Month: January 2024

The typical car insurance premium increased by 52 per cent year-on-year in December 2023 to a steep £950, according to new research.

This represented a steep £326 increase compared to the previous 12 months, with drivers aged 24 and under being stung the most, according to Compare the Market.

A typical premium for a young driver was £2,002, representing a sharp £655 increase on December 2022. However, drivers of all age groups saw their premiums surge, with those aged 65-plus recording the largest proportional increase, with a typical quote in December 2023 for motorists of this age being 57 per cent higher.

An average premium for those aged 65 to £79 is now £428 (a £155 jump), while those aged 80 are now typically paying £688, representing a £249 increase on the previous year.

Compare the Market says the steep increase in insurance premiums is down to the the rising cost of claims for insurers, with high inflation driving up the price of spare parts, hire cars, energy and hiring specialist repairers. The insurance comparison site is urging motorists to shop around to get a better deal and says drivers could save ‘up to £578’ by using its portal.

Julie Daniels, motor insurance expert at Compare the Market, said “Many drivers will be worried about the substantial increase in the cost of their car insurance.

“Our research shows the typical premium now costs £950, with lots of younger motorists likely paying even more than this. As household bills continue to rise, it’s so important for drivers to take a few minutes to compare prices from different providers when their car insurance is up for renewal.”

MG will reveal a next-generation version of its MG3 supermini at next month’s Geneva Motor Show, the firm has announced.

While many other brands are looking to move away from smaller cars, MG is committing to more affordable cars with its new MG3, which will replace what is currently one of the UK’s cheapest new cars.

Introduced in 2013, the current MG3 is by far the oldest car in the firm’s line-up, and is well overdue an update. This new supermini, which has only been teased in a post on X, formerly Twitter, shows a more striking front-end design inspired by newer MG models, but with a similar overall silhouette. It can also be seen undergoing winter testing while still wearing heavy camouflage.

While MG has been scaling up its electrification plans, the new MG3 is set to stick with regular petrol engines to help keep prices low.

It will join MG’s fast-growing line-up, with the firm registering more than 80,000 cars in the UK in 2023, representing a sharp 59 per cent increase on the previous year. It now sells more cars in Britain than Peugeot and Skoda, and with 38 per cent of its sales being EVs in 2023, doesn’t need to worry about the electric car targets facing many many mainstream manufacturers this year.

The MG3 is one of only a handful of major cars set to be revealed at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, which returns for the first time since 2019 following its cancellation last-minute in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept across Europe.

Many major car manufacturers, including the entire Stellantis group, have said they will not be participating at the Geneva show, which was previously the largest of its kind in Europe.

A Land Rover Discovery first used by King Charles and Queen Camilla is heading to auction.

The Discovery, painted in the royal family’s chosen green shade, was delivered to Tim Williams, head chauffeur for the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, for their exclusive use.

Accompanying the sale is a letter from George Hassall, director of royal and diplomatic affairs at Land Rover, to Williams, detailing the ‘new lease vehicle’, which was delivered to the Royal Garage at Highgrove House on January 12, 2007. A heritage certification also confirms its authenticity.

The Discovery still features original modifications made for royal use, including flashing alternative headlights and fog lights, along with front and rear strobe lights. The SUV now has a mileage of 117,500 miles, though is said to be ‘beautifully presented’ and comes with a full service history.

It’s going under the hammer on March 23 with Classic Car Auctions (CCA) at its sale coinciding with the Classic Car and Restoration Show at the NEC exhibition centre in Birmingham.

Simon Langsdale who sourced the vehicle for CCA, said: “This is surely one for a serious Royal family collector, with Prince Charles now King Charles III, the vehicle has even greater Royal provenance adding to its value.”

CCA has a reputation for auctioning former royal family vehicles at top prices, with a 2004 Range Rover used by the late Queen Elizabeth selling for a record price of £132,750 in November 2023.

