If you are in the market for a second hand car then you have to be careful where you buy from. At the moment the second hand car market is quite deflated, so it does mean that you can find some great prices for some very good cars, but you have to be wary of cars that are only going to cause you problems. The best thing to do if you are looking to buy in the near future is to make sure that you use an internet site which you can trust. If you just find cars that are posted which do not allow you to test drive them then you really should avoid these. Anyone who is selling a used car who is not prepared to let you test drive their vehicle must be hiding something.

Ideally you will be looking for something with full service history and twelve months of MOT on it so that you know that nothing major is about to go wrong with the car. You can never tell for sure, but checking these things should let you know that you have a good chance of landing a good car.

You will find that some sites on the net are better than others when it comes to finding used cars. Try to find a well respected and established site so that you have a better chance of landing a decent car.

The latest round of headlines about rising car insurance prices might have left you dreading your next renewal quote. But some developments are giving drivers cause to hope that the spiralling costs might show signs of abating in the next few years.

Clamping down on uninsured drivers

Moneysupermarket car insurance news reported recently that the prevalence of uninsured drivers in the UK is a major factor driving the cost of car insurance up. The statistics from moneysupermarket showed that one in six British motorists have driven without insurance and put the cost of uninsured driving to the industry at £500 million a year. This cost is the reason behind around £30 of extra expense on the price of every car insurance premium in the UK.

However, new regulations introduced by the government should make it harder for uninsured drivers to escape punishment. The Road Safety Act 2006 included a measure called Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) and this measure will be in effect from April 2011. The measure will mean every registered owner of a vehicle will require insurance for that vehicle by law, unless they successfully apply for Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) of that vehicle. Failure to possess insurance or a SORN will result in a hefty fine.

Should this measure prove effective, the number of uninsured drivers on Britain’s roads could drop dramatically.

Pay-how-you-drive policies

A new car insurance strategy from the Co-Operative looks set to offer cheaper car insurance for the 17-25 age group by basing the cost of premiums on actual driving performance and behaviour.

By installing a piece of technology called a ‘smartbox’ in the cars of young drivers, the Co-Operative insurance will receive real time information about the speed, acceleration, braking patterns and driving time of the drivers they insure. Under the new policy’s terms, the data sent by the smartbox will be analysed every 90 days and if the policy holder’s driving is judged to have been safe, they could qualify for an 11 per cent discount on their premium.

This kind of policy could be rolled out by other insurers if it proves popular and successful, giving young drivers a break from the traditionally high prices they pay for insurance due to the widely-held view that they are high risk.

Clamp down on referral fees

Another major factor that has pushed the price of insurance premiums up in recent years is the ‘referral fees’ paid by personal injury lawyers to garages and insurers, in exchange for information about car accident victims.

There has been a fast-growing trend of injury lawyers pursuing accident victims to persuade them to make a claim following their crash and the burden of compensation and legal costs that results is often borne by insurers. These costs are recouped by insurers through inevitable price hikes on their premiums.
Several reports on this issue have focussed on the large sums of money being exchanged between lawyers, garages and insurers, with many commentators calling for the government to intervene and ban referral fees. Should this happen, insurers may be able to reduce premium prices as the burden of compensation is lifted.