Monday, September 10, 2012
Are you having to put fuel before family?
I am about to pull you into a confusing and ridiculous dreamscape – just go with it.
You’ve just driven your car down a long road, and suddenly your car begins to take over. You let go of the steering wheel, but it keeps trundling along. It seems to know where it’s going – and soon you are in a petrol station forecourt. One of the pumps unhooks itself and turns its little oily eyes towards you.
It says, “You’ll have to cancel that Sunday Roast, mate. This is going to cost you more than you thought.”
All of a sudden, your pockets, which were filled with money, are empty, and you leave the forecourt feeling annoyed.
Ok – when I click my fingers you will wake up.
Right, so, how do you feel? Did that dreamscape hold some parallel to your real life?
According to Hyundai, it should do. A surprising number of people have had to stop visiting their family as often because of fuel costs, with 60% of families missing out on gathering together for the Sunday Roast.
Don’t despair though – there are ways to save on the costs of motoring. One of them is by driving in a safe and economically friendly manner. Another, which might help low mileage motorists and young drivers receive a cheaper quote upon renewal, is by purchasing telematics car insurance.
Get a quote and see if that Sunday Roast is back on the cards!
Photo © www.theedinburghblog.co.uk via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, drive, family, forecourt, low mileage, money, petrol, pumps, quote, road, steering wheel, Sunday Roast, telematics, visit, young driver
Friday, April 27, 2012
Diesel drivers don’t drive enough
Everyone’s trying to save money, and I don’t blame them.
Times are tough for many people at the moment, so it’s wise to cut down on any costs which can be reduced without having a detrimental effect on day-to-day life or safety. In an attempt to save themselves money in the long term some people have been buying diesel vehicles, believing them to be cheaper to run.
However, statistics from Glass’s Guide, the car valuation expert, shows that in fact the cost of running a diesel car is only cheaper than a petrol car if the driver travels 10,000 miles annually or more.
For some motorists, this isn’t a problem, but a spokesperson from Glass’s Guide states that the organisation knows a large majority of diesel owners are wasting their hard-earned cash.
Reportedly, 8,763,500 drivers of diesel cars drive less than 10,000 miles a year, which means that they would probably be better off with a petrol vehicle.
Potentially, this lot might even be able to save money by getting telematics insurance for low-mileage drivers.
If you think you might be one of the people spending more money than necessary on your car, why not work out how many miles you travel a year? You could save a lot of money, which will allow you to start buying those weekly take-aways again – don’t worry ‐ your secret is safe with me.
Photo © indigoprime via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, cheaper, costs, diesel, driver, Glass’s Guide, low-mileage, petrol, save money, telematics, vehicle
Friday, March 25, 2011
Young people faced with difficult choices
Can it really have come to this? Must it be that for some young drivers the choice is between paying for car insurance cover or putting a deposit down on a house?
Well, I for one hope that young people aren’t faced with this dilemma. Although the obvious choice would be to own a house, you still need to be able to have some freedom of movement. What’s the point in owning a house if you’re stuck in it all day and can’t actually move anywhere?
You might think I’m being extreme, but I’m not – for some young drivers, the exorbitant cost of motor insurance cover means that they are actually faced with this dilemma.
Said one young driver who was quoted £24,000 to insure his 12-year-old Volvo, “It’s enough for a deposit on a nice house.”
And this wasn’t some young boy racer. This was a responsible young man who had taken the Pass Plus advanced driver certificate.
And, astonishingly, in the same week another young driver was actually quoted a full £12,000 more for a policy for his modest grey Vauxhall Corsa.
Perhaps these two hadn’t heard of telematics car insurance, which saves you money by rewarding you for safe driving, but I’ve got a feeling that if they had we probably never would have read any news stories of their outrageously expensive car insurance quotes.
Telematics: it doesn’t make you choose between being a driver and a mortgage holder. But let’s face it, with house prices as they are today, we’re not likely to be able to afford a house for a while yet.
I wonder if our parents’ generation, many of whom bought houses in their early twenties, has any idea of just how lucky they’ve been.
Image by cheetleys via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car insurance, telematics, young driver