This particular Discovery was sold by the online auction platform Collecting Cars in March 2023 for £12,050 but is now being sold again with a guide price of £20,000 to £30,000.

Today is National Pothole Day, though with new figures showing further deterioration in the UK’s roads, it’s not a day that needs celebrating.

The RAC reports that the number of pothole-related breakdowns it attended in 2023 increased by a third to almost 30,000 incidents, and is calling on the government to set out clear guidance for local authorities to tackle the problem.

With an ever-increasing chance of hitting a pothole, it’s worth being aware that you can claim damage to your car caused by poor-conditioned roads. But how do you do this and what do you need to be aware of? Let’s take a look.

What sort of damage can hitting a pothole cause?

You never want to hit a pothole, but sometimes they just can’t be avoided, and it’s never worth endangering yourself more by trying to swerve around them.

Hitting a pothole can cause various types of damage, with one of the most noticeable being to the wheels and tyres. Punctures are common and are often noticeable instantly, as you’ll experience a loss of control and the steering will feel heavy. If it’s a particularly big pothole, it can cause damage to the wheel itself, such as buckling and cracking. This can be repaired depending on the severity, but a new wheel might be required.

After this, it’s suspension and steering components to be aware of. Hitting a pothole can damage the tracking of your car, causing misaligned tyre wear or the feeling that the car is pulling one way while driving, even with the steering wheel straight. Broken suspension components such as springs and shock absorbers are often common.

Remember to be safe if you do have a pothole-related breakdown

If you hit a pothole and it causes immediate damage to your car, the first thing to think about is your safety. Don’t come to an instant stop if it’s not safe to do so – such as on a blind corner. Try and get you and your car out of danger.

If you’re unable to pull off the road, come to a stop in the safest possible place, apply the hazard lights and get yourself out of the vehicle before ringing a breakdown provider or someone else who might be able to help.

Make sure you gather evidence to support your case

If your car has been damaged by hitting a pothole, you need to gather evidence to help your case to get compensation. It can be a long process with authorities often doing everything possible to avoid paying, so you need to be prepared for a fight.

Make details on the pothole, its location, size and only if safe to do so, gather pictures of the pothole and the damage to the car. You will likely need to get rough measurements of the pothole and sketch the location of the road defect while providing details on the damage and why you think they are responsible.

Once the car is recovered, get quotes from garages and keep these safely saved, while if you have the most up-to-date MOT certificate (these can be downloaded online if not), this can prove that there was nothing wrong with your car before the pothole damage.

Find out which organisation manages the road where the damage was caused

The organisation you need to claim from will depend on the location of the pothole. If the damage occurred on a major A-road and motorway, you will likely need to contact Highways England. If in London on a red route, you will need to speak to Transport for London. Outside of these, you will need to contact the local council that looks after that particular road.

In Scotland, major roads are looked after by Traffic Scotland and those in Wales are handled by Traffic Wales. Outside of these trunk roads, you’ll need to speak to the local councils.

Even if you don’t decide to claim, you should report the pothole damage to the authority responsible – not only will this hopefully have the road repaired, but it can also improve the chances of another person making a successful claim.

What happens next?

To add to the complexity, each local council and authority has a different procedure for both reporting and trying to claim for potholes.

Be prepared that all local authorities typically refuse all claims at first, quoting Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980, which says that the council took all reasonable steps to maintain the road, even if this might not be the case.

Many people choose to avoid pursuing the case any further after this point, but if you decide to carry on, you need to gather as much evidence as you can to prove that the council didn’t inspect and maintain the road to the right standard. You could need to submit a Freedom of Information request to find this out.

You might end up with a partial offer of compensation, which is worth accepting, but be prepared to be patient and dedicate lots of time to be successful in claiming damages.

Pothole-related breakdowns reached a five-year high in 2023, new figures show.

The AA said it received 632,000 call outs to vehicles damaged by road defects last year.

