Automotive News by Autobulbs Direct Ltd

Would you back a crackdown on whiplash claims?

Autobulbs Direct — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Fiona Birkwood

The majority of drivers would welcome a government crackdown on car insurance claims which are made for whiplash injuries.

An opinion poll carried out by MoneySupermarket.com has found that 93 per cent of motorists back a clampdown on fraudulent whiplash claims.

The clampdown refers to proposals which were made at the government's motor insurance summit, which detailed that supposed victims of whiplash could soon be assessed for their injuries by an independent panel of doctors.

When looking at the suggestion, 66 per cent of drivers believe a change is needed as the culture for claiming after a car accident is getting out of control.

Furthermore, 27 per cent of respondents believe that fraudulent whiplash claims are having a knock-on effect on the cost of insurance of drivers who have never been involved in a road incident.

Peter Harrison, a car insurance expert at MoneySupermarket.com, agrees that false whiplash claims add an estimated £90 to a person's annual car insurance policy. This then leads to families having to pay more just to cover the cost of motoring each year.

Therefore, Mr Harrison noted: "We are fully in support of the proposals to tighten the rules around whiplash injury claims from car accidents as every driver is being impacted by the cost even if they've never made a claim for whiplash themselves."

Negative opinion of whiplash claims have so much of an effect that people with genuine injuries are now concerned about trying to get compensation after a vehicle incident.

This was reflected by BBC's Newsbeat, who talked to a passenger in a car which was hit by a lorry. James, who did not want to give his surname, was awarded £3,500 in compensation for whiplash, but did not want to claim immediately after the incident.

He explained: "I had to give an interview for the insurance and I didn't want to claim myself but they kept phoning me asking if I wanted to put myself forward.

"I know this makes insurance go up. Mine went up so I've kind of affected myself. I was pressured to claim so I did."

Ford honoured left, right and centre

Autobulbs Direct — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Susannah Mayers

A pair of motoring specialists have used their annual award ceremonies to honour the works of American car maker Ford.

Honestjohn.co.uk and Fleet World have both handed out awards to the manufacturer for a collection of eye-catching vehicles and gadgets.

Fleet World was particularly impressed by Ford's 1.0-litre turbo-powered EcoBoost engine, honouring the technology with the Innovation Award at the 2012 Fleet World Honours.

Steve Moody, the publication's editor, commented: "Diesel dominates the fleet industry, but with its brilliant new EcoBoost engine, Ford has proved that petrol can offer an alternative. Already available in the Focus, this small, turbo-charged 125PS engine is a game changer."

This was not the only award which Ford was able to pick up at the 2012 Fleet World Honours though.

The Ford Transit came away from the ceremony with the Best Large Van accolade – the third consecutive year the Transit family has been honoured at the event – while the Ford Ranger won the Best Pick-Up prize.

Honestjohn.co.uk has also been impressed with Ford's latest efforts. The publication crowned the Ford Mondeo its Most Popular Large Family Car, the C-MAX the Most Popular MPV and the Focus the Most Popular Small Family Car at its 2012 honestjohn.co.uk awards.

On top of all of this, the Ford Focus also walked away from the event with the prestigious prize of being named the website's overall Car of the Year.

Dan Harrison, the publication's editor, acknowledged: "It's no surprise to see the Ford Focus claiming the honestjohn.co.uk Car of the Year award for 2012.

"Ford is a hugely popular brand on the site and from the time the Focus was first reviewed, it's regularly topped our monthly chart as the most searched for car and it shows no sign of slowing down."

Ford of Britain's managing director, Mark Ovenden, expressed that he was "delighted" to see the Focus, C-MAX and Mondeo vehicles celebrated in this way.

Will your car pass its first MOT?

Autobulbs Direct — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Richard Sinclair

Motorists who buy a new car generally enjoy a trouble-free first three years, with the occasional service the only possible hindrance as they get to grips with their new car.

However, after three years the tables can turn when the vehicle goes for its very first MOT and a whole host of potential issues are check by mechanics.

According to a new study carried out by honestjohn.co.uk, one in five cars in the UK now fail their very first MOT, although the likelihood of a car passing or failing the test appears to depend very much on the company that manufactured it.

The report involved the analysis of 24.5 million vehicle records and found that 20 per cent (352,000) of all cars registered in 2008 and tested between October 1st 2010 and September 30th 2011 failed their first MoT.

Testers were most likely to fail cars from French manufacturers, with the bottom five pass rates by manufacturer being Renault, Mini, Citroen, and Chevrolet (all with 76 per cent success rates) and Peugeot (77 per cent).

