Halfords is the UK’s number car accessory shop, they sell pretty much everything from fuses and light bulbs to alloy wheels and car cleaning products.
Halfords have recently said that they are making the most of their business from the fitting service that they offer.
So if you buy a new radio and aren’t sure how to fit it then for a small fee Halfords will fit it straight after your purchase. Ok so fitting a CD player into your car isn’t a big job if you’re fairly competent, but with technology changing there’s always a chance that you might run into a problem.

Halfords also stock a good range of mountain bikes range from the budget bikes for the occasional use to a wide range from the most well known and respected name Kona. They will also service your bike to make sure it’s kept in tip top condition and is safe to ride on the UK roads. Offering great advice on bike accessories such as lights and helmets.

Most of the Halfords staff are very knowledgeable even if only in one area of expertise such as bikes or camping equipment.

Halfords are now the main UK retailer for car accessories since motorworld seem to have fewer and fewer shops. Even the smaller stores that Halfords own have a great selection of products to browse through before you make your final purchase.

They also often rung great 3 for 2 promotions on things such as car products or camping equipment.

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Car leasing is rather similar to renting. Through this type of scheme, one can drive his/her dream car without the agony of paying the full price. It is ideal for private individuals as well as businessmen, as car leasing offers almost all types of modern cars available. It is also great for persons who want to use the most suitable car to fit their family needs. The concept of car leasing is a good one, though it also entails binding oneself to a contract, which could be quite expensive especially if one decides to break it.

Leasing a Vauxhall is one of the most popular choices for consumers in the UK. As a world leader in car manufacturing, Vauxhall provides great cars to choose from. Whether one requires a single car or an entire fleet, Vauxhall has sufficient resources to fit one’s needs. They are committed to offering a precise blend of performance, reliability and safety.

Nearly all models of Vauxhall are available for leasing and priced to fit the needs of their customers. These include the Corsa 3DR, Agila 5DR, Astra 3DR to name but a few.  A Corsa Van can be leased from as little as £189.99 p/m excluding VAT. Other more unusual models are available too, including the Antara 4×4, and the Astra Cabriolet). All of these cars can be hired under a 36-month contract.

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Recently one of our cars needed some new tyres 195/45 R16. We’ve always been against fitting cheap tyres as they never grip as well and your tyre is the only thing keeping you and your car on the road, so saving a few quid on some cheaper tyres at your local garage, might just cost you more in the long run.

After ringing around afew local car garages and tyre fitters we where quoted around £70 fitted per tyre for a Toyo Proxes T1-R’s so thats £140 for 2 fitted. if you go online you can get the same tyre for around £50 delivered next day and you’ll probably be able to get them fitted for £10 each. So a nice saving of £20 can be made.

It has been proven that branded tyres reduce stopping distances dramaticly over cheaper tyres and also offer more grip.
Remember to check with your garage as some will not fit tyres that arent supplied by them.

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Leasing a new BMW is often considered a better decision than buying one. When you lease a car, you’re only going to pay a portion of the total price of it. Moreover, it will cost you less compared to paying off a car loan.

Aside from getting the comfort and driving experience of a luxury car, there are many reasons why you should consider leasing a BMW. The main reason is that the regular rental price is fixed, which makes your budgeting straightforward, with no unexpected hidden costs if you stick to the terms of the lease.

There are normally two types of leasing arrangements: Full Payout and Balloon. Both arrangements offer fixed rentals throughout the lease agreement. With Balloon Leasing, the rentals are lower than the Full Payout Leasing Option. However, you might need to pay more when the lease agreement ends.

If you go for the Full Payout Leasing option, you should first decide which car you want. Then, choose your desired rental period and agree on a deposit amount as well as the regular rental fee. When your agreement ends, you can sell the car to any third party or any authorised BMW dealer in the UK and you can refund the entire proceeds of the sale. If you want to continue leasing your car when the agreement ends, you can pay an annual rental for another leasing period.

The same process goes if you opt for the Balloon Leasing; however, you should also agree to a resale value of your BMW car for the future. In the event that you sell the car for more than the resale value stated in the agreement, you’ll receive the entire proceeds of the sale. If you sell the car for less than the agreed amount, you’ll have to make it up to meet the resale value.

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Car contract hire has become a household term. In recent years, numerous car companies have sprouted up, offering customers classic and modified car leasing ventures. These companies have vast selections of cars of different class, model, and function. Cars of all shapes and sizes with all types of engine are now available to customers from all walks of life.

