Jun 9, 2015
As of this week, the UK counterpart driving licence has now been abolished. All new UK driving licences will now be photo card only, and supported by an online driving licence system known as MyLicence.
Here are a few basic facts you need to know about the changes:
1. According to DVLA advice, you should now destroy your old paper counterpart licence as it has no validity. However, this does NOT apply to “old style” paper-only licences (issued prior to 1998, according to Auto Express). These are not the same as counterparts and should be retained.
2. If plan to hire a car abroad, there’s a chance that the hire firm won’t yet have heard about the changes. The correct procedure now is to obtain a code from the DVLA website that will allow hire firms to view your driving record. As we reported in April, in advance of these changes, some confusion is expected in this regard and one strategy is to retain your (now invalid) counterpart just in case – whether you do this is up to you, but it’s worth noting that it’s against DVLA advice.
The official DVLA guide to this issue is available here.
3. Car insurance firms will now be able to access your driving record via the online system. This will allow them to quote accurately and (thankfully) prevent people from failing to declare points on their licences.
4. If you move house, you can change your address online.
5. While the older paper licences still remain valid, you will now need to exchange them for a photo card licence should you need to amend any details.
IMAGE CREDIT: Telegraph UK
Jun 2, 2015
If you’re about to take your UK driving test, it’s perhaps wise to prepare yourself with the knowledge that your chance of a pass is actually less than 50%. According to a BBC report, the current average pass rate is just 47.1%
More of a surprise, however, is the fact that where you learn to drive and take your test seems to have a marked impact on your chance of success. A study of pass rates across the nation has revealed vast variances between different test centres, ranging from 80% in the Isle of Mull, Scotland, to just 32% in London’s Belvedere region.
The level of traffic in the area where the test is taken seems to have a marked impact. All of the areas with the lowest pass-rates are urban, and six of the bottom ten are in London and the Home Counties. As the report points out, a learner in a rural area will likely know all the intricacies of the roads involved in their test, whereas an urban learner has to drive on busier and less predictable roads.
This is a rather obvious observation, but it is surprising just how much it affects driving test results. It really does seem that if you want a better chance of passing, it makes more sense to take your test in a quieter region – and that doesn’t seem particularly fair!
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons
May 28, 2015
If you live in one of the more isolated regions of the UK, you could begin to pay less to fill up your vehicle from this Sunday, when a new rural fuel subsidy officially comes into effect.
As we previously reported, the subsidy was ratified by the European Union back in March, but becomes law on 31st May. From this point, petrol and diesel in a selection of outlying areas will be reduced by five pence per litre. Retailers in the areas will be able to reclaim this reduction in fuel duty from the government.
There has already been a similar scheme in place since 2012 in the Hebrides and various other British islands, according to a report in The Financial Times. The new scheme extends to slightly less remote parts of Britain, including certain parts of The Scottish Highlands, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Devon, covering 17 postcode regions in all.
The FT report estimates around 125,000 drivers will benefit from the scheme. Unfortunately however, its launch is in the wake of a long period of successive fuel price increases, so will only go some way to redressing the balance. Due to the extra work involved in transporting fuel to these rural areas, there can often be price disparities that amount to up to TEN pence per litre compared with urban areas. Still, at least the new subsidy will provide some relief.
May 20, 2015
The UK’s police federation are calling for a toughening up of Britain’s drink-driving laws, according to a number of reports this week, including this one from the BBC.
The main change the federation wants to see is a reduction in the legal blood alcohol limit. This currently stands at 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, but the federation suggest changing this to 50 milligrams. This is actually far more in line with most countries in Europe, including Scotland, where the change was made last year. The remaining UK nations currently have the highest limit in Europe.
The police federation have also expressed concern about the drinking and driving behaviour of British women. Although the majority of drink driving convictions are handed to males, the male incidence of drink driving is falling, as is the overall incidence. However, female convictions are “not decreasing at the same rate,” which suggests women are not changing their habits as readily.