That is a 16% increase compared with the previous 12 months, and is the most since 666,000 in 2018 when many roads were damaged by prolonged extreme cold weather from the so-called Beast from the East.

Common vehicle problems caused by potholes include punctures, distorted wheels, damaged shock absorbers and broken suspension springs.

Potholes are often formed when water enters cracks in the road surface, then freezes and expands.

The AA is part of a new coalition named the Pothole Partnership which marked National Pothole Day on Monday by sending a five-point plan to central and local government officials to press the case for more effective road repairs.

This includes making permanent repairs rather than using temporary patches, accelerating the distribution of pothole-repair funding, and full transparency from local authorities on their progress in tackling backlogs of road repair.

Other members are the National Motorcyclists Council, British Cycling, IAM RoadSmart, the British Motorcyclists Federation and pothole repair machine manufacturer JCB.

AA president Edmund King said: “Last year, AA patrols dealt with more than 600,000 pothole-related incidents which on a national scale will have cost drivers almost half a billion pounds.

“Currently, we often have a vicious circle of: pothole formed; damage caused; pothole patched; pothole reappears with more damage caused. What we need are more permanent repairs.”

The RAC announced it has joined forces with technology company Metricell to encourage drivers to use a new mobile app named Stan to automatically collect data on road conditions via smartphone cameras.

Metricell will share the information it receives with highways authorities.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Potholes are so much more than an irritation – they are a very serious danger to all road users which we fear will only get worse as the weather gets colder during these next few months.

“To prevent water damaging the roads in these winter months when it freezes and expands, we implore local highways authorities to completely resurface those in the worst condition and carry out more surface dressing between April and September on roads that are starting to deteriorate.”

In November, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to tackle “the scourge of potholes” with an extra £8.3 billion of funding over 11 years for local roads maintenance in England using money saved by scrapping HS2 north of Birmingham.

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said this “decisive action” is “the biggest ever funding increase for local road improvements and enough to resurface over 5,000 miles of roads across the country”.

Darren Rodwell, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: “Councils share the concerns of all road users with the state of our roads and are doing all they can to tackle the £14 billion backlog of road repairs, including learning from and adopting innovative techniques.

“Greater, long-term and year-on-year consistency of funding for the maintenance of all parts of our highways will help them achieve this.”

The DfT launched a consultation on Monday to crackdown on utility companies letting roadworks overrun in England, which it believes could cut congestion and generate an additional £100 million over 10 years to resurface roads.

The proposed measures include extending the current £10,000 per day fines for overrunning street works from non-bank holiday weekdays only to include weekends and bank holidays.

There is also a plan to double fines from £500 to a maximum of £1,000 for companies who breach the conditions of a project, such as working without a permit.

The consultation is part of the Government’s programme to support people to use their cars.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “After investing an extra £8.3 billion to resurface roads across England – the largest ever increase in funding for local road improvements – this Government continues to back drivers with these new measures from our Plan for Drivers.

“Our new measures seek to free up our roads from overrunning street works, cut down traffic jams and generate up to £100 million extra to resurface roads up and down the country.”

The government has announced new measures that aim to tackle street works that overrun into weekends and bank holidays.

A consultation has been launched today as part of the government’s ‘plan for drivers’, which aims to reduce the knock-on effects of delayed street works on traffic and travel times.

While utility companies can currently be fined £10,000 per day for overrunning works on weekdays, it doesn’t apply to the weekend and bank holidays. The government is hoping to change this as a ‘deterrent for working on the busiest days for road travel’.

The government also hopes to redirect ‘at least 50 per cent’ of the fines and ‘lane rental’ fees that authorities can charge companies to be used to improve the roads and repair potholes. It says that the measures could add up to an extra £100m over 10 years to improve road surfaces while also cutting congestion and journey times.

Roads Minister Guy Opperman said: “Being stuck in traffic is infuriating for drivers. Too often traffic jams are caused by overrunning street works.

