to zero, but a big row has broken out because drivers have to renew before the 1^st April to ensure that the car is taxed at all times but because the DVLA was having a cup of tea they couldn’t be arsed to change their computer Read more »

The recent major recall by Toyota, as a result of their brake and accelerator problems, has given rise to some knee jerk reactions amongst drivers when they now receive recall notices. As I recently pointed out, recalls are fairly common but not all faults that are in need of attention are life threatening so there is no need to stop using the car and start taking the bus to work the moment a recall notice arrives in Read more »

Government figures show that up to 1 million scrapped cars are still being driven on the road. Whilst 2 million motorists told the DVLA that their cars were being destroyed only half were issued with a Certificate of Destruction, the proof that a car has been destroyed. Dodgy dismantlers have been exploiting a legislation loophole whereby the DVLA doesn’t need to see the Certificate before it registers a car as Read more »

Good news for Saab lovers as it has been announced that GM finally agreed a deal with Spyker and that production on the new 9-5 has already begun with cars expected to appear in dealerships later this year. It has been a difficult time for existing owners, dealerships and the manufacturer’s staff but David Pugh of Saab GB now feels that all the problems are now behind them and the future is starting to look good.. They are looking forward to the release of the new 9-5 which will mark the re-launch of the brand. Good luck to them, Saab has been one of our most popular makes over the years and I’m pleased that they have been given another lease of life. By Graham Hill

My view, over the last few weeks, that we will see some return to the fleet market by manufacturers, now struggling with sales, following the end of the scrappage scheme, seems to be substantiated as Skoda, Chevrolet and Renault have all stated in one week that they are aiming at the fleet market. Renault aims to increase its market share from 3.17% to 5% this year whilst Chevrolet launches an independent fleet sales Read more »

As we can see from my BMW 7 Series deal of the week, things are starting to improve at the big end of the market. In a prestige, sporting and executive auction held at British Car Auctions in Nottingham 300 dealers attended with 216 bidding online resulting in top models achieving 114% of CAP clean price (that’s trade value to you and me). The rest made 100-104% which is excellent considering the fact that last year the Read more »

Toyota finally looks as though it is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel after what must have been the worst start to a year in its history. So far this year 188,500 cars have been recalled, the majority of which require replacements to their accelerator linkages (180,000) and 8,500 Prius require modifications to their braking systems. The accelerator linkage repairs take about 30 minutes to complete. Whilst Read more »