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Hertz have announced their entry into the Car Club market as companies and consumers look at ways to reduce their car costs both throughout Europe and in the US. Locations are being selected throughout the UK and they expect to launch later in the year. Following existing models that are working they are expected to charge a monthly membership then the use of the car by the hour. The expectation is Read more »

I came across an interesting piece of information from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders that showed we produced 574,257 cars and 82,256 commercial vehicles in the UK in the first 3 months of this year, most of which were destined for abroad. Considering that most people think that we don’t produce vehicles in this country any more and think that all Mercedes are made in Germany (many are made in India and Brazil) that looked like some amazing statistics. By Graham Hill

My quote of the week goes to a spokesman for BMW‘s UK operations following an announcement that BMW cars were to receive a substantial price hike. He was trying to reassure us in the UK that we were not included in the expected increases. The company had issued a profit warning and said that due to increased oil and raw material costs they would be forced to increase prices – but not in the UK – he said, Read more »

As more people understand the benefits of leasing over purchase Tesco have announced the launch of a staff leasing scheme in association with Lombard Vehicle Management. They have launched a pilot website under the name of Tesco Cars. This is the supermarket giant’s latest handle on the service industry where it already sells finance, insurance and warranty. Could this be their inroad into car leasing plus Tesco points? Under the new scheme Tesco will Read more »

One in five of all reported road incidents involves a parked vehicle. There are 700,000 incidents costing an estimated £1.25 billion to repair. About 80% of the parked car incidents (PCI‘s) occurred on the street. The remainder were in public car parks. The cost of repair averaged £1,800. London topped the list of worst cities in the UK for PCI’s followed by Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Norwich. One in 10 PCI crashes handled by Accident Exchange were recorded in the capital. Main contributing factors to the PCI problems are increased congestion on residential streets and competition for car park spaces. The real fear is that with more information available identifying hot spots the insurance companies may increase premiums so much that residents are priced out of insuring their vehicles. By Graham Hill

Last year saw the lowest number of road deaths since records began 80 years ago. The Department for Transport revealed that deaths fell by 7% last year from 3,172 to 2,943 despite indications that levels of traffic rose. Road deaths have been slowly dropping year on year but last year saw the biggest drop over recent years. In 2007 car driver and passenger deaths dropped by 11% and the number of seriously injured and other casualties dropped by 9% and 6% respectively. Whilst the latest drop was welcomed by the RAC Foundation and RoSPA  both organisations warned against complacency. Whilst the figures have dropped significantly there are still thousands dying on our roads each year. By Graham Hill

Car driving in the UK can be some of the toughest in the world as a result of the spectacular differences in road conditions. Our cars and tyres have to cope with sub zero temperatures in the winter to road temperatures of 35C in the summer. Sudden bursts of rain can cause aquaplaning and the temperature can move by 10C in an hour and yet we expect our cars to cope with all this and never let us down. The sad truth is that the cars can and do let us down as was proven by a recent analysis of breakdowns carried out by the RAC on company car drivers. They also pointed out that Read more »

If you are a regular reader of my newsletter you will know how I love the way the press and various bodies roll out statistics that are totally meaningless but are meant to enlighten us drivers – well I have a great set of stats this week which may well change your mind over the colour of the next car you will drive. Apparently white cars are more likely to be stolen than any other colour according to someone who has access to the police national computer and far too much time on mis hands! And even better, Read more »

The Association Of Chief Police Officers are pushing to have the drink drive limit reduced from 80 milligrams to 50 milligrams in order to bring it into line with most of Europe. They admitted that the message seemed to have been received by young drivers but that it was now time to refresh that message. Another factor is that many British travellers to Europe are not aware of the differences in drink driving levels and with the possibility of drivers losing their licences in the UK as a result of drink driving in the EC drivers should become accustomed to drinking less if they are to drive abroad.