On the other side of the scale, vehicles made by Lexus are most likely to pass the MOT, with an 88 per cent success rate, with the top five rounded off mainly by Japanese firms, comprising Suzuki (86 per cent), Honda (85 per cent), Saab (84 per cent) and Toyota (83 per cent).

The most common reasons for MOT failure were lighting and signalling (164,837 failures), followed closely by tyres (96,760 failures), headlight aim (82,555 failures) and problems with the driver's view of the road (80,605 failures).

When broken down by model, the data revealed that the worst performing family car was the Renault Megane, with only 71 per cent of cars registered in 2008 passing their first MOT.

It was most likely to fail on lighting and signalling problems, but was also three times more likely to fail on steering faults than the industry average.

In addition, the MINI One performed relatively poorly, with a quarter of 2008-registered vehicles failing their first MOT, primarily for minor faults including lighting and signalling and the driver's view of the road.

Conversely, the top model was the Suzuki Splash, which had a 90 per cent pass rate in its first MOT.

Perhaps one surprising addition to the worst offenders list was Volvo, with more than 5,800 of the Swedish manufacturer's 26,000 2008-registered cars failing their first MOT, despite the company's cars being renowned for their durability.

HonestJohn said the data will hopefully mean that consumers will be able to identify common vehicle failures by make, model, year of registration and postcode.

Daniel Harrison, editor of the website, said it represents a "significant step forward" for big data, noting that this is one of the very first instances of a huge data set interpreted in such a way, and will assist the average consumer in making better informed decisions about their next car purchase.

"This is information that has been kept from car owners for many years. VOSA even fought to keep it out of public view. It's the first time that this information has been made available in this detail, and in a format that makes it easy to access," he explained.

Mr Harrison added that motorists can take the information and use it to ensure that their car does not fail an MOT on something that can be easily fixed beforehand.

"The MOT files demonstrate that many failure items are down to the owner, rather than inherent fault with the car. Families using the data that comes from the 24.5 million records will be better prepared for their MOTs and be able to keep better control over the cost of motoring," he added.

Red light spells danger for UK cyclists

Autobulbs Direct — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Richard Sinclair

A new survey has revealed that cyclists may be putting the wellbeing of both themselves and their fellow road users in jeopardy by jumping red lights.

That is the key finding of an online poll of 1,600 people carried out by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), which found that 57 per cent of cyclists say they have jumped a red light at least once, with 14 per cent saying they do so regularly or sometimes.

The main reason given for jumping lights is because cyclists think it is safer to get ahead of other traffic, with 38 per cent saying they do this.

At the same time, 54 per cent of respondents think that cyclists could improve their behaviour by sticking to the Highway Code at junctions, with poor road layout and junctions a major concern for 48 per cent of the cyclists polled.

Other results of the poll showed that 73 per cent of cyclists ride on the pavement, with the main reasons being because the cycle path does not join up completely.

Simon Best, chief executive of the IAM, said that cyclists are right to feel that roads are not bicycle-friendly enough, which is reflected in their behaviour.

"But while poor junction design, inconsistent cycle paths and inconsiderate drivers put cyclists at risk, cyclists also have to help themselves," he explained.

The survey also found that 94 per cent of cyclists have seen a driver cross an advanced stop line, while 43 per cent said they would be less likely to jump red lights if advanced stop lines were more strongly enforced, and Mr Best said no junction will ever be safe for those who continue to jump red lights.

As well as being illegal, it is dangerous, and the expert said the key is to create a happy medium that rewards and punishes both types of road user in equal measure.

"The police need to enforce the law as strongly when cyclists put themselves and others at risk by jumping the lights, as they do for drivers. They also need to ensure that drivers are pulled up for crossing advanced stop lines that protect cyclists," he added.

Ford targets EcoBoost expansion

Autobulbs Direct — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Susannah Mayers

Ford is planning to increase the number of energy-efficient cars it produces substantially over the next three years, it has been announced.

The manufacturer revealed it intends to more than triple the production of its vehicles equipped with fuel-efficient and powerful EcoBoost petrol engines to approximately 480,000 units a year by 2015.

This is a significant rise on the 141,000 vehicles produced in 2011 and Ford revealed that more than 135,000 cars will be equipped with the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine, which is manufactured in Bridgend, Wales.

Overall, the company will produce more than 1.3 million low-CO2 EcoBoost engines to go into European vehicles over the period 2012-2015, more than 800,000 of which will be the new 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine, which is produced at Ford's new plant in Craiova, Romania and in Cologne, Germany.

