Many countries have been laughing at the UK after one of its worst winter’s for decades, along comes some snow and the whole country comes to a halt. Driving has been a nightmare in most counties, with advice not to drive being ignored at the same time employers, telling employees they will not get paid unless they turn up for work. We also must not forget the emergency workers, who themselves first have to get to work, car or no car and then attend the many accidents and cold related issues up and down the country.
Police cars, ambulances, fire engines all need to get to where they need to be and unfortunately, our inability to handle snow and grit the roads has once again had the world in stitches as they go to work as normal in with snowfalls twice the size as ours. The roadside assistance emergency services have reported record call outs with AA quoting 20,000 call outs in one day and long waits for those without their cars.
Certain other types of vehicles have been string through, like the mini excavator or mini diggers that have been used to clear snow throughout businesses across the UK. These vehicles are excellent for during on snow as their rubber tracks spread the weight across a larger surface area, so they do not get stuck, or rarely anyway. Many excavator parts suppliers have seen record sales over this cold period for that very reason, no wonder they use these in typical ski resorts.
The 4×4 owner has had some stick recently with CO2 emissions and taxation etc. But by did most of us wish we had one as they sped by us on the roads. Let’s be honest this winter was unique and we will always get stuck in the snow, because unlike other countries we never can guess when it will come. The roads are clear now, so make sure you have your antifreeze in the radiator, and hope the snow fall has ceased for another year.
It is no coincidence that when the cold weather and dark nights arrive so does the busy roads as many more cars hit the roads. The push bikes get stored in the shed and the walk to the shops gets postponed until spring as more and more of us opt for the motor car so we keep warm, dry and hopefully safe. However as we lock ourselves up in that safe cocoon shell, many motorist don’t relaise that the motor car also needs a bit of love and attention to get it through the winter months. It is no coincidence that car breakdown cover patrolmen are far more busy this time of year, especially at night and if there is ever a time your car will not start it probably will be after a cold or wet night.
Lets talk about the basics of anti freeze. This is a product that costs no more than a few pounds, but is one of the most essentia love products you can buy for your car. I know dealerships that are snapping up old cars because of cylinder head issues, just becuase of no antifreeze had been put in the radiator. When was the last time you got your alternator checked? This is mostly a free check by certain car parts suppliers, you may think you don’t want to be sold an alternator, but you probably will think differnt that night your car will not start after a night out in the middle of nowhere because your battery has failed ot charge.
As for those motorists that drive around in newer cars, not expecting anything nechaical to breakdown, there is also the consideration of distance versus time. For some unknown reason, some driver assume you can get from A to B in the same time as back in summer, light nights and no cars on the road. What does his equal? It equals frustration,, annoyance and car accidents that should have been avoided. What is more when you add a bit of Christmas to the mix, you end up with stress and more stress.
The motor car was invented ot make our lives easier, but expecting too much out of our cars and driving habits is becomming the norm. Oh I hate winter!!
There are some very significant things that occur in peoples lives and one that really does change what people can do is passing that elusive driving test. We can talk about degrees or qualifications but even those can fall into insignificance if you cannot travel to that dream job, or have the mobility required to deliver the flexibility most employers need today.
Learning to drive will probably for most be one of the most significant things to happen to them, not only from a career pint of view but also from a social one too. The likelihood of all life’s dreams being on your doorstep is very rare and so owning and driving a car really does make one’s life different, to the point of it being an essential ingredient to modern life success.
Making sure you get the right driving tuition is essential, what you learn today will affect the driving in you tomorrow, so choose carefully based on experience and driving test pass rate. What is the point of saving a few pounds per lesson if you find yourself having to buy more driving lessons after you fail your test? Get an instructor that will teach you right first time and then it is up to you to how quickly you are safe to drive by yourself on the roads. Nothing within this blog has any significance until a driving test has been passed or at least the goal to do so. Everything based around the automotive world is based around people going through the same driving instruction and then the same driving test, before buying their own car and having the pleasure of maintaining it.
In 1969 a film that would represent the English culture at that time would be unleashed to the public, one that even today has a bigger following than back then. The stars were not Micheal Caine or Noel Coward but in fact 3 mini coopers painter read white and blue. These Minis would take on the might of the Italians, but because most of it was filmed at the Fiat factory in Turin, you will only see a Fiat in a good scene.
The Mini was born in the late 50’s but not seen as popular until the fuel crisis of the 60’s, then when big stars started to be seen in them, the country then followed, making it one of the most popular British cars ever. But with just about all of British made cars, they were either sold off to another foreign manufacturer or just disappeared.
The German connection is that BMW bought Rover who owned Mini and then made the new Mini popular again. Although it looks similar and has similar handling, everything else is different, from size to engine power. It was great to see the Mini back again, but most Brits would have preferred it had been done by a British owned manufacturer.
Of course the new mini inspired a sort of remake of the Italian job, but even with a few English actors it just did not make the grade for use traditionalists. This year sees the 40th anniversary of the original Italian job and many motoring programmes are doing stories an the old min and how it won Rallies etc. For me I wait for the proper remake of the Italian Job or maybe part 2, where we see what happened to the gold.
The figures for car registration have been released and saw a 24.8% decrease in new registrations over the same month last year. However some see this as a positive thing as private sales only dropped around 13% suggesting the £2000 bonus for scrapping a car over 10 years old may have had some affect. Then we consider we are measuring new registrations not purchases and that the scrappage scheme did not tart until 18th May it is possible to conclude that the real effect of this can not be measured accurately yet.
There are still mixed opinions coming in from the media. You will find customer who has traded her old car and gained money and then another who does believe there is much difference in prices than before the scrappage scheme.
As usual it is difficult to try and guess what the car buyer will do. On one hand high street shops say sales are down, but out of town DIY stores like B&Q are doing well and there was a little rise on house prices. So where the new car buyer fits in with this is anyone’s guess
The internet has brought us many things including the ability to get prices of good quicker and cheaper and that have also included the car parts market. Of course the used car parts market was something different in that breaker yards often have a different inventory each day as cars came and were dismantled within their business. It became hard to add stock on an online database, so a new system had to be created to allow used car part suppliers to quote on what was available and the condition that particular item was in.
One such system is called CarSpareFinder which allows a consumer to add their required part details into a system which when a used car parts suppliers see the details can fill in a simple quote form and that price will be sent direct to the consumers email box.
This is a great online system to allow a consumer to compare used car prices and benefit from those prices offered. Often one breaker has a totally different price structure than another and real bargains can be found, the only other deciding factor being delivery costs. To get an idea of how this car part locator system works we have their video direct from CarSpareFinder.