As many of you may remember, I mentioned in one of my posts here in November, that it was time that I got myself a new car, well not new in the sense that it has never been owned before, but new to me. I did get an online valuation and decided that I would look at some of the many cars for sale at Carcraft so I went onto the Carcraft site which is very easy website to use.

You simply enter your postcode which then directs you to the nearest Carcraft showroom to you. I had decided that I really fancied an Audi A3 this time and put my preference into the search boxes to find an Audi A3 for sale and I was not disappointed as they came up with 80 from which I could choose.  Naturally I spent some time looking through those, as well as the many other makes of cars for sale at Carcraft, but in the end I have decided on a 2008 Audi A3 diesel which I can drive away for just £217.23 per month. I was offered  a 1 Year Carcraft Guarantee, a 1 Year Free Servicing, 1 Year RAC Roadside Assistance in case of breakdown, 120 Point Check, a 7 Day Exchange Policy, with a Free MOT. It really does not get much better than that does it!

Following on from a massive publicity and online campaign, parliament is to debate the rising cost of fuel and the proposed 3p per litre extra duty which is scheduled for January. The debate is in response to a motion tabled by MP Robert Halfon in response to an e-petition signed by more than 100,000 people and is supported by more than 100 MPs.

I don’t know how you are finding it, but filling up my car is taking more of my take home pay than ever and for me and many others. I need a car to get to work and even do some shopping at weekends as there is simply no public transport where I live. Well that is not strictly true, a bus passes down the main road a mile away once in the morning returning at around 4 in the afternoon, not much use to me I’m afraid. It is a fact that fuel prices have tripled in the last 20 years and what is a certain fact I’ll bet your wages haven’t, I know mine have not gone up anything like that much.

Why is fuel costing so much now, petrol about 1.35p a litres diesel 1.44p per litre when both cost around 45p to 50p a few years ago and even around 70p ten years ago? People love to say it is the oil companies ripping us all off, but that is not the case. Certainly the cost of a barrel of oil has risen from around $30 in the year 2000 to the present of about $107 no it’s the governments take from us in the form of duty and VAT.  The breakdown of a litre of petrol at 134.1p is 58p duty and 22.4p VAT a massive 70.4p. The cost of the oil is 45.2p refining 1.5p and the retailer 7.1p which includes supply, distribution, operating costs and profit, no rip off there than.

I would not expect there to be any change of heart from the government, but as I am about to change my car I am looking to buy a used car with really good fuel economy. Otherwise I may have to take up cycling!

I have had my car for about 3 years now and have come to the conclusion that I would like something different, not that there is anything wrong with her, in fact I call her “old faithful.” The first thing to say is that I will not be buying a new car, I am not in the happy position of losing a vast amount of money when I drive out of the showroom, no I shall look for a good used car with low mileage, and there are plenty of these around.

The vexed question that I and many of you would like to know the answer to is how much is my car worth? Yes I know that you can go to the newsagent and sneak a look at one of the many car valuations guides that they have on the shelves, but it really only gives a rough idea, there are so many other factors to take into account when it comes to assessing just how much your particular car is worth.

One thing that I shall have to consider first shall I sell my car through a newspaper, I don’t think so far too much hassle if my past experience is anything to go by. No I rather fancy selling “old faithful” to the specialist online organisation which will buy cars and will give you an instant car valuation online. Naturally they will have to see the car before they can give you the cash, after all you could have been telling a load of “porky’s” not that I would, just no point. Yes if I do this I will be in a good position with cash in hand to bargain with the used car specialist for my prized new motor!

It is something that I would never consider, but I do know of people who will buy second hand tyres, or as they prefer to call them part worn. Although it is possible when buying part worn tyres to check the depth of the tread, but how have they been used in their previous life? They could have been “kerbed” a few times which can have a disastrous effect on the walls of the tyre. It is very difficult to determine the condition of part worn tyres. They may look okay, but it is impossible to establish if they have any internal damage, which could possibly result in a blow out or failure at speed. Of course there are reputable companies that specialise in selling part worn tyres, but it is your life and the lives of others that could be at stake.

