Author: Sarah
Diesel Sports cars
Historically, diesel cars have always been known for their good fuel economy giving a reasonably high miles per gallon. Before the release of the turbo diesel, many of them were very sluggish and for that reason put a lot of people off, but adding a turbo to a diesel engine allowed it to still be economical but also have enough power to satisfy the average driver. Over recent years diesel cars have come on leaps and bounds. They are now often seen as the favourite choice even for drivers looking for something with a bit of poke. With diesel prices similar to that of petrol at present, diesel really is proving to be a good buy. If you are looking to buy a new or second hand car, then try...
Car tax online
The car taxing system is now available online making it a lot easier for car owners to renew and tax used cars. If you are the registered keeper of the vehicle then you will receive a tax reminded that will contain a reference number. By visiting the government website you can enter this information and then chose how you wish to tax the vehicle. The DVLA are now letting people pay for car tax by monthly direct debit, spreading the cost out. The system will check for a valid MOT and insurance and will not let you proceed if you do not have both of these in place. If you have recently bought the car then you will need to use the reference number of the green part of the...
Parking woes
Some people dread parking their car. It may be that they are not very confident, that they have recently acquired the car or that it is a rental or new / looked after car and they are worried about it getting damaged. You will often see (usually expensive cars) parked across two spaces in a supermarket car park for example, although the owners do it to try and prevent their car from being damaged this is selfish and you may find yourself lumbered with a parking ticket for doing so. When finding a place to park, make sure that you are confident that you have enough room to park your car whilst allowing for the other people to get in and out of their vehicle. Parking too close to someone...
Avoiding MOT failures
A MOT can be a costly part of running a car. Every car that is over three years old needs to have a valid MOT certificate to be driven on the roads in the UK. Often you may not find out what is wrong with your car in terms of it passing an MOT until you take it in and this can make it very hard to budget for it. An MOT test can cost as little as £20 but you may then be presented with a quote for hundreds of pounds of work that needs doing to the car in order to get it to pass. There are a number of components that are checked during an MOT test and some of them have to be done using specialist...
Why do diesel cars cost more?
Diesel cars and vans usually come with a larger price tag than the equivalent petrol and also diesel fuel is often more to buy than petrol. This is because diesel cars tend to do more miles to the gallon than petrol and therefore push the purchase price up. Also diesel cars tend to last longer, i.e. many diesel cars will easily do 200,000 miles plus with no problem where as a petrol car is often coming to the end of its life at this stage. Diesel cars cost more to make (on average) than petrol equivalent and have been designed to last longer, although this is not so much the case with new cars of today. Although diesel has predominately always been the more expensive fuel, only in the last...