During the same period, around 400,000 1.6-litre EcoBoost engines will be produced at Bridgend for European vehicles, with production totalling over one million engines for all export markets, including Europe.

Sherif Marakby, powertrain director for Ford of Europe, said the production expansion coincides with an increase in the availability of EcoBoost engines across the model line-up in the European Ford range.

He noted that the number of Ford models available with EcoBoost engines will double from five to ten by 2015, when EcoBoost engines will power more than half of all Ford of Europe petrol engine cars.

"Our plans to expand EcoBoost availability are aggressive, but we believe as customers experience this engine family, they'll understand why," he explained.

"We're at the cutting edge of innovation and the 1.0-litre engine, for example, cannot be matched for its balance of efficiency, power and refinement."

Since 2010, Ford's plant in Bridgend has produced over 120,000 1.6-litre EcoBoost engines, and is set to produce over 230,000 this year, which is over 30 per cent of the plant's annual total production forecast of 780,000.

Mid-range vehicle owners the biggest insurance evaders

Autobulbs Direct — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Fiona Birkwood

Owners of mid-range higher volume vehicles continue to be the greatest offenders of insurance evasion, according to a new report.

The latest figures from vehicle information expert HPI show that drivers of popular Vauxhall, Ford and Volkswagen models make up the biggest proportion of uninsured motorists.

However, a significant number of offenders in 2011 were drivers of prestige, high value vehicles, including Ferraris, Audi R8s, Bentleys and Lamborghinis.

One in ten of the 60,000 uninsured cars seized by the police in 2011 and checked with HPI CrushWatch had outstanding finance recorded against them, according to HPI, which worked with the Finance & Leasing Association to compile the figures.

HPI CrushWatch was created in direct response to the FLA's initiative to clamp down on uninsured drivers and brings together motor lenders and police to reclaim illegal cars, rather than having them scrapped.

Daniel Burgess, managing director of HPI, explained that there are an estimated 1.4 million uninsured motorists on the UK roads, illustrating the threat facing law abiding road users and the finance providers who own the offending cars.

"In 2011 HPI CrushWatch alerted finance companies to the seizure of over £31 million worth of vehicles they owned, thereby protecting their assets from the crusher," he revealed.

It's very interesting to learn how many of these vehicles are being driven by people the majority of us would consider to be in a position to afford insurance, yet have been caught persistently avoiding paying premiums.

Currently, 43 of the UK’s 52 police forces actively use HPI CrushWatch, which the company says is illustrative of its effectiveness in clamping down on insurance evaders.

Last year, the data revealed that West Yorkshire, Strathclyde and Merseyside police forces notched up the highest total value of seized cars, indicating that the regions have the greatest number of insurance offenders on their roads, followed closely by Hertfordshire and Lancashire.

Citroen wins big at Diesel Car of the Year Awards

Autobulbs Direct — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Richard Sinclair

Citroen has enjoyed a strong showing at Diesel Car Magazine's Car of the Year Awards 2012, picking up one award and receiving second-place finishes in two other categories.

The French manufacturer Citroen's new DS5 flagship was named 'Best Large Car' at the ceremony, adding to the model's successes in similar awards handed out by Top Gear Magazine and Car Design News.

In addition, Citroen's DS3 & DS5 Hybrid4 were runners-up in the 'Small Car' and 'Eco Car categories, respectively.

The DS3 was last year's overall Diesel Car magazine Car of the Year and became the manufacturer's bestselling model in the UK.

Sales of DS3 reached 6,100 units in the first four months of 2012, with the supermini accounting for one in four (28 per cent) of Citroen cars sold in April.

Commenting on the DS5's victory, Ian Robertson, editor of Diesel Car Magazine, said the judging panel was "mightily impressed" with the vehicle.

"Distinctively a Citroen, the DS5 breaks the mould to shatter large car predictability, while being clever and smart. At a stroke, the biggest DS model makes all its rivals seem just a touch dull by comparison," he added.

Marc Raven, Citroen UK's communications director, said the company's latest model has been able to succeed thanks to its distinctive styling, sophisticated design and creative technology, which have received positive praise from both public and press.

"This latest accolade is further evidence that Citroen is getting it right with the DS line. With more than 25,000 DS models already sold in the UK, the new DS5 is set to win yet more hearts and minds in the months ahead," he added.

Last year, Citroen held a special event at the Ferte Gaucher circuit near Paris, where hoards of Citroen DS3 owners from across Europe gathered to celebrate the first birthday of their vehicles.

Increase in supply has reduced used car prices

Autobulbs Direct — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Susannah Mayers

An increase in the supply of used cars has taken the edge off used car prices in the trade, according to the latest report.

