Auctions: speedy and convenient
If you’ve ever watched TV programmes like Homes Under The Hammer and Bargain Hunt (and let’s face it – they’re on often enough for most people to have seen at least one of them!), you’ll know how fast and furious the bidding can be at auctions. This makes them a great way to offload your vehicle if you’re in a bit of a hurry – there’s no need to place an ad in the paper and hope against hope that someone might reply!

This also means that you’ll receive your money equally quickly, as the auction house will pay you once the buyer has given them the money – and they’re usually required to do so within a couple of days. So, again, this means you won’t have to endure a long, agonising wait for the money to appear in your account.

Going through a third party like this is advantageous in other ways – you won’t have to discuss your car with potential buyers, doing away with the awkwardness that can arise when you’re posed with complex questions about the engine etc that you don’t know the answer to!

What to do when selling your car at auction
You will need to begin by looking for upcoming auctions in your area. They might be general sales offering all kinds of items, or more specialist ones focusing on one or two brands or types of car. The latter are particularly popular among those who want to target buyers with an interest in a certain marque – i.e. brand-specific sellers like Vauxhall or Ford dealers.

Once you’ve identified a potential event to sell at, you can register your car with the auction house running it. You will have to pay an upfront fee to do so, and also set a reserve to ensure your vehicle doesn’t sell below the minimum price you’re aiming for. You’ll also be asked to provide some info on the car for the catalogue. Give as many details as possible to offer extra reassurance to buyers, who may be wary of particularly vague listings.

Next, it’s a good idea to make sure your vehicle is suitably attractive to potential buyers. Thoroughly clean the interior and exterior and take it for a garage check-up if there’s not long to go on the current MOT. Also make sure you have all the relevant documentation ready in case it sells, including registration paperwork.

You will have to take your car along to the sale on the day, so the buyer can drive it home straightaway. Then you get to sit in the auction room and see just how well (hopefully!) your car does when it’s time for bidding to begin on it. Whatever you do, don’t try to manipulate the sale by bidding on it yourself, because you may have to simply buy it if no further bids come in.

As explained above, the process of receiving payment if your car does sell is pretty straightforward. The auction house is responsible for handling the funds and will usually aim to send them to you within a few days of the auction. Remember that commission will be taken from the sale price – after all, the auction house has to make money, too!

The European Court has concluded that insurers are not allowed to charge women and men different insurance premiums solely because of their gender. The reasoning behind the ruling is that taking gender into account when determining the insurance premium to charge constitutes discrimination.

The changes are due to come into place in December 2012. It is likely, however, that the impact will start to be felt before then, as premiums for women start to increase and those for men decrease slightly. As a result it will become even more important to carry out a car insurance comparison between different providers before renewing your insurance.

Different Claims Types
Car insurance premiums are currently lower for women because of the different type of claims that they bring to insurers. According to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), the average cost of a claim for an 18-year-old female is £2,700, while for an 18-year-old male it is £4,400.

The insurance industry has traditionally weighted insurance premiums to reflect the risk profile of those it is insuring and the different claims history of men and women has been an integral part of this calculation.

After the changes come into effect in December, women will remain a lower risk to insurers but they will, however, start to have to pay a subsidy for the claims that their male counterparts make. This will have the biggest impact on women under the age of 30, who often pay less than half the premium that a male in the same age bracket would.

Minimising the Impact
When their car insurance comes up for renewal it is likely that many people will see a difference in the premium that they will be charged. Because the ruling will have such a substantial impact on the way that insurers calculate their premiums, it is important to check that you are still getting the best deal, even if you are one of the lucky ones whose premium is set to decrease.

By using a car insurance comparison site and shopping around for quotes, you will get a good idea of the range of premiums on offer. You can then ensure that you are not paying more than necessary.

If you need to keep the premium as low as possible then you may want to consider a voluntary excess. Agreeing to a higher excess can often result in savings. Remember, however, that in the event of an accident you will have to fund a higher level of repair costs before your insurer will step in.

Seven seater cars are incredibly popular and because of this you will find a wide selection available both on the used and brand new car market. There are lots of styles, sizes, colours and seating options available to you. There are seven seaters that can become five seaters or even seven seaters that can become eight seaters for those extra
passengers.

Before making your purchase you will probably want to answer a few questions, confirm a few details and decide on the model that is right for you and your family. By running through this information you can decide on the purchase that is right for you in no time at all.

How much space do you need?

If you have a younger family then you may not need a large amount of space, just the seven seats, and therefore will want to look at a slightly smaller option, however, if you have older, and therefore taller, children then you may want a seven seater with more standing space and more doors to ensure that gaining access is as straight forward as possible and nobody is banging their heads on their way in to the vehicle.

Do you want some special features?