Whilst I am on about tyres, the onset of winter is not far away and it is imperative that tyre tread and quality are correct to prevent accidents when driving in cold, wet or slippery conditions. How often for instance do you check the pressures in your tyres, is the depth of tread good or is it just below the legal limit?  If it’s the latter then this will not do you very much good if the snow appears because good tread depth is essential for grip. Of course the best way to approach the onset of winter is to fit snow or winter tyres which are specially designed to cope with the conditions. The rubber compound is different to summer, or standard tyres, designed to take into account the lower temperatures and give better braking, grip and cornering. Roll on spring and summer I say.

To many people it has always been there, to others they wish that they didn’t have to use it on a daily basis, but like it or loathe it the M25 London outer ring road, which was completed 25 years ago and officially opened by the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on October 29th 1985, is part of many peoples lives.

I have used the M25 on numerous occasions and at times it has been a “breeze” getting round the section that I needed, but at other times it has become the biggest car park in Britain! It was a tremendous feat of engineering building this motorway; it had to overcome a multitude of problems including no fewer than 39 public enquiries! It all began in 1975 and was built in sections with 41 separate contracts awarded.  The Dartford Crossing, better known as the QE2 Bridge, although officially part of the A282, the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing is one of the M25′s most distinctive landmarks, but there are many which I have seen including the Chalfont Viaduct near the M40 junction, great fun to see a boat floating above you!

Today the M25 is controlled by computer from two state-of-the-art control centres and variable speed limits are the latest method of managing traffic volumes at peak times. First used on the M25 in the mid-1990s, they are now central to the Highways Agency’s plans for keeping traffic flowing across the country. As they say, all very interesting, but is it quicker by train?

It is claimed in some quarters that insurance for cars is falling but there appears to be little evidence of this because when you compare a year on year, for example October2010 versus October 2011, car insurance prices have continued to rise while outstripping general inflation, itself at a 20-year high. However, according to the AA they are suggesting that car insurance premiums are falling! Car insurance is big business in this country and is worth about £30,000 million annually and increasing year on year and with the car insurance industry in Britain is currently under “investigation” by the Office of Fair Trading and also being probed by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee, which has prolonged its long-running inquiry into how insurers work and why they charge what they do, I and I’m sure many others will be interested to hear what they have to say.

One anomaly which I find difficult to understand in some ways, is the fact that it is far cheaper to insure my old classic Triumph TR6 than it would be to a 10 yr old Fiesta on a normal policy! This applies to many in this category and in many cases you are looking at a classic car with enormous V8 or V12 engines, with poor braking by modern standards, for a fraction of the price of insuring a modern car. However, before you all go out and grab an old classic, these usually have a mileage restriction of 1 to 3,000 miles annually.

One of my colleagues in the office was on is soapbox today about having his car serviced and was creating about the size of the invoice. However when we analysed it the amount of work and safety checks that were carried out on his car it was pretty impressive. I know that it is not always a popular thing, but getting your car serviced on a regular basis is very important. In these financially hard times, we may like to skip the odd car service as we believe it saves money, but it really is not the case.

Your car is a complex machine and, like anything in life, if it’s loved and well looked after it will live longer. The simple notion of servicing your car regularly is no more complicated than having a regular dental check, potential problems are found before they become disastrous or even worse dangerous. By spending a small amount of time and money on regular servicing plus a little care and attention, you will avoid costly repairs and hopefully your car will live longer, or certainly hold more value.

I think that figures show that by servicing your car regularly you will save time and money with less cost for major repairs over the life of the car, fewer chances of unforeseen and possible breakdown risks, greater fuel economy and think of time off the road saving you .the inconvenience and unforeseen expense. One of the most important in my opinion is that you will undoubtedly get enhanced part-exchange value when you come to trade your car for a replacement. Regular service checks will certainly keep your car healthier, but choosing the right specialist is just as important, a quick look over by Joe down the road might not be very cost effective. My colleague has got over his shock and does admit that his car ran sweetly after the service, perhaps he has been converted!

