Hiring cars abroad: drivers urged to ‘know before they go’ as complaints surge

Hiring cars abroad

Drivers are being urged to plan their car hire carefully to avoid problems

The number of drivers grumbling about problems hiring cars abroad is on the up. Complaints against car hire companies in 2015 increased by almost 7 per cent compared with the previous year. The rise has been reported by the UK European Consumer Centre (UKECC), the UK-based consumer advice organisation that people complain to if they’ve had a bad experience with foreign based companies.

The increase comes despite the big five hire car companies ‑ Avis-Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt – pledging to conform more closely with legislation designed to protect consumers. However, the number of complaints has dropped compared to the year before. Andy Allen, UK European Consumer Centre (UK ECC) director, said: “Complaints about car hire the previous year (2014) rose by just over 23 per cent, so it’s good to see that the rate of increase of car hire complaints has started to drop but disappointing that the figure is still rising at all.”

What the car hire companies promised Continue reading →

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Find your car’s true pollution thanks to new on-road tests

Car's true pollution

You might think you know how polluting your car is from official figures. On-road tests will be more accurate

Finding your car’s true pollution would have been nearly impossible as recently as a few months ago. But now you can discover the true emissions  – harmful and otherwise – pumped out of its exhaust pipe. It’s courtesy of a company called Emissions Analytics which tests cars’ real-world performance for emissions and economy.

By measuring their miles per gallon and pollution output on the road, rather than in a lab like the official figures do, Emissions Analytics can build up a picture of how cars really perform. Just as you’ve probably found out for yourself that your car’s real-life economy differs from that claimed by its manufacturer, so its carbon dioxide (CO2) output is different too. Now, as well as your car’s true output of nitrogen oxide , you can find its real carbon dioxide output, as well as its genuine miles per gallon in every day motoring.

Which were the worst cars for real CO2?

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James Foxall 6 Comments

Driverless cars: Queen’s Speech will help make them reality in 10 years

Driverless cars

Some Volvos now have Pilot Assist which takes complete control at low speeds (Picture © Volvo)

Driverless cars will be a reality within a decade and a proposed new bill that’s part of the Queen’s Speech will pave the way for it. The Queen has revealed legislation that will be introduced to allow driverless cars to be insured with regular policies. The government hopes it will result in cars that are autonomous (control themselves) becoming a common sight by 2025.

Currently, the insurance industry believes 94 per cent of crashes are caused by human error. Driverless cars would cut this figure significantly. Independent organisation Thatcham Research, which works with the insurers to assess how expensive cars are to repair, has put together this timeline on how we’ll move into a world of driverless cars. Continue reading →

James Foxall 4 Comments

Expert advice: choosing engine oil for your car

Choosing engine oil

Your car needs engine oil. You need to choose the right kind

Cars are now so sophisticated that choosing engine oil has never been so important. Some require different oils to others. Get this wrong over a period of time and you could cause irreparable damage to your motor. On top of that, the engine oil you choose can make a difference to fuel economy and how long your car can go between services without performance deteriorating or vital components getting damaged.

On the upside, advances in engine oil technology mean that modern engines will cover ever greater mileages in their life time. Here’s my guide to choosing engine oil that will achieve that. Continue reading →

Mike Shaw 3 Comments

New test drive service aims to make new car buying easier and better

Test drive service

Trying before you buy is vital. And if possible, take the whole family for second, third and fourth opinions

A new test drive service is being launched to help drivers choose their next new car more efficiently. Trying a new car before buying it is so vital it gets an importance rating of 8.3 out of 10 from buyers according to research by company Testdrives2u. But other surveys show that as many as one in 10 don’t bother with test drives. With car buyers increasingly pushed for time, the new service could revolutionise buying a car.

How the new test drive service works

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Hit by an unfair parking ticket? A new tool should make appealing easier

Unfair parking ticket

That familiar sinking feeling… Now there’s a new tool to help make appealing unfair tickets easier

Every year millions of drivers are hit with an unfair parking ticket – penalties that they don’t think they should have received. Now a new online tool has been launched to help drivers appeal these fines that they believe are unjust. The helpful portal was rolled out earlier this year by Brighton and Hove Council on the south coast. But by the end of 2016 it is hoped every local authority in England and Wales will be using it to help drivers deal with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal more easily.

Most don’t appeal an unfair parking ticket

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How to recover a car’s missing service history

How to recover a car's missing service history

A car’s service history is important but it could be missing for perfectly legitimate reasons (Picture © Mercedes)

No matter what shape and size, or how cheap or expensive the brand, every car needs to be maintained according to a service schedule that is set out by the vehicle manufacturer.

