The competition watchdog are considering measures in order to achieve a cheaper car insurance yearly premium for drivers but will it work? After an accident in which your car or anyone else’s property whilst you are in your car is damaged the insurance company you pay for initially pays the bill within the claims process which is what you pay a monthly/yearly fee for. The issue with this is that after they have footed the bill they will just raise the costs of your insurance for the next year in order to get some of their money back.

The issue has been highlighted by one of the leaders of the investigation who has said “there is insufficient incentive for insurers to keep costs down” which implies that there is going to be a real mountain to climb in order to actually reduce the cost of insurance. The watchdog are aiming more towards making the drivers own insurer responsible for providing a replacement vehicle or give the one who was at fault in the accident the opportunity to take control in the management of claims.

Since it looks unlikely that any proposed plan is going to help lower insurance significantly here are some tips to help out:

1. Mileage – Make sure that you are accurate in estimating your mileage, we know its hard but if you over estimate you are effectively throwing money away, however if you under estimate it could cost you more if you need to claim.
2. Modifications – Don’t modify your vehicle it’s just not worth it, it will end up costing you a lot more on your premiums for doing so. Avoid messing with your car.
3. Third Party – If your vehicle isn’t valued high it can be more worthwhile getting third party insurance instead of comprehensive as it should be considerably cheaper.
4. What Do You Use Your Car For? – Makes you do some research around this, what you work as can change your insurance premiums significantly so slightly altering your job title may save you quite a bit of money
5. Security – Keeping your car in your garage if you have one is the cheapest place to keep it in regards to insurance

Due to kick in September 1st 2014 was a fuel rise put into place by the government which would see a 1.6 pence per litre increase, it was just another blow for people regarding the always rising fuel prices. In recent years as you are likely aware fuel prices have shot up, in the 1990s fuel prices where between 40-60p per litre but now it ranges from 126p-141p per litre, an incredible amount more and yet they were set to rise it again. (more…)

In the past it was the oldest trick in the book, people used to manually wind down the mileage of their cars and sell them on, despite this activity being illegal there where a lot of people who used to roll back the mileage on their old vehicles. As years went by and car manufacturers addressed the issue, for many years it had been almost impossible to roll back the mileage on a vehicle which of course was a good thing. The problem however seems to be back as Carfax’s new study has shown that 190,000 cars have their odometers rolled back every year.

How is this so?
New cars often now feature digital odometers when previously the ones that where almost immune to having their mileage rolled back weren’t digital. So the issue in theory is advancements in technology, as car manufacturers have turned to the digital display thieves are one step ahead with their “plug in” kit. Commonly being shipped over from China are illegal odometer correction tools which you just plug into your car and start winding down the mileage to make it appear like your vehicle isn’t as used as it is.

Why do people do it?
Mileage plays a big factor in the cost of a car, when you are buying a car to estimate the price you look at a few main things. Obviously the model is the main priority but two other major factors are the age of the vehicle and its mileage, by winding down the mileage on a vehicle it makes it seem as if it hasn’t been used as much. This massively increases the price of the vehicle and can be detrimental to the safety of those who are buying the car as they may have to pay unexpected fees in order to get in fixed and driving an unworthy car.

Avoid being scammed
To avoid being tricked by the mileage roll back issue that is plaguing used cars there is a few things that you can do.

Service History – Have a good look through the service history and each genuine deals will have a service stamp next to it and the service invoice will accompany the history giving you an insight into the vehicle.

Call The Previous Owner – If you can get in contact with the previous keeper of the vehicle so they can identify what mileage that they sold it with.

Sign Of Wear And Tear – There are other ways of telling how used a vehicle is, wear and tear. If a vehicle has low mileage chances are that the condition of everything under the car and in the car will be near to perfect with no rust or dirt on the seats with minimal damage to anything, if it doesn’t look to add up don’t risk it.

Inspect The Vehicle – If you know or can contact a trusted mechanic its worth getting them to inspect the vehicle beforehand as they will be able to give a rough estimate of how used the car is.