You could not make it up could you, but it really is true. We are always told that you should not drive if you feel sleepy and on motorways signs keep reminding us that we “should take a break” which is just what tired motorist James Orr did only to be fined £50 for overstaying in the Moto Services service area at Exeter.

According to the newspaper I was reading, Mr Orr had been driving for several hours before deciding to break his journey from London to Cornwall at Moto’s service area at Exeter shortly before 2am. He said to the newspaper, “I was exhausted and I didn’t want to risk falling asleep at the wheel, it wouldn’t have been safe for me to continue.”

Quite rightly the penalty that was imposed has been roundly condemned by motoring organisations and also by a former transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick, currently the party’s road safety spokesman. According to him and we would all agree, fatigue is one of the biggest contributors to death and injuries on our roads,”

Well the outcome I am pleased to say has been that the penalty has been rescinded and it seems common sense has prevailed in the crazy world that we seem to live in!

As part of my job in publishing I get to hear about new editions and reprints of many books that have been out of print for a number of years, but I was surprised to hear that the original Highway Code is to be reproduced by the Stationary Office in limited edition. Naturally I was very curious to see this and did some research and I found this little brown pocket sized information book simply fascinating. Despite the number of motor vehicles on our roads increasing from just 2.3 million in 1931 to over 34 million today, the overriding message of The Highway Code has remained the same. The very first edition urged all road users to be careful and considerate towards others, putting safety first, and this advice is still relevant today!

The first edition is light years away from the latest one, for example in the 1931 edition mirrors are not even mentioned and drivers are advised to sound their horn when overtaking. Nowadays, advice on how to cross the road fills a whole chapter, but originally it only merited a paragraph. The Highway Code has been updated many times and in 1946 the third edition appeared and included an appendix with triangular warning signs, as well as stopping distances, the 1954 update included colour diagrams as colour printing began to appear. After the first stretch of motorway came along, rules for driving on motorways featured in the 1961 edition and by the sixth edition of 1969 photographs and illustrations featured more prominently. Soon pedestrians were urged to read the Highway Code, in the 1978 edition the “Green Cross Code” was part of it. The driving test was now no longer can you drive a car and start it on a hill as well as reversing into a gateway, by 1987 there was a host more information for learners to digest. The 1996 update includes advice on the new theory part of the driving test and the most recent version, published in 2007, includes emissions legislation and traffic management issues.

Along with everything else the price has changed too. The 1931 edition of the Highway Code cost one old penny and for those of you who are too young to know what that was, 2.4 old pennies make up today’s one new pence, what can you get today for 1p?

An incident to a friend of mine set me thinking, why insurers pay out for whiplash injury claims so easily until I realised that proving the injury was not a fake was very difficult, well until now it would seem, but first to my friend. What happened was that she accidentally at a low speed shunted into the car in front whilst driving to work, the driver of the car got out, saw there was no damage and drove off and naturally my friend assumed that would be the end of it, but was astonished to find out a couple of months later that the driver had claimed for a whiplash injury, and won more than £2,000. Understandably upset she said; “I just cannot believe that a bump at snail’s pace could have caused an injury like that; there was absolutely no visible damage to car, not even a scratch or a tiny dent.”

However, this sort of claim could become a thing of the past as the insurance industry is fighting back with what has been privately dubbed the whiplash lie detector test. It doesn’t measure heart rate, blood pressure or skin moisture, but instead is a sophisticated piece of software into which you feed details of the accident. So in goes the speed of the crash, the weight of the cars, the visible damage and lastly the type of cars. The so-called WITkit (for Whiplash Injury Toolkit) then gives you a probability that the person claiming whiplash injury is telling porkies. For the sake of our insurance premiums, let us all hope that the new kit becomes acceptable to and is used by all insurance companies.