I was in the high street shopping with my wife recently when in the distance I heard a distinct “doompf, doompf, doompf” sound emanating from what appeared to be an almost unrecognizable Citroen Saxo containing four pasty faced youths. I observed this badly modified Saxo and its unpleasant cargo driving around and around the area and cropping … [Read more...]
Government u-turn on car tax
November 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Hot on the tails of our article about the car business in this country needing a bit of help from the government comes the news today that the Government’s plan to increase vehicle duty appears to have been delayed for a year. "Changes in the budget meant from next year all cars which had been on the road since 2001 would face above inflation … [Read more...]
Venezuela, at least you know when you’re being robbed!
October 8, 2008 By 1 Comment
Venezuela has its problems that’s for sure, there’s the constant risk of armed street crime, carjacking, robberies on buses, kidnappings and believe it or not pamphlets impregnated with potent and disorienting drugs given out to tourists at shopping centre’s! … [Read more...]
Cheap used cars all the rage
September 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Although we are all being squeezed from every angle at present and a large a-la carte menu of doom and disaster is served to us on a daily basis, we will still need to carry on as normal as possible. If we have earmarked right now as a time to buy a used car, and we haven’t got a car to trade in, it could be just the time to do so. … [Read more...]
Ex-Rental cars, a good purchase?
September 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Over the past 10 years rental cars have been more or less the mainstay of any main dealers used car forecourt as they are readily available from manufacturers who sell them direct to the rental companies in varying degrees of volume. … [Read more...]
Top 10 cloned vehicles
September 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment
A new survey has revealed that cloning cars is on the increase with Mercedes C Class and Ford Transit topping an HPI list of most cloned vehicles. Criminals create a clone of a car by stealing the id of another vehicle, replacing the number plates and VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) on their car with the stolen id from an identical car … [Read more...]
Should I buy my next car from a public auction?
September 19, 2008 By Leave a Comment
In the quest to answer the question ‘Should I buy my next car from a public auction?’ The best starting place should be to establish what these mildly mysterious places are all about. Whether it is lack of access, interest or underlying fear, many of us have heard all about them but haven’t actually been to one. … [Read more...]
Court fines Pendragon dealership for misleading adverts
September 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment
A Pendragon dealership has been found guilty of misleading customers with its finance offers. The Vauxhall outlet, at St James Square, Gateshead, was convicted of two offences under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. … [Read more...]
Missed targets and massive discounts
September 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
It’s nearly mid-September and you can be sure that most manufacturers are under pressure from the factories to achieve pre-agreed new car sales targets. The only problem is that this year most dealers are probably not going to manage even 70% of those targets. … [Read more...]
Inside the car auction
September 12, 2008 By 3 Comments
A common question we regularly receive is; “Is it a good idea to buy a car from a public auction and what advice can you give on the best way to go about it?” From a professional motor traders point it’s not an easy one to answer and it’s a question I have, in the past asked myself. … [Read more...]
Entering the unknown
July 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I took a friend to the auction today; she has recently gone through a messy divorce to her soul mate, who ran off with a younger model. The company smoke went back and she found herself in the position of venturing into the unknown, i.e. buying a car with a limited budget and making it sexy, practical, reliable, and well specified with low … [Read more...]
Ministers see off duty challenge
July 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The government has defeated a challenge to its plans to raise vehicle excise duty on the most polluting cars. An attempt by Tories to stop the road tax changes applying to vehicles registered before March 2006 was lost by 303 votes to 240. Shadow Treasury minister Justine Greening branded the move "unfair and ineffective", saying it was … [Read more...]
New road tax wipes thousands off cars
June 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Alan Cole has been selling used cars in Wigan for 26 years. He has seen plenty of ups and downs in the industry over that time, from tax increases through to recessions. But he admits he has never been in a situation quite as bad as the one he's facing. He tries to stay positive. 'Let's just say we're in a bit of a lull at the moment,' he … [Read more...]
Buying cars – a little word about colours…
June 3, 2008 By 2 Comments
At most points of the year the classic colours remain the most popular, Black, Silver, Blue. However at certain times of the year or where (as at the present) people just want to break out, the more wild and loud colours come to the fore, although it does tend to be model specific. For instance Cabriolets/convertibles/drop tops/ccs etc. Most of … [Read more...]
New car tax rules will hit residual values
May 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment
According to EurotaxGlass's, the 98 per cent increase in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), recently announced by the Chancellor for a selected group of used cars, is certain to have an impact on their residual values - but only when potential buyers make sense of the complex new rules, and identify those vehicles worst affected. … [Read more...]
Top 25 car stock listing websites
May 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Auto Trader eBay Motors UK MSN Autos What Car Motors.co.uk All Approved Cars Yahoo! Autos Parkers Auto Exposure AOL Motoring Car Pages Exchange and Mart Fish4cars Auto Express VCars Times Online - Driving AutoCar Autoweb Desperate Seller Pistonheads Best Price Car Car Source Compucars Teletext Cars Five - Fifth Gear … [Read more...]
Secret tax adds £200 to cost of running family cars
May 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Ben Webster writing on TimesOnLine unveils a story about "secret" tax for motorists; … [Read more...]
Secret budget car tax rise to hit dealers
May 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment
02 May 2008 from Motor Trader Magazine … [Read more...]
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