The study, published by CAP, claims that some of the pressure has subsequently been alleviated for dealers who were frustrated over the level of competition for trade stock forcing prices up during the early part of the year.

At the centre of the change in market conditions is the influx of part-exchange cars into franchise dealers due to the March plate change, explained Mike Hind, communications manager at CAP.

As dealers focus on retailing their part-exchanges, competition to acquire stock in the open market has reduced and this has led to a "slight weakening" of values, he added.

"A year ago the increase in volume was much more of a cause for concern because it was largely driven by dealer self-registrations. This was due to severe weakness in the new car market and it meant a sudden and large influx of late plate cars into the market," Mr Hind explained.

He noted that, in 2012, more of the March new car sales represented "genuine business" and the fact that there are around 15,000 fewer 0-12 month old cars advertised for sale at present than a year ago is evidence of this.

The representative said that the dynamic in the trade market has "clearly shifted" from that of a few weeks ago, when franchise and independent dealers were competing hard for every quality used car and consequently finding it difficult to maintain satisfactory profit per unit.

"Now the heat is off we are hearing reports that margins are improving for many. Although franchise dealers have not completely given up buying in the open market, most had finally managed to fill all their longstanding forecourt spaces by the third week in April," Mr Hind explained.

The fact that the majority of dealers say that their retail business is ranging from satisfactory to strong means the medium term stability of market prices is not a major concern, the expert added.

Posted by Susannah Mayers

New car registrations rise in April

Autobulbs Direct — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

By Fiona Birkwood

The number of new cars being registered in the UK is continuing to rise, according to the latest figures, which reveals that April once again saw a boost in registrations.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows that the new car market rose 3.3 per cent, or 4,576 units, in April, to reach 142,322 units.

This was the third percentage increase, as well as the largest, in the first four months of the year, with the outturn 1.9 per cent ahead of the SMMT's forecast for the month.

According to the figures, the market over the January-April period rose 1.4 per cent – the equivalent of 9,796 units – to 705,878 units.

This suggests that the market appears to be stabilising, as the annual running rate surpassed 1.95 million units during the month for the first time since October.

The SMMT has now revised its full year 2012 forecast upwards to 1.948 million units, which is a net 0.4 per cent rise in volumes over 2011's 1.941 million units, with a further 2.6 per cent growth, to 1.999 million units, forecast for the 2013 market.

Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT, said the figures all bode well for the coming months.

"April and year-to-date volumes were lifted by recovery in the private market, up 14.8 per cent in the month and 7.3 per cent in the year-to-date," he explained.

"We are seeing a steady increase in consumer confidence with growth in private demand, boosted by the arrival of a raft of new products. SMMT has increased its full year forecast, indicating a period of relative stability."

The new report also revealed that small car demand rose strongly in April, as did volumes of dual purpose segment cars, while the executive and sports car markets rose too, showing diverse market growth across vehicle segments.

Avoid going round the twist at a roundabout

Autobulbs Direct — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Posted by Richard Sinclair

Have you ever got to a roundabout and felt like you were the only one who knew what they were doing? Well you are not the only one, as a new report has shed light on the alarming number of motorists whose conduct at roundabouts leaves a lot to be desired.

Driver training specialist IAM Drive & Survive has revealed that the number of accidents occurring at the UK's roundabouts is not decreasing, and this may be because drivers' approaches to them are incorrect.

The IAM's head of training, Simon Elstow, said that there are ways to avoid collisions at roundabouts and ensure that drivers, cyclists and other road users are not put in harm's way.

He recommended looking well ahead and checking your mirrors so that people know what other traffic there is around them.

Motorists should also give any signals in plenty of time and try to identify a gap in the traffic before they reach the roundabout, while keeping an eye on the car in front.

Drivers should also approach the roundabout according to the exit they are taking and keep to the left lane to turn left or go straight or the right lane when taking an exit on the right – two things that many motorists fail to do.

It is also important to watch for any road markings guiding the driver and try to give other vehicles plenty of space, while slow down smoothly to a speed that is appropriate for the roundabout, taking into account the position of other road users.

Once drivers are at the right speed, and before turning, they should select the correct gear, then make a final mirror check, paying particular attention to the mirror on the side they are turning towards, before accelerating.

"At roundabouts, it is useful to try and consider the whole thing as one manoeuvre – that way you have a plan about which lane to be in, when to move into that lane, and what signals you expect to use," Mr Elstow commented

"But you need to prepare to be flexible – other road users don't always behave as we'd expect them to."