The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) have announced plans to make the MoT test even tougher, in order to ensure recent advances in car technology and engineering are working as they should be.

Cars will really be put through their paces now with a whole host of new rules being implemented to comply with EU requirements, all in a bid to make sure the latest innovations and developments on newer cars are sound.

Some of the new checks, to be implemented in January 21012 will include:

• Ensuring power steering has a minimum level of fluid
• Inspection of the dashboard warning lights
• Checking anti-lock brakes and electronica stability systems
• Looking at the headlights to ensure they are not so powerful that they blind oncoming traffic

If a car fails the new test, they will initially be given a grace period to go and get the work done, to ensure the car meets the new standards.  However, this period of grace will be taken away by the end of the year and the work will need to be carried out there and then for the MoT certificate to be issued to the car owner.

A spokesperson from the AA has commented on the impending changes, “The test is being brought in to make sure that all this new technology works properly.  It means if you buy a nearly new car you will have to double check that all the warning lights are working properly, or you could be left with a hefty bill.  The upside is that if you buy a car with an MoT you will know that these things have been tested properly”.

The Chief Executive of VOSA explains more about the announcement, “The MoT test is designed to make sure that a vehicle is fit to be on the road and so it needs to be updated to reflect new vehicle technology.  We have worked with the industry to prepare them for these changes to make sure that the measures are introduced in the least burdensome way possible”.

This article was brought to you by Think Insurance, specialists in Motor Traders Insurance cover.

The MID is the only central record of all insured vehicles in the UK and holds the insurance records of over 34 million vehicles. It is used by the police and DVLA to enforce the law. It is updated over 10,000 times an hour. The police use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology with information from the MID to identify and catch people driving uninsured vehicles (insurers are readily identified using just the registration number). More than 500 are seized every day and every three minutes one person is convicted for
uninsured driving.

For motor traders it’s important to add all vehicles insured on your motor trade policy and all trade plates owned by you to the Motor Insurance Database (MID). Thus demonstrating to the authorities that you have a motor insurance policy in place which covers you. This includes permanent vehicles registered to, owned by, or leased to you  and other temporary vehicles. Vehicles kept less than 14 days do not necessarily need to be added to the database. Customers’ vehicles whilst in your custody or control for your motor trade business should also be included where applicable. It is a legal obligation on the policyholder’s behalf to ensure that vehicle details are kept up to date and all vehicle records are kept for a period of 7 years. It is a criminal offence if you fail to comply with these regulations with a possible maximum fine of £5,000. Regulations also state that any detail needing to be updated to the motor insurance database (MID) should be done so immediately.

You are able to check the Motor Insurance Database for free to see if you have a valid insurance record at www.askMID.com

Current arrangements (where everyone in the chain is accused of taking a cut of the profits) have led to high costs, encouraged a compensation culture and led to the growth of an industry which pursues claimants for profit. Insurance companies inevitably pass the costs on through increased compensation claims directly onto motorists and those with other insurance policies.

Referral fees have subsidised the profits of the people involved – from lawyers to brokers, to insurance companies to police forces – there has been a lack of control on the costs and people involved. Would some of these businesses be able to survive without this supplemental income?

The current system in which personal injury details are sold on by insurance companies to lawyers is about to change as the Government is now set to ban the payment of referral fees in personal injury claims in an attempt to curb this compensation culture. Whether or not there will be exploitable loopholes and the practice carries on is anyone’s guess.

Car Valets may on occasion need to be able to drive a customer’s vehicle from one place to another, or deliver it back home. Because of this most  car valets need to take out motor trade insurance to cover the value of the vehicles they are driving. Indemnity is the maximum value of payout you will receive from any fault accident or theft (non-fault claims can payout more under the right circumstances). Car valets can have an insurance policy that covers their own personal vehicle at one value and customers at another (higher) level – this is called a split indemnity and is generally cheaper than just having one high level of cover.

If you are considering operating in this industry then you may wish to explore commercial vehicles as well as the domestic market. Some valet services targe the industrial units in their area and include special offers such as 4 cars for the price of 3 & 8 cars for the price of 6 etc. Taxis, coaches, hire car fleets, and undertakers can also help grow the business – volume can grow profitability

Indemnity on motor trade insurance is often set at stepped levels – usually starting at £2,500 and ending  up to £40 or £50k. The higher you go the higher the cost so don’t forget to ask for a split indemnity quote from your Motor Trade Insurance Broker.

Each individual policy will be different depending on the nature of cover required – from Road risks only, to liability to a full Commercial Combined. Each one of these will have varying levels of cost and their own advantages or disadvantages.

