How to save hundreds of pounds on your next Mitsubishi

MITSUBISHI has announced a New Year deals involving savings right across its model range.

The offers include pre-VAT discounts on the L200 pickup truck, Outlander off-roader and ASX hatchback, and a zero per cent hire purchase on the Mirage supermini.

For a full round-up of the current offers, go online to www.mitsubishi.co.uk or pop into your nearest dealer.

Motoring groups give 2013 Budget a mixed reaction

GROUPS representing the nation's motorists have shared their thoughts on what this year's Budget could mean for your automotive wallet.

Chancellor George Osborne revealed a number of measures which will affect the cost of owning and running a car, including a proposed freeze in fuel duty rises later this year, which have met with a mixed reaction from motoring organisations.

The fuel duty freeze got a particularly warm welcome, with Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, saying: “This news provides breathing space for families being smothered by the soaring costs of motoring, especially the 800,000 households spending more than a quarter of their income on operating a vehicle.

"Through this move, the chancellor will lose about £1bn a year in duty and VAT income, but tens of thousands of people will be saved from being forced to give up their cars against a backdrop of generally rising running costs.

"Freezing fuel duty does nothing to help the millions who rely on public transport. Bus services are seeing year-on-year cuts and government is still committed to above-inflation rail fares rises."

The chancellor, George Osborne, said: "We inherited a fuel duty escalator that would have seen above inflation increases in every year of this Parliament. We abolished the escalator and now we’ve now frozen fuel duty for two years. This has not been easy. The Government has foregone £6billion in revenues to date."

However, AA president Edmund King described the move as "relief, rather than joy" for drivers, while other transport groups were less supportive of the measures.

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "Freezing fuel duty does nothing to help the millions who rely on public transport.

"Bus services are seeing year-on-year cuts and government is still committed to above-inflation rail fares rises."

Nissan, meanwhile, publicly expressed delight that Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax levels - such as its LEAF model - will now be set at 5%, rather than 13% as previously.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "The Budget announcement means that by keeping BIK rates for company EV drivers at the lowest rate, more will look to choose an EV like the LEAF as their next company car.

"This should increase EV sales, at the same time as helping bring down emission levels which is a priority both for companies meeting their corporate CSR objectives and for cities such as London to meet future EU emission targets."

Do you think the 2013 Budget has helped or hindered motorists? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below...

Why the Dacia Sandero could be my sort of car

THIS WEEK I’ve mostly been waiting to find out which of my favourite foods is laced with horsemeat. Given some of the shocking stuff sat in the icy depths of my freezer, it’s almost inevitable.

I can’t be the only person in Britain who isn’t especially bothered, though –surely a bottom-of-the-range spaghetti bolog-neighs wouldn’t taste any better even if it didn’t have horsemeat in it? As long as it’s cheap, tastes vaguely nice and doesn’t instigate a trip to the doctor, I really couldn’t care less. All of which brings me to Dacia.

The company is Renault’s recession-busting riposte to all those credit-crunched UK motorists who want a cheap new car and nothing else – and, given all the non-petrolheads I know who simply want to get to work for as little as possible, that’s quite a few of us cash-strapped Brits. It’s not the first time you’ve able to buy a Dacia in this country – off-road enthusiasts with particularly long memories might just about recall the original Duster 4x4 of the 1980s variety – but the brand’s reintroduction here, having proven a hit on the continent, couldn’t be more perfectly timed. Think of it as Renault’s “Everyday Value” range.

It’s the sort of car my mate Tom, who’s just bought a Kia solely because it’s cheap and generously equipped on the warranty front, would get in an instant. None of this Taste The Difference motoring malarkey I go for – in the same way I’m not going to spend over the odds on a Marco Pierre White burger, he’s not going to stump up a car with GTI on its rump. In fact, a Dacia Sandero GTI would be a bit of an automotive oxymoron.

I’ve yet to drive the Sandero but of all of 2013’s new arrivals it’s one I’m particularly keen to try, partly because a) with no sign of an economic revival any time soon, Britain’s cheapest new car couldn’t be more relevant, and more importantly b) it looks like the kind of car I’d enjoy. Not only is it utterly unpretentious in just about every way, but because it’s small, light and unspoilt by unnecessary gadgets it could be just as much fun as the Citroen C1, the Toyota IQ and the Suzuki Swift Sport. Small cars are fun, so I’m looking forward to the Sandero.

But what particularly brightened my day when checking out Dacia’s website was discovering just what you get for your £5,995. In particular, the section on the Sandero’s spec sheet entitled “Comfort and Convenience”, which reveals exactly what the entry-level model’s buyers will get for their – wait for it – comfort and convenience. They will get winding rear windows. They will get a heated rear windscreen. And that’s it.

Still doesn’t stop me from wanting to test drive it, though.

Is it any wonder Britain is falling out of love with the car?

THE doctor's been in and given his diagnosis. Britain is Castrol R deficient. As a nation, we are falling out of love with the car.

That's the finding of a new report, which concludes that we - and particularly my own group of petrolheads, the male twentysomethings - are driving in fewer numbers over smaller distances. Perhaps these days we can't be bothered getting in the car and driving to a mate's place, because it's easier to Facebook them instead.

I'd agree with the numbers - since the days when the Spice Girls were still topping the charts and the most sophisticated bit of handheld tech most kids had was a dead Tamagotchi, the number of young blokes in the North West with a driving licence has dropped by 18% - but not the logic. It's not that we don't still love our cars. We just can't afford them any more.