With Northern Ireland already discussing this reduction, it seems likely with rest of the UK will follow. Together with the new drug driving tests we discussed last week, Britain is becoming far less friendly to intoxicated drivers.
Despite this, there are far stricter places. In several European countries, including Hungary and Romania, the legal blood alcohol limit is zero.
May 12, 2015
Those foolish enough to mix partying and driving now have more to fear than the breathalyser, with news that people have started to be arrested and charged under new drug driving laws, as reported by Metro.
The new laws were introduced at the beginning of March, when driving limits for certain drugs, both legal and illegal, were introduced to stand alongside the alcohol limits. One of the first people to be arrested was charged with being “over the limit for cannabis” in South Yorkshire, according to a secondary report.
The new drug driving tests use a saliva swab system. Previously, police officers would have to use field impairment tests that were far more subjective. According to the report, the permitted limits for illegal drugs are very low, to the point that consumption the previous day could cause a test failure. The seven illegal drugs included in the test are heroin, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), cannabis, ketamine, LSD and methamphetamine.
The tests also look for commonly abused prescription drugs including morphine and Valium. Apparently there are far higher failure thresholds for these drugs, to account for people who take them legally on prescription. If you are prescribed one of these drugs, carrying a prescription in your glovebox could make sense.
Apr 20, 2015
As we mentioned at the end of last week, there’s surprisingly little focus on motoring in the main party manifestos for the upcoming UK election. Meanwhile, as widely reported, the AA are concerned that petrol prices continue to creep upwards when a recent oil price fall should really see them going in the opposite direction.
Although there’s not a huge amount of motoring focus in the election campaigning (at least not yet), there are some key points to note, which have recently been summarised in an article on Car Buyer.
The Conservatives recently announced a continued freeze on fuel duty, so this could be expected to continue if they gain a majority vote (and probably if the same coalition remains in power too). The Conservatives have also made more firm promises than the other parties, including £15 Billion in road investment, with specific attention paid to the A1, A303 and A27.
The Labour party manifesto says little about motoring, and pays more attention to the public transport infrastructure, particularly with regards to strong support for the HS2 train line.
The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are both taking an environmentally focussed approach. The Greens, in particular, say they will divert much of the £15 Billion the Tories plan to spend on new roads on public transport instead. They would also reduce residential speed limits to 20mph. The Liberal Democrats primary motoring-related policies relate to emissions, including a revamp of the way that car tax is calculated.
Finally, UKIP have some rather different ideas, including the removal of road tolls “where possible,” and the abolition of both hospital parking fees and tax on cars over 25 years old.
While it’s interesting to hear the different approaches the parties say they’d take, it’s important to remember that it’s extremely unlikely that the minor parties plans will ever move beyond rhetoric, as the polls make clear that they will never gain complete power. Furthermore, a hung parliament and another coalition looks increasingly likely, meaning compromises on the manifestos are a very real possibility
On that basis, it’s probably not wise to decide who to vote for based on any of the party’s motoring policies!
IMAGE CREDIT: Pixabay
Apr 16, 2015
If you drive a car in Britain, you’re probably more than aware that you pay a fair bit of tax for the privilege. This includes the annual tax on the vehicle itself, fuel duty every time you fill up with petrol or diesel, and VAT on the cost of your car and the fuel you use.
However, it may come as a shock that motoring accounts for a surprising 10% of the nation’s total tax revenue, according to AA statistics published by Fleet Point.
With this in mind, it’s little wonder that the AA is showing concern that motoring issues are being put on the back-burner when it comes to the main parties’ election manifestos. As things stand, it’s only really the Liberal Democrats who’ve said anything concrete, and that’s with regard to an increase in car tax.
In response to this perceived silence, the AA are encouraging social media campaigning, specifically in the form of a Twitter hashtag: #Vote4BetterRoads.