“This Government is backing drivers, with a robust approach to utility companies and others, who dig up our streets. We will seek to massively increase fines for companies that breach conditions and fine works that overrun into weekends and bank holidays while making the rental for such works help generate up to an extra £100 million to improve local roads.”

Though the government said it’s ‘essential’ that utility companies can carry out vital works, it says that the street works carried out in England 2022/23 cost the economy ‘around £4bn’ in disruption to journeys.

The announcement coincides with National Pothole Day, with the RAC announcing on the same day that its patrols attended 30,000 pothole-related breakdowns in 2023. These included faults relating to broken suspension components and distorted wheels, and represented a 33 per cent increase on the previous year.

Last year proved to be a challenge for the electric car market, with the share of new EV registrations falling year-on-year.

Soaring electricity costs and the steep initial cost of new EVs meant private sales dropped quite significantly, and the news wasn’t all that much better for used models. According to Auto Trader, all of the top 10 used cars that dropped in price the most in December were EVs.

There are signs of things improving, though, with four of the five fastest-selling cars on Auto Trader in January being electric, with vehicles of this fuel type selling faster than petrol and diesel counterparts as a whole. It also means there are some terrific deals available on used EVs at the moment. We’ve picked out the best bargains available for a range of budgets.

Up to £5,000 – Nissan Leaf

If you think electric cars have to be expensive, the Nissan Leaf will prove otherwise. It was the first mass-market EV back in 2011 and now represents exceptional value, with early examples available from as little as £3,500.

For this low price, you’ll be looking at a Leaf with the smallest 24kWh battery, which will only allow for a range of around 70 miles. But if you only drive locally and can charge at home, it offers the potential to significantly lower your running costs.

Up to £7,500 – Renault Zoe

The Renault Zoe is another early electric car, being introduced in 2013, with plenty of used examples now available for within this £7,500 budget. Most of them will use the smaller 22kWh battery, however, docking the range to only around 75 miles. You should also be aware that some used Zoes are subject to a battery leasing scheme where you pay so much to Renault a month to ensure the battery is in good health. Ideally, find one with an ‘owned’ battery that is exempt from the lease.

But the Zoe is otherwise a stylish, well-equipped EV that is easy to drive and works well around towns and cities.

Up to £10,000 – BMW i3

Increase your budget a bit more and you could be behind the wheel of a far more premium EV – the BMW i3. Introduced in 2013, this electric hatchback continues to look the part with a design that hasn’t aged at all in the decade since.

It’s not the most practical EV, and one at this price will come with the smaller 22kWh battery that can only travel around 70 miles on a charge. But the i3 is a cool electric car that offers great quality and is likely to bring minimal depreciation.

Up to £12,500 – Vauxhall Corsa Electric

If you want an EV that is familiar to drive and look at, we highly recommend the Vauxhall Corsa Electric. Introduced in 2020, it brings the same sleek design as petrol versions of this supermini, along with generous equipment levels and a real-world range of around 175 miles.

While a new electric Corsa will set you back more than £30,000, steep depreciation means you can now pick up a three-year-old example for around £12,000 – similar to what a petrol automatic model of the same age would cost.

Up to £15,000 – MG5

MG has established itself as a key player in the electric car market, and its EVs are best known for one thing – their value for money. That’s especially true of the MG5 estate car, as you’re able to pick up a two-year-old example for just £14,000.

The MG5 isn’t the most stylish electric car, but brings a spacious interior and generous equipment levels, while you’ll have the remainder of MG’s seven-year warranty too. Expect a real-world range of around 180 miles.

Up to £20,000 – Tesla Model 3

Tesla continues to be the ‘go-to’ electric car company, with its tech-laden vehicles continuing to be some of the most popular cars around. They’re increasingly becoming more affordable too, especially the Model 3 saloon, introduced in 2019.