Motoring as a movement, no puns intended, is still being passed down to the next generation, if the number of lads younger than I am at classic car shows is anything to go by. Gigs like the Footman James show at the NEC, these days at least, are just as likely to draw fans of the original Fiesta XR2 as they are the Morris Minor or the Hillman Imp. I still shuddered when I saw an entire stand dedicated to the Vauxhall Nova!

Nope, the problem is the numbers; upwards of £1.30 a litre for petrol, anything in the region of £1,500 for insurance and the sort of obsession with miles per gallon which would have made a Rover Vitesse owner wince. Not that these aren't things we all have to deal with - remember, these days we're all in this together - and they're costs which most car nuts will still put up with, especially if they're clever and buy a pre ‘73 car with no road tax and classic car insurance. But I can see why most of my mates, even the ones vaguely interested in cars, give the idea an apathetic shrug before whipping out their iPhone.

I like the idea of motoring being a scene, a culture that gets passed down from my dad's generation to mine, which is why I love getting in these beautifully crafted machines, meeting up with likeminded folk and going on a drive to enjoy them. I just worry that in thirty years' time, the generation that follows me won't be able to afford it.

So the car, at least as an entity in modern day Britain, is a bit sick. Then again, I'd still take a Vauxhall Nova over public transport.

It's official. Car insurance is a rip off

AN MP and Life On Cars reader described excessive industry charges for car insurance as ‘dispicable and absolutely criminal'.

Southport MP John Pugh said he was calling for residents who'd been hit hard by excessively quotes and premiums to get in touch with him after he was shocked by the findings of a survey by the Office of Fair Trading found that insurers and garages were working to drive up prices and that the cost of getting cover had gone up in some cases by as much as 40%.

Mr Pugh said this week: “This sort of behaviour is despicable at the best of times, but in a recession when people are struggling to make ends meet, it’s absolutely criminal. "I've heard tales of courtesy cars being provided for a man who broke both legs in an accident and people who have been out of the country on holiday because it pays insurers to do a deal on with hire firms. There is clearly something rotten in the state of the car insurance market. The ordinary motorist is picking up the tab and it is about time action was taken.

"I would therefore like to ask Southport residents to send me their car insurance ”horror stories“ to submit as evidence to the Competition Commission. This is a great opportunity to clean up the car insurance market, and the more damning the weight of evidence the better."

Mr Pugh also cited the example of one of his constituents being charged £26,000 to insure a secondhand Citroen Saxo, despite the car itself being worth £1,000. The commission, led by Merseyside MP Louise Ellman, said that following the results of the OFT investigation that she was now looking forward to the Competition Commission working to reform the car insurance industry, and said evidence suggested that insurers, claims management firms, solicitors were exploiting motorists and inflating premiums.

"We found evidence to support the view that various features of the private motor insurance market prevent, restrict or distort adequate competition in ways that do not deliver a fair deal to motorists. The OFT’s provisional decision to refer the highly dysfunctional UK market in private motor insurance and related goods or services to the Competition Commission for full investigation is a major step forward.

"Like the OFT, we found evidence to support the view that various features of the private motor insurance market prevent, restrict or distort adequate competition in ways that do not deliver a fair deal to motorists. I will propose to the Transport Committee that we participate in the consultation announced today to make the strongest possible case for the referral. I now expect car insurers and the other firms involved to co-operate fully with all stages of this process."

If you live in the Southport area, MP John Pugh would like to hear your car insurance horror stories. Share them with us by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com or leave a comment below, and we'll pass on any correspondence to John Pugh MP. Please include your contact details.

A FEW tips on how to avoid getting stung by excessive car insurance quotes:

 • Shop around and don't go for the first quote you find. With plenty of price comparision websites offering quotes from a wide variety of insurers, you can avoid paying over the odds.

 • Sharpen up your skills. Motoring organisations like the Institute of Advanced Motorists often offer their own insurance schemes for those who pass safer driving courses, meaning you'll not only be less likely to have an accident but quids in too.

 • Swallow your pride and avoid sporty, high-powered cars if you're keen to save on insurance costs. In the 1980s there was a long-running joke that GTI stood for Guaranteed Theft Item, but it had its basis in truth. Lots of people like hot hatches, sports cars and off-roaders... including car thieves.

 • Consider whether you really need to claim. If your car's only lightly damaged, there's a chance the rise in your premium if you claim will actually be more than the cost of getting it repaired at your expense.

 • Tell your insurer too much rather than too little - they're often able to offer you discounts on things by offering you specialised policies, such as if you own more than one car. Oh, and don't lie - insurers will often refuse to stump up if they find any discrepancies.

 • If you're smitten with an older model consider a classic car policy, which have more stringent limits on mileage but can save you money compared to more conventional insurance.

 • Don't insure it in your sister's or your girlfriend's name. Not only is this technically fraud but the savings women have been getting over men are set to outlawed later this year anyway, after an EU judge argued that female quotes being cheaper than male ones was a form of gender discrimination.

 • Don't pay monthly unless you have to. It might seem more manageable but in most cases it'll actually cost you more, so you might as well stump up and pay it off it one go.

 • Be alarmed - not with the cost of car insurance, but in terms of how secure your motor is. Fitting a device like a Tracker or beefing up your car security might be pricey, but often insurers will offer you cheaper insurance as a result.

 • Don't be a journalist. Reporters, and other professions like estate agents, sales reps, and entertainers are all considered more likely to claim, and have to pay more as a result.