Lots of vehicles can now be fitted with optional extras such as DVD players in the back, iPod docks, lighting in the back and numerous other features. These can be fantastic if you are planning on going on long trips as you can keep your children busy for many an hour allowing you to concentrate on your smooth ride and arriving at your destination promptly and safely.

Will you need baby seats or booster chairs?

Always remember that to keep your children as safe as possible in the car that they should be strapped in to the correct sized booster seat or child car seat for their age. When your children grow you will need to change the seat with them. This is the best way to ensure that you are driving within the restraints of the law and that your children are safe at all times.

Do you want to customise your vehicle?

You are often able to pick the paint work, wheel trims and numerous other features if you purchase a brand new car and now you will even be able to customise your seats if you wish (with selected retailers). Some vehicles will be seven seaters that can have an additional eighth seat if necessary. This eighth seat usually folds down flat to ensure that you can still fit your family shop in to the boot area and fit in the family too. Some vehicles even have numerous different seat options with everything from four up to seven seats depending on the space that you need and the amount of passengers that you are going to be carrying.

If you are looking for a reliable vehicle with a name that you can trust then consider looking for vehicles from Chevrolet, Ford and or Chrysler

Taking the example of the Honda Motor Company, who sell their cars and bikes all around the world… The emission laws in Japan and indeed the petrol that is available at the pumps in this country, allow for Honda to program their ECUs to various motoring conditions which are bespoke to that region, the example of the octane in the petrol pump fuel is one core composition of the ECU’s set up, in Japan, petrol pump fuel is around 105 octane, when compared to the petrol commonly sold in Europe, we find the octane to be more like 95 octane, as high as 98 if you are to choose the ‘premium’ branded pump petrol. Knowing this fact, Honda Motor Company are free to program their Japanese specific ECUs to run with a lower amount of fuel when compared to the ECU set up for Europe, to produce the explosion which powers their engines to optimum revolutions the Japanese pump petrol is far superior. Returning to the core of this point, we begin to see that the lubricants and in turn the liquids such as good even synthetic car engine oil which go into an engine can play an important role in the outcome, life and range of said engine, point in point we see that these cheaper alternatives to performance and high quality lubricant neither last as long, or provide the best solution to getting the most out of your engine, indeed presenting a false economy, much the same as cheap petrol neither going as far as the higher octane petrol nor will it get you up to speed quicker.

Well we certainly don’t have weaker necks than our European cousins, what we do have though is ambulance chasing personal injury claims lawyers. The car insurers even get in on the act too by claiming ‘referral fees’ for telling these no win no fee law firms about any accidents we have so that they can then hound us with texts and phone calls begging us to choose them for our no win no fee law suit against the other party.

The additional cost of legal fees adds to each insurance claim by around £2,100, and this extra cost is passed on to us motorists in the form of higher premiums. This means that every year we’re footing the bill for all these no win no fee claims and paying around £120 a year extra which is a lot of money.
Car insurance premiums (what we pay) have gone up by so much over the last two years and a large proportion of that is due to this compensation culture that’s gone mad.

Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has just announced however that he intends to change the law to stop the “merry-go-round of questionable car insurance claims” he went on to say that injury claimants are “passed around like a commodity to the highest bidder” and that the compensation culture is having a negative effect on society with people being encouraged to play up injuries they may have received explaining the reason the UK has so many more whiplash claims than the rest of Europe. In fact in the UK 8 out of 10 personal injury claims are for whiplash!

Banning car insurers from receiving referral fees will be bad news for all those lawyers and insurers, but is good news indeed for the motorist who is safe on the road, and for anyone who despises the compensation culture.

Lets hope that Mr Clarke’s change in the law will save us all money and stop the greedy insurers and ambulance chasing lawyers in their tracks.

Other dodgy practices that may be driving up the cost of motor insurance include uninsured drivers who add around £30 a year to each of our policies, and insurance fraud which adds around £44. With the new laws that came out in June making it an offence to own an uninsured vehicle even if it’s not driven, we can hope to see this figure beginning to drop over the next few years. The motoring industry is also gearing up to tackle things like staged motor accidents too which should again help reduce the cost of all our motoring policies.

Here are a few tips on how to fight back against the horribly high parking fees you may encounter in various places.
Airport Parking – One of the worst rip offs for motorists is the cost of parking at airports, railways stations and other transport locations. You can cut the costs sometimes however, by shopping around and finding a carpark that’s local but not run by the airport, and using comparison websites to find the cheapest parking near the airport you’re using. Booking online can often give you a discount, and sometimes avoid the usual booking fee too. Try SkyparkSecure.com, AirportParking.co.uk, HolidayExtra.co.uk and aph.com.