The AA want more commitment to political action on motoring issues, particularly in guaranteeing money to improve the state of the roads (the main issue for individuals they surveyed), and regarding the overall cost of motoring – which needless to say includes the taxes we mentioned above.
According to the study, 85% of motorists are worried that the taxes we refer to will be increased once the next government comes to power. The main concern was the state of the roads we drive. If the motorist is providing 10% of the tax to the government, then surely our roads should be in a better state than before. Fuel duty is a contentious subject but the freeze since 2010 has helped to bring some relief although the high prices last year haven’t helped/
Mar 25, 2015
Just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the fact that UK diesel drivers are being given a hard time at the moment, especially if they live in Islington, London, where they’re now being charged an extra annual fee for parking their vehicles outside their homes.
On top of this, the government seem to have completely changed their stance on diesel vehicles, now viewing them negatively in terms of pollution after supporting their use for many years.
Now there’s yet another part to the story, in the form of a Sky News report stating that diesel drivers are also being “taken for a ride” with regard to the cost of their fuel.
The story is based on comments from The RAC, who have found that although diesel only costs a penny more than unleaded on a wholesale level, the cost variance rises to approximately six pence more by the time the fuel arrives at the forecourt.
The RAC believe that retailers are maintaining a higher margin on diesel because it’s the fuel used by the majority of commercial vehicles.
The Petrol Retailers Association has defended the pricing, saying that a lot of the diesel fuel purchased in Britain is purchased for business use, using fuel cards, the use of which carries certain “tax incentives.” However, this will be of little comfort to those who have chosen a diesel car as their personal vehicle, perhaps even because the government suggested it was the wise thing to do at the time.
Interestingly, the “state stance” on diesel varies across European countries. Britain is one of a few countries currently charging more for diesel than for unleaded, but most other EU nations, including Austria, Belgium and France, all charge less for diesel.
Mar 18, 2015
UK Chancellor George Osborne has just delivered his pre-election budget statement, and it included some reasonably good news for drivers, in the form of an announcement that the current freeze on fuel duty will remain, cancelling a planned increase in September.
The Chancellor was keen to point out that this represented the “longest duty freeze” in over two decades, which apparently saves families £10 each time they fill their fuel tank.
The announcement of this freeze will perhaps go some way to pacifying campaigning groups. However, plenty of people were hoping for more, in the form of an actual cut in fuel duty.
Moving aside from the government’s rhetoric, there should really be some room for further manoeuvre on fuel duty. As we discussed in a recent news item, British petrol is actually the second cheapest in the whole of Europe, until taxes are added on in the form of fuel duty and VAT. It’s perhaps worth keeping this in mind before regarding this freeze announcement as “generous.”
In other budget news, Osborne also announced a comprehensive overhaul to taxes affecting the North Sea oil industry, to protect it from the fallout caused by the reduction in global oil prices. These changes include a backdated reduction of 10% in the supplementary tax charge for oil companies, as confirmed in a BBC report.
IMAGE CREDIT: Flikr
Mar 11, 2015
Car insurance claims are on the up in the UK, and this is having a knock-on effect on insurance company share prices, according to a recent report in The Financial Times.
The article specifically refers to a nine percent fall in the value of Esure shares, but also cites smaller share price falls for other insurance companies, including Admiral and Direct Line, and seems to suggest that rising claims and lower share values are a trend that will continue.
Lower petrol prices are cited as a likely reason for the increase in claims. An insurance sector analyst surmises that “more people are driving, they are driving faster and there are more accidents.” While the latter two points are quite possible, the first is somewhat at odds with a recent survey that suggested cheaper petrol hadn’t persuaded people to drive more.
In the car insurance industry, everything boils down to what’s known as the “claims ratio and loss ratio,” essentially the balance of what the firms earn in premiums against what they pay out. When more people drive further and faster, as will likely happen if fuel prices remain low, the ratios will fall at the insurance companies’ expense.
The likely outcome? Well, it’s probably not even that cynical to predict a future rise in premiums…