Often, however, the paperwork associated with the servicing of a car can be missing. That can be for all sorts of legitimate reasons, such as losing it during a house move or being mislaid by an elderly relative who is no longer driving.

Thankfully, recovering a missing service record is possible – and pleasingly straightforward. But it’s important to understand the significance of a service record.  Continue reading →

James Mills 26 Comments

Dashboard warning lights and what they mean

Lots of brightly coloured lights but what are they telling you?

Lots of brightly coloured lights but what are they telling you?

It may be the one thing that every driver dreads, but an illuminated warning light on your vehicle’s instrument panel could save you and your car from expensive damage. This is what the symbols mean and what to do if they appear.

Chris Rutt, service delivery manager for Volkswagen UK says it’s vital drivers pay attention to their car’s warning lights. “They are designed to alert drivers to a fault with their car or van and aren’t as complicated as some drivers may think. A red light indicates the driver should stop the vehicle as soon as is safely possible to investigate further; an amber light is an advisory signal. So while there is no need to stop immediately, the reason for the light should be investigated as soon as is practically possible by a servicing agent.”

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James Foxall 17 Comments

Most reliable car makers – and they’re probably not who you think they are

Reliable cars

Cars like the British-built Honda Civic feature at the top of the reliability charts (Picture © Honda)

The Japanese might make the most reliable cars according to breakdown data but it’s the German car makers who have the reputation for dependability. A new study has revealed that people think German motors are more reliable than they actually are.

The data was released by WarrantyWise, a company that specialises in selling aftermarket warranties for cars. It surveyed 750 drivers for their perceptions about reliability. The results show that many people’s idea of who makes reliable cars flies in the face of reality. Continue reading →

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Expert haggling tips: Knock down the price of a used car

Expert haggling tips

We’d rather negotiate a pay rise at work than haggle over the price of a car

With used car prices staying high, buyers need to work hard to get the best price possible. These expert haggling tips, compiled by a used car expert, will ensure you get the best possible used car deal, not the price the sales person wants you to pay. The tips come from Neil Hodson, deputy managing director of CAP HPI, a company that specialises in used car values and data searches.

Expert haggling tips: channel your inner house buyer

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James Foxall 8 Comments

Used car buying guide: super-saver plug-in electric cars

Used car buying guide: super-saver plug-in electric cars, including the Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf and Vauxhall Ampera

Plug-in electric cars do what they say on the tin: they feature an electric motor powered by a battery that can be charged by plugging into a mains electricity socket. Some plug-ins are purely electric, others come with a hybrid type of car that combines an electric motor with a petrol or diesel engine. Their attractions are obvious: low emissions and low running costs. But all require a leap of faith for first-time buyers, especially as when new they’re expensive. As used cars, however, they’re cheap. Here are three that are worth taking the plunge for… Continue reading →

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Choosing the best car: top 10 diesel and petrol cars with low NOx output

Nitrogen oxide emissions

It’s not easy being a driver who wants to do their bit and buy a car with the lowest nitrogen oxide emissions. These NOx are harmful pollutants emitted by cars that are estimated to contribute to over 30,000 premature deaths a year in the UK. Information about a car’s NOx levels has been hard to come by as, for obvious reasons, vehicle manufacturers tend to advertise cars’ fuel economy or performance rather than the nasty particulates pumped out of exhausts.

But now a new website allows drivers to see just how polluting Britain’s most popular makes and model of car are when used in normal, everyday driving conditions.

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James Mills 4 Comments

Drivers with start-stop cars pay the price for choosing cheap batteries

Cheap batteries

Fit the wrong kind of battery to a start-stop car and you might be surprised at how quickly it fails

Drivers are paying more than they have to for replacement car batteries because they don’t realise that cars featuring eco technology need specialist equipment. Frequently, cheap batteries bought for start-stop cars then fail relatively swiftly because they aren’t up to the job they’ve been bought for.  Continue reading →

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Expert advice: Why wheel balancing is important for every car

Wheel balancing

Garages use special machines to ensure wheels are properly balanced

Wheels, a bit like tyres, aren’t something most of us spend much time worrying about. But having correctly balanced wheels can make a big difference to how comfortably your car rides and how quickly components like tyres, steering and suspension joints wear out. Here’s all you need to know about having your wheels balanced.

How do you know when your wheels are out of balance?