Park on Someone’s Driveway – Residents who are near to airports, train stations and other places where people want to park a lot can now rent out their drive, garage or other parking space to motorists using sites such as parkatmyhouse.com, parklet.co.uk and yourparkingspace.co.uk so try looking to see if you can get a better deal this way.
Book Early – this one’s aimed mostly at airport managed car parks. If you do need to use them, then book as early as you can, as the later you leave it, the more they charge!

Park & Ride – For many city centres if you’re visiting from out of town you may find that a local park and ride scheme can save you time, money and hassle. Parkandride.net gives a list of all the schemes across the UK so is well worth checking before you travel.

Avoiding Fines – Did you know, that if you park in a council parking bay, and they suspend the bay (for road works perhaps), you can actually be fined if you leave your car there. It’s worth knowing this if you use these spaces regularly especially if you’re going away for a few days, so check out your local council website before you leave your car in one.
Appealing parking Tickets – Research shows that a fairly large number of parking tickets aren’t actually fair. If you are given a ticket and don’t think it’s reasonable you can appeal it. The website trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk gives more information.

Car Sharing – Of course the best way to cut the cost of parking is to take less cars. Car sharing and lift sharing schemes are popping up all over the place, and sites such as liftshare.com can be a great way to find someone who travels the same way as you. This way you can split the parking costs between two or more of you.

Drivers eating a snack at the wheel can be charged for ‘driving without due car and attention’ by the police if they’re seen and this can mean they can be fined £60 and given 3 points on their licence. In turn this can increase their insurance hugely.

There are 16,500 motorists every year who are convicted of this type of charge, and insurers see them as accidents waiting to happen and hike up their car insurance costs. The increases can be as much as 27%.
On a survey done by comparison site moneysupermarket.com eight out of ten drivers admitted that they get ‘preoccupied’ while driving.

It seems that dangerous habits can include things like:

Smoking at the wheel
Slowing down to watch accidents
Receiving or making phone calls
Changing the radio station

Worse than this, 23% admitted that they use a mobile phone without using a hands free kit which is illegal.
The worst cases show that if you’re convicted for dangerous driving, it could add over £400 to your insurance costs. Peter Harrison a car insurance expert from moneysupermarket.com said ‘Although it may be unintentional, careless drivers are a menace on the roads and are a danger to both themselves and others. Not only are these bad driving habits, but they’re also expensive habits if you’re caught and it really isn’t worth taking the risk.’

Obviously the difference in increased cost between having a completely clean licence and one with a careless driving conviction will vary according to the insurance company. Axa prices rise by £402.47 while Churchill rises by £371.92 and Swiftcover by just £166.

Of course just getting distracted on its own isn’t enough for you to be convicted. Police would charge you because you were eating a sandwich or using your phone, but then it would be up to the magistrate to decide if your standard of driving fell below that expected of a careful and competent driver. If they deem that it did, then you’ll be convicted of the crime.

Last year, a particularly high profile case of this nature was in the news. We saw Harriet Harman who at the time was deputy leader of the Labour party, fined £350 after she pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. This came after she’d had a minor collision with a parked car.

Over the last year we’ve seen car insurance costs soar. Particularly for new drivers, premiums have doubled making it increasingly costly to get on the road let alone stay there.

In today’s world of expensive fuel and insurance these are crucial questions. Auto Express magazine has revealed its top ten of the cheapest new cars to run. The figures below are based on you owning the car over three years and doing 30,000 miles. This gives you the pence per mile figure.

Toyota Aygo 1.0 VVT-I – Pence per Mile cost = 28.2p
This is a great little budget car. It is built robustly and has a decent 1.0 litre three cylinder engine that gives good dynamic driving. CO2 emissions are just 105g/km meaning you’ll get excellent cheap road tax, and it has a five year warranty.

Chevrolet Spark 1.0i – Pence per Mile cost = 28.1p
This is a practical city car and was developed to replace the Matiz. Cheap to run it may be, but Auto Express don’t reckon it’s up to much in other ways offering poor quality cabin and unattractive looks.

Smart ForTwo CDI Pulse – Pence per Mile cost = 27.9p
So small you can park in half a car space making it ideal for city centre driving. The smart also has low running costs and emissions. It’s not the fastest of cars, or the best to drive and in fact Auto Car reckon that it’s only the diesel car that is good in terms of fuel economy.

Ford KA 1.2 Studio – Pence per Mile cost = 27.8p
A little overpriced for the equipment you get, but a pretty good city car nevertheless. Easy to drive, well built and with a reasonably high quality to it. Its 57.7mpg is excellently economical too.

Suzuki Alto 1.0 SZ2 – Pence per Mile cost = 27.7p
A small car with a tight turning circle and mechanically identical to the Nissan Pixo. It does however come with an incredibly small boot that you’d be hard pushed to fit the shopping in.