Businesses involved in the motor trade cover a broad spectrum of different motor trade businesses. Activities could involve the trading or repairing of vehicles,  valeting of vehicles or even simply moving vehicles from one location to another etc. Bearing this in mind, it’s important you don’t end up paying extra for cover that is not specific to your motor trade business and to be guided by a specialised motor trade insurance broker is always best policy!

Many customers have Third Party policies that can be  include Third Party Only or Third Part Fire and Theft. This type of insurance is the minimum cover and is required by law. Comprehensive Policies add to the Third Party insurance to cover accidental damage. Individual / sole traders will be looking at which of the above would best suit their needs but if business activity is more advanced further cover may be required.

A Liability Insurance policy  covers the general public visiting the premises and can also cover a proposer for any liabilities regarding work they have carried out. You can then also add employer’s liability – a legal requirement for employers.
There are three sub sections of the Liability insurance policy and it’s important to discuss with your broker which is best for you; Employers and Product, Public and Sales and Service Indemnity.

For those companies involved in larger scale motor trade activity, there is a Combined policy that can  bring together all the types of insurance discussed in one convenient package. So, in order to feel confident that you have secured the most effective motor trade insurance – it’s always best policy to seek advice and guidance from an insurance broker who specialises in this area.

Opel have chosen to offer the standard manufacturers warranty to customers instead, although it will be possible to extend the warranty at an extra cost.

Interestingly, Vauxhall, Opels sister company will continue to offer the lifetime warranty for its customers, claiming it is one of the main reasons why people now decide to purchase a Vauxhall vehicle.

In the past the lifetime warranty has come under fire, many criticising whether it truly meant a ‘lifetime’.  The warranty actually lasts until the car reaches 100,000 miles. In the early days this only applied to the first owner of the car, but since then the Vauxhall Network Q dealers now also offer the same warranty to customers, providing the car is less than one year old, and has less than 30k miles on the clock.

This should please anyone in the market for a new or nearly new Vauxhall model, a lifetime warranty will provide peace of mind and reassurance for customers, especially in the current economic climate.

A Vauxhall spokesperson confirms in a statement, “The Vauxhall Lifetime Warranty is 12 months old, and is now an established Vauxhall brand value.  It is important to Vauxhall customers and has a positive bearing on their purchase decision – Vauxhall has no intention to withdraw from its lifetime warranty.”

This article was brought to you by Think Insurance, specialists in Motor Trade Insurance.

“I was teaching at a college of drama and performing arts and for the majority of my working life I left the car in the staff car park until it was time to drive home. I never did feel the need to include business use insurance, as this would have increased my premium unnecessarily.
When for example, on occasion I had to visit the nearby university or to travel over to the theatre to visit colleagues who were helping me with a student project etc, I never felt this was substantial enough to need business insurance. It wasn’t until one such occasion, that I was involved in an accident (a car crashed into my side door – no one was injured but I needed a new door and it was clearly the other drivers fault who pulled out without looking) I began to feel the dread of a looming issue regarding my claim! The accident had occurred during my work hours and at a point where I was driving between different work locations. Whilst I eventually did manage to sort out the situation, it wasn’t easy and I have since considered occasional business use, an essential expense.”

There are over a quarter of a million road traffic accidents and 300,000 road related casualties in Britain every year and it is said that between 25 and 33 per cent of serious accidents involved a victim that was ‘at work’ at the time. So ensuring your vehicle is appropriately covered should be a priority. In Britain you must, by law, have third party insurance, which covers your legal liability for injury to others, and damage to their property. In addition to this basic level of cover policies typically include a fire and theft provision cover. Alternatively fully comprehensive cover will cover you against all damage to your vehicle. The cost of all this will be relative to a number of factors for example, the history of the driver, the make of car, and the location where it usually is kept etc.

There are some additional considerations to bear in mind if you need business use insurance. If you use your car for work, as well as for personal trips, then you need to make sure that your insurance certificate covers both types of usage. So, for example, if your policy only covers ‘social, domestic and pleasure’, you will not be insured when using your vehicle for work purposes. If you want to be insured to drive your car for business use, you are going to need to make sure your policy is extended to include the appropriate levels of insurance.

Class One and Two business vehicle insurance will cover you for most business use, with the exception of ‘commercial travelling’ which is defined as travelling from place to place in search of custom, but each insurance company will have its own exact definition. If you do need cover for commercial travelling your policy will have to be increased to Class Three.

Remember that if your employer ‘asks you’ to use your car to travel whilst at work, then you will need to consider upgrading your insurance to cover this (some particularly supportive employers may be able to support you should you need to upgrade your cover to include business use). Remember that no matter how infrequent, if you drive whilst at work and in connection with your work, then effective insurance cover for an accident that occurs at that moment will need to include some form of business use insurance.