As of October 2014 you can wave good bye to that tax disc that has been stuck on car windscreens for 93 years. The Chancellor has abolished the car tax disc but even though this is to be scrapped people will be still made to pay the Vehicle Excise Duty however it could see huge savings on the traditional tax disc method as the change of the way tax is paid will mean a reduce in costs. (more…)

In recent years satellite navigate has seen a boom in sales but what about its almost forgotten predecessor the Road Atlas also referred to as a printed map? In-car satellite navigate is pushing ahead in terms of use for young drivers but what about the older generation are they still relying on their trusty road map? Apparently so as a poll of 24,000 drivers found that nearly two thirds of motorists had used a printed map within the last six months, 63%. (more…)

Nick Clegg has expressed his desire for the country to become the leading country for low emissions, he has called for help from motor industry experts to recommend ideas to help the UK with this mission. The government has committed to spending five hundred million pounds between the years 2015 and 2020 to elevate the ultra-low emission vehicle appeal and further develop the industry in order to tackle the overall larger issue. (more…)

Statistics from TomTom have revealed that you may be losing a lot of time stuck in slow moving traffic through their traffic index. It’s also revealed some interesting statistics in regards to the most congested cities within the UK, Belfast is by far in the way ahead of everywhere followed by Bristol, Brighton & Hove, Edinburgh and London, other names in the list include Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Leicester, Liverpool and Sheffield. A large amount of cities are showing increases in congestion on its last year’s statistics with only Edinburgh, Leeds-Bradford and Nottingham being less congested and everywhere else failing to improve. (more…)

Nissan are set to release the new popular Qashqai in February 14` and the prices are actually slightly higher than the previous model starting at £17,595 for the petrol model. However the Qashqai does eventually work out cheaper as it’s in a lower BIK tax band due to its CO2 emissions, the diesel model also works out even cheaper in BIK tax saving you more money on a yearly basis, and after the big reveal last week the Nissan Qashqai looks to be a major competitor in the market. (more…)

The Skoda Citigo launched as recently as 2012, and in its short time has collected quite a few accolades and they are beginning to tally up. It won Auto Express Car of the Year and Best City Car by What Car and Auto Express and the superb car as received yet another. Great reviews all around, structured by a cheap buy new price and having low emissions have all turned in the favour of the Citigo.

The car does have negatives however from some critics but I think their arguments are irrelevant, most people claim that the Citigo either isn’t attractive or the engine is too low powered. I don’t understand it being labled as too low powered, the hint is in the name it’s a Citigo, if you still didn’t get it I was hinting at City Car, you don’t need to reach high speeds in traffic which is what it was designed for. The other saying that it’s not attractive, cheap cost effective cars that get you low emissions often aren’t the best of looking because the money is saved elsewhere and for good reason.

Regardless the award the Citigo received was the Sunday Times award of “Top City Car” which is just adding to Skoda’s trophy cabinet and judging by the popularity of this model they should be looking at increasing their cabinet’s size. This is what the judge of the Sunday Times had to say about it, “we chose the Škoda because we judge it to be the best value, a more important consideration in this class than any other. It is fun to angle around city streets, and its lively engine heightens the entertainment.” Another Sunday Times reporter said “we’re delighted that The Sunday Times has bestowed its top City Car honour on the Skoda Citigo. It’s a car that perfectly embodies Škoda’s philosophy of delivering high quality products with attractive designs, at extremely affordable prices.” Comments I’m sure that Skoda will cherish.

Skoda have made somewhat of a comeback and are now a major player in the car industry,  they’ve had a few recent successes such as the Fabia, Rapid, Octavia, Superb, Yeti and the Roomster. They are beginning to make a fantastic name from their selves with all the recent vehicles being a real success.

Been and gone are the days of a thief hotwiring a car but it seems thieves have turned to a more traditional method, car keys. You wouldn’t expect that 46% of vehicles that where stolen during 2011/2012 were taken from using the offender using a key would you? Well it’s true and it’s a massive rise on that of 2010/2011 where only 20% of vehicles where thieved using a key which was in fact the previous record. The fact thieves have seen success through robbing the key of the owner is ridiculous, people should keep their keys safe at all times even at home. (more…)