Hyundai i10 1.2 Classic 5dr – Pence per Mile cost = 27.4p
Cheap to buy and comes with air-con as standard this is Auto Express’s best city car to own, and What Car magazine also rate it well listing it as the best super mini to buy.

Nissan Pixo 1.0 Visia – Pence per Mile cost = 26.1p
Built in India the Pixo is affordable, and it’s 3 cylinder 1.0 engine makes it good for driving around in towns and cities alike.

Kia Picanto 1.0 – Pence per Mile cost = 25.6p
Cheap to buy, cute looking, and good headroom despite its size. It comes with a seven year warranty, and although it may be a bit ‘no frills’ it’s a pretty good car to own.

Renault Clio 1.2 Expression A/C 5dr – Pence per Mile cost = 24.5p
Quiet, comfortable and zippy, this is a little more expensive than many others mentioned here, but it’s a better all rounder than any of them too.

Renault Twingo 1.2 16v Bizu – Pence per Mile cost = 22.9p
Stunningly low on the pence per mile running costs, this small car packs quite a punch. It offers plenty of space inside for its size, although you won’t find many gadgets to play with. Cheap to run and to maintain it can be bought from as low as £6,595.

With petrol costs rising constantly at the moment, we’re all looking for ways to cut a bit off the cost of running our vehicles, but some motorists are gambling with their lives when they cut their costs it seems.
According to a survey carried out by SwiftCover more than 750,000 car owners are thinking about not getting their annual service done this year as a way of saving some money. The problem is that if you don’t service your car, you can miss spotting potentially serious problems that may put you and your passengers at risk.

A well looked after and regularly serviced car is much less likely to break down, and breakdown’s can be expensive. Another reason to keep the car serviced is that it will run smoothly for longer and will be easier to sell when the time comes.

We reckon that instead of skipping your service, you can cut costs in different ways by making the servicing more affordable.

Shop around
don’t just stick with the garage you always go to or the dealer you bought the car from, get quotes from different places and check out independent as well as franchised dealers. If you live in an area which is expensive, consider getting your car serviced while you’re visiting a family member or friend who lives in a cheaper region for example.

Negotiate
Research the costs, check quotes, make sure you know what the replacement parts will cost and then use that as a bargaining point. Use the first quote as a baseline and then ring round other places and see if they can offer you a better price.

Buy the parts yourself
Sometimes it’s cheaper to have work done if you buy the parts yourself and then ask your mechanic to just fit them. Mechanics will have specific places they look and can’t really afford the time always to search for the cheapest option, but you can.

Do it yourself
Get some books from the library, take a course, talk to friends who are petrol heads, and learn. Checking oil pressure and tyre pressure for example is quite easy, and as a minimum it will give you a better idea of what the garage is trying to charge you for. Online you’ll also find videos of how to perform a service on various cars, but be careful about doing this unless you do know what you’re doing. Yes saving money is good, but you still need to make sure your car is safe.

Let’s face it, most of us are on a budget especially in the current financial climate, however the family holiday is the main holiday of the year.  You have worked so hard for this time to arrive and you want to make the most of your holiday with the family but car hire isn’t within your budget.   How do you plan on getting around?

Okay, so car hire is not your only transport option and you can manage quite fine without it. Most holiday destinations will have local buses and trains to get around.  You might even be able to get discount on a family ticket, if not you will have to buy travel tickets for each member of your family.  If you have a family of 5 then this expense can soon start eating away at your budget.  Waiting for buses and trains can be tiresome, especially trying to keep children entertained and safe.  You will also have to carry them and their luggage when they start getting tired and hungry, this will really leave you with your hands full.  Moreover most people find buses and trains overcrowded with little ventilation.

You will also be able to get around and see the sights by using local tour providers.  Again though these will mean you have to stick to their timetable and fork out tickets for each family member.   Though they know the local area and will give you an insight into the sights and attractions you visit, kids are easily agitated and get bored too easily.  This might mean they get crabby and restless wanting to return back to your hotel room.

For these reasons car hire doesn’t seem too bad after all.  Granted the initial expense might be more than you want to swallow, but travel costs can soon start adding up if you have to pay for each family member.  Moreover with car hire you can travel a time and pace that suits you, and can return anytime your children start being wrestles.  You don’t have to worry about carrying extra items with you as you can leave these in the back of the car when sightseeing.   Overall you should have more of a relaxing experience avoiding the overcrowded buses.  You have waited all year for this family holiday and you really should make the most of it.   This is why for some people the added benefits of convenience and freedom really do outweigh the cost of car hire.

Our advice is to do some research into the public transport system and find out how much your travel costs will be, also check out the cheap car hire deals you can find with various car hire companies.  It might be you are able to pick up a cheap deal and make your holiday more worthwhile.  Read more tips on car hire and travelling with the family to help make better informed decisions.