While a new example will set you back £40,000, used Model 3s can now be had for less than half of that. With its modern interior, strong performance and a real-world range of around 215 miles (even on the cheapest versions), it’s one of the best used EVs you can buy.

Up to £25,000 – Jaguar I-Pace

The Jaguar I-Pace is an EV that’s often wrongly overlooked. It was one of the first electric SUVs and even nearly six years after its introduction, the design is still modern inside and out and it’s among one of the best cars in its class to drive.

It remains on sale largely unchanged from when it first launched, and though a new I-Pace would set you back £70,000, you’re now able to pick up a low-mileage, high-spec example for well under £25,000. A real-world range of around 235 miles is excellent, too.

Nissan has unveiled the Ariya Nismo as its first road-going electric performance car.

Unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon, it’s the first time Nissan’s performance arm Nismo has turned its attention to electric cars for the road. The Ariya was introduced in Europe in 2022, with this Nismo model being based on the standard e-4orce four-wheel-drive model.

It’s the first Nismo-baged SUV since the Juke, and gets a range of performance and visual changes to set it apart from regular models.

Changes to the electric motor increase peak power by around 10 per cent to 429bhp and 600Nm of torque, Though there’s no word on performance, a 0-60mph time of less than four seconds is expected.

Nissan has also fitted a special ‘Nismo’ driving mode that maximises responsiveness and produces a unique sound that’s said to be ‘evocative’ of the firm’s electric Formula E racing cars. The firm also says each chassis component has received ‘special tuning’. Large 20-inch alloy wheels with specific tyres are also fitted, which Nissan says offer ‘superior stability’ and improved cornering ability.

The Ariya Nismo also gets a sportier look to go with it, with the performance arm’s trademark dark red colour being used across lower areas of the vehicle. There are also more pronounced bumpers and a rear spoiler lip that sits above the light bar.

The red detailing extends to the Ariya Nismo’s interior, while also coming with suede door cards and sports seats.

Nissan says it will launch the Ariya Nismo in Japan in the spring, though there’s no word on when or if the sporty electric SUV will be introduced to Europe.

Sainsbury’s has announced that it has set up its own electric car charging company, and aims to have chargers installed at more than 100 locations by the end of 2024.

Known as Smart Charge, Sainsbury’s is the first UK supermarket to launch its own brand chargers, rather than relying on partnerships with external companies. Tesco and Lidl, for example, use Pod Point chargers at their stores, with Morrisons and Waitrose having similar deals with external companies.

Sainsbury’s says it will be installing ultra-rapid EV chargers in the car parks of its stores, which can rapidly top up electric cars at up to 300kW. This is the quickest form of charging and means that many electric cars can be topped up sufficiently in around half an hour.

The supermarket says it will roll out the chargers at ‘more than 100 stores’ by the end of 2024, which will feature 750 separate charging bays. Sainsbury’s says this will put it in the ‘top five providers of ultra-rapid charging in the UK’.

A study by Sainsbury’s of 500 electric car users found that 80 per cent admit to ‘avoiding’ longer journeys because of not wanting to charge at public units, with the company believing its Smart Charge company ‘represents a game-changer’.

Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s director of property, procurement and EV ventures, said: “With our new network of easy-to-use and reliable charging points conveniently located in our supermarkets, Smart Charge will make a real difference to EV drivers in the UK.

“As one of the few providers to be focusing exclusively on cutting-edge ultra-rapid 150kW+chargers, customers can be in and out in as little as half an hour and avoid waiting longer with less powerful alternatives.”

Sainsbury’s says that its electric car chargers are powered by the ‘same 100 per cent renewable electricity’ as the rest of its business. The first 20 charging hubs have already been installed in locations such as Richmond, West London, Harrogate and Newport.

According to chargepoint mapping service Zap-Map, at the end of 2023 there were almost 54,000 electric car chargers at 31,000 locations, with this representing a 45 per cent increase compared to the previous year.