As your speed exceeds around 40mph, you might notice the steering wheel start to wobble in your hands. The faster you go, the greater this vibration becomes, to the point where it can be quite uncomfortable to hold the steering wheel, or – if it’s rear-wheel drive – the car feels as though it’s shuddering slightly.

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Mike Shaw 6 Comments

Quiz: Guess the Green Flag tools and beat Joe Swash’s score

Guess the Green Flag tool

Joe Swash has been on a road trip of a lifetime, touring the Scottish Highlands in a vintage Land Rover as part of Green Flag’s Scenic Route series of inspiring drives. But when a car is almost as old as its driver, things will inevitably go wrong under the bonnet.

When cars breakdown, getting to the root of the cause is half the battle to swiftly getting it back on the road. That’s why every Green Flag breakdown van carries hundreds of tools, each with a very specific purpose. It means if a driver’s motor splutters to a halt – as Joe’s Land Rover did several times – the Green Flag technician should be able to fix the problem at the roadside.

The tools vary from the simple to the highly complex, costing from pence to hundreds of pounds. And several of them came to the rescue of Joe Swash, although he wasn’t too sure what many of them were for.

Take our quick quiz and see if you can guess the Green Flag tools and identify more of them than Joe could…

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James Mills 4 Comments

Pothole plague means a 14-year wait before roads can be repaired

Potholes will take 14 years to fix, says 2016 report

In the time it takes to read this sentence, a local authority would have repaired yet another pothole in Britain’s roads. But the bad news is the pothole plague is spreading faster than they can be patched up, and budget cuts mean most local authorities only have half the money they need to tackle the country’s pitted roads.

That’s the bleak picture painted by a comprehensive survey of local authority highways departments in England and Wales. The survey, carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance for the past 21 years, highlights the challenging driving conditions faced by car owners. And it tells drivers what they probably already knew: there isn’t enough money in the bank to fix our broken roads.

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James Mills 1 Comment

Motor insurance: What you are and aren’t covered for

Motor insurance

You don’t want this to happen before you discover that you’re not covered

Motor insurance used to be so simple. You bought comprehensive cover and you were pretty much covered. Or so most of us thought. But as insurers have worked hard to make the cost of premiums appear more attractive, so drivers are less likely to be insured for the things that many of us take for granted. Read on to see what your insurance premium may not include, perhaps contrary to what you might think. Continue reading →

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How to buy a car off eBay and get the best results

Buy a car off eBay

It can be simple and straightforward to buy a car off eBay and you might bag a bargain. But it’s still worth being cautious

To buy a car off eBay you should approach it with the same caution as if you were buying from a private seller. However, although it’s worth being careful – and there are plenty of pitfalls for the unwary ‑ bargains do exist. You’ll find cars that have been lovingly cared for at knock-down prices. And if you’re after a classic, you’ll occasionally come across a gem of a car that’s been undervalued for a quick sale. Here’s how to come away as a satisfied rather than sorry buyer.

Why is eBay better than a regular auction?

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Scenic Route: Buying old Land Rovers – the Green Flag expert’s guide

Fans will tell you buying old Land Rovers can be a fun and rewarding experience. Old versions of the model we now know as the Defender were the original ‘go anywhere’ vehicle. Ever since its introduction in 1948, the Land Rover is one of the few cars that can truly lay claim to having a cult following. It’s no surprise then that Joe Swash picked a Land Rover for his epic road trip for Green Flag’s Scenic Route series.

Joe’s is a 1985 Land Rover 90 Soft Top, the short wheelbase version fitted with what appears to be a poorly erected tent covering the back seats and load bay. You need a sense of adventure to own and drive a car like Joe’s. It’s also ideal to have a little mechanical knowledge or, at the least, the enthusiasm to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in, learning to fix faults as they arise. And they will – as any Land Rover owner will tell you. Continue reading →

James Mills 1 Comment

DIY car cleaning that looks like it’s been done by a professional

DIY car cleaning

Cleaning your car to a professional standard is easy when you know how

The changing British seasons, with their equally changeable weather, also mark a time when drivers all over Britain go in for some DIY car cleaning.

But washing a car is not as straightforward as most of us like to imagine. At least, that’s the view of expert car cleaner, Sean Longworth-Smith of Ultimate Finish. The car care and detailing company, based at Brands Hatch in Kent, has been helping drivers primp and preen their cars for 15 years. And Sean knows what it takes to give any car the professional finish.

“You have to establish a routine – cycles – and stick to it each time you clean the car. That way you won’t miss anything and you’ll get the best finish for the bodywork,” says Sean. Here’s an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to cleaning a car.

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James Mills 1 Comment