For those people  requiring motor trade insurance, its important they get proper cover and specialist providers will be able to advise accordingly – but for those ‘none’ legitimate (none motor trade) drivers who are tempted to take up motor trade insurance in order to try to secure a cheaper price, buyer beware!

Many motor trade providers are now asking for trading invoices in order to verify authenticity when receiving an actual claim. There are many ways of checking legitimacy of claims and routing out fake documentation with drivers facing possible driving bans and points because they have been caught driving without the appropriate insurance.

It is perhaps rather surprising that despite the invention of airbags, seatbelts, antilock brakes and many other improvements to cars which are meant to keep us safe, traffic deaths aren’t really much lower than before such inventions emerged. By the very nature of such safety features, some drivers seem to develop a false sense of security in their vehicles and can as a result develop some poor driving habits. The sought after status of driving high performance vehicles, capable of great acceleration speed as well as attracting the attention of car thieves who steal to order, is also contributing to increased premiums for younger, less experienced drivers.

It’s easy to see then, why insurance premiums for younger drivers are increasing, compounded by the growing problem of drivers who are uninsured. It is estimated that about one out of every 20 motorists drives without cover, which costs every driver roughly an extra £30 a year. Uninsured drivers are five times more likely to be involved in road collisions, to fail to comply with other road traffic requirements, and to be engaged in other criminal activity, according the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). One in five uninsured drivers fails to stop at the scene of an accident they have been involved in. Motor Trader Insurance it is not designed for individuals who are struggling with getting affordable insurance cover for higher performance cars and Insurance providers have become wise to this.

To qualify for Motor Trader Insurance, drivers must have had a Full UK or European driving license for a minimum of 12 months and should be at least 24 years old.
Performance related restrictions typically apply to those below the age of 25 (this is when it is even possible to cover them – most insurers now only quote for over 25s!), limiting the engine size and use of turbos or high performance cars etc. based on age, with under 21s struggling to get above 2 ltr petrol; no turbos etc. Of course, essentially, the insured person must be a legitimate motor trade worker and be able to, if ever making a claim, provide evidence as such!

According to a survey carried out by Manheim Auctions, many of us own and drive cars in a colour that we don’t like. In fact the survey suggests this applies to around 60% of us.

The survey, carried out among 3,000 motorists has revealed that the favourite colour for cars is black with both men and women stating it as their preferred option.  Despite this preference, only 12% of women and 14% of men surveyed actually drive a black car!

Hitting second place in the poll is silver, with nearly a quarter of men and women driving a silver car of some sort.  The survey revealed that silver was definitely the dominant colour choice in most places across the UK.  Although East Anglia, Yorkshire, Humberside and the South West have bucked this trend, favouring blue cars over any other shades.

Third place in the survey showed a stereotypical split, with men opting for blue cars and women choosing red.

White cars were quite low down on the list with just 4% of motorists owning one, and 6% stating it as their favourite colour for a car.

The Marketing Director at Manheim Auctions, Craig Mailey comments on the findings, “Colours are an important factor when cars come to auction. Certain colours such as black, silver and blue, especially metallic, can add value to a vehicle”.

Mailey goes on to say that cars in vivid or unusual colours may lose value when it comes to selling them on. The number of people in the market for a vehicle in a ‘non-standard’ colour will be far less than those looking for the more popular shades such as black or silver.

This article was brought to you by Think Insurance, specialists in Motor Trader Insurance Policies.

Most of the blind spot accidents have happened as a result of motorists pulling out without realising there is another vehicle directly in their blind spot.

Blind spots have become more of a problem over the years as cars are being made from lighter weight materials.  This has meant reinforcement is required between the front and rear windows, thickening the pillar for safety reasons.  The European Union has placed very strict safety requirements on vehicles, which has also added to the problem.

The good news is that many car manufacturers are actively addressing the issue and coming up with ways to reduce the problem.

Both Volvo and Mercedes have devised cameras that will warn drivers of vehicles in their blind spot.  And Citroen and Mercedes have come up with a clever system that will shake the steering wheel if a car begins to drift into another lane.

Manufacturers are wise to address the blind spot issue as the DSA (Driving Standards Agency) have been know to ban cars if they have poor visibility. The Mini Convertible was banned in 2005 for this very reason.

Robert Gifford from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety comments on the findings “Visibility and awareness are key contributors to maintaining safety.  All drivers need to be aware that every vehicle has its blind spots and that these will always be different”.

Spokesperson Lee Woodley from Accident Exchange, the company responsible for the survey, comments, “The sharp rise in drivers seemingly unaware of the presence of another vehicle in an adjacent lane is pretty startling. Today’s cars are packed with ‘active’ safety equipment, but for some vehicles strengthened frames can mean reduced visibility and larger blind-spots”.

This article was brought to you by Think Insurance, specialists in Motor Trade Insurance.