The mechanics concerning car contract hire ventures are comprehensive and not too complicated. The leasing client must familiarise himself with several terms that will be addressed in the deal, such as the initial and monthly payments, mileage restrictions, and residual value. Initial instalment amounts are calculated based on the car’s overall value, including interest and value added tax. After completing the initial contract requisites, the client can freely drive the car, provided that he keeps an eye on the mileage restrictions. Mileage restrictions are set to prevent the car from suffering the wear-and-tear effect of over-usage. Upon the contract’s expiry, the client is entitled to get the residual value if he sets aside the purchasing option. A leasing contract term can last for 24, 36, or even 68 months.

Car contract hire provides many advantages over the car purchasing option. One of these is its easy-to-manage feature. Another great advantage of car leasing is its flexibility value. One need not have the problem of how to resell an overused car on the market. With car leasing, a client can shift to another model and, at the same time, recover the residual value, which the client is rightfully entitled to.

By engaging in a car contract hire scheme, one will no longer have to figure out how to dispose of an old car. In such a scheme, the solution is just another lease away.

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Ok here is your list of new cars for June 2009

Ferrari California Open Top
Citroën C3 Picasso
Nissan Pixo
Renault Megane Sport Tourer
Lexus RX
Renault Scenic/Grand Scenic
Toyota Verso
Volkswagen Polo

Brief summary with each car

Ferrari California Open Top
Comes with a folding metal roof a coupe and a convertible. It does have 4 seats or what Ferrari call a 2 plus 2, but it’s cramped it the back so just use it as a 2 seater. Expect the optional extra list to be fully loaded and the car basic

Citroën C3 Picasso
Not a very pretty Citroen a high estimated release price at £10.5k. The best looking bit of the C3 is the Alloys.

Nissan Pixo
Bigger than the Micra but smaller than the Nissan note. Collaboration between Suzuki and Nissan, so expect it to be based on the Suzuki Alto.

Renault Megane Sport Tourer

Estate version of Renaults popular Megane, Expect it to be a big seller

Lexus RX
Updated version of the old RX but it wasn’t a great seller. The new Lexus RX will come with an electric motor, is this Lexus’s idea to try and make it green and a good seller

Renault Scenic/Grand Scenic
Looks cheapish and mass produced expected to cost £16,750. maybe try looking at a VW Touran

Toyota Verso
Updated version of the current Verso that is a seven seater MPV

Volkswagen Polo

This will be a big seller for VW a very sharp looking polo front headlights look similar to the New Golf’s

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Ok so F1 fans have been told that next year’s race has to be at Donnington or we aren’t having a British Grand Prix at all.

But there are a few problems that we can see.

Simon Gillet the chief exec of Donnington Park ventures is been sued by the Wheatcroft family who actually own Donnington Park. So if there’s no money to pay the rent there’s no money for the redevelopment that is needed.

Silverstone, after many years has finally got a good park and ride system sorted and local bypass built which in our opinion has greatly improved the experience .
 After going to the MOTO GP at Donnington in 2008 we find it hard to see how Donnington’s poor road infrastructure will cope. Claiming to have increased capacity to 100,000 for the F1 race, so at a rough guess that could be up to 60,000 more people and cars than at a Moto GP race

Yet when we went to the Moto GP, it was easily a 2 hour wait to get out of Donnington Park itself.
It has been at great cost to get Silverstone’s parking issue solved and running so smoothly, so why have to get this issue re addressed at Donnington.
check the picture below of the music festival download back in 2006, and pretty much double if not triple the cars, to imagine how many F1 fans would attend.

Donnington 2006 Parking Download Festival

Donnington Park needs major re furb work from, the grotty concrete toilet blocks to the hospitality area near craner curves that looks so dated compared today’s newest Formula 1 circuits.

Telefonica Grand Prix Of Europe Valencia

Telefonica Grand Prix Of Europe Valencia is a new street circuit but still a lot of the old buildings remain.

We will get a major insight this weekend with touring cars been at Donnington as to how much re development work has been done. We seriously doubt that Donnington Park will be ready for the 2010 British Grand Prix, even if by chance the Grand Prix is held at Donnington how much will be completed on time.

Deep down you get the feeling that Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t want a British Grand Prix as all the British circuits are all old and dated when you look at today’s newest circuits such as Valencia which hosts the 2009 Telefonica Grand Prix Of Europe. So if there is a one year break I don’t see it coming back.  Check Bernie Ecclestone’s opinion below
“If the work at Donington is not finished in time, we would be happy to skip a year, I don’t want to lose the British grand prix — that’s the last thing we want to do, but we aren’t going to Silverstone for sure.”

Singapore Grand Prix

The Singapore Grand Prix is on a evening so, that its a prime time slot for the european market. Where most of the advertising revenue comes from.

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Have you ever wondered if your first car is still on the road the head over to Directgov.

Below is the result of My Ford Fiesta RS  Turbo, which i owned for about 8/9 months way back 2004. You can see where it says Vehicle Status Unlicensed, i would guess that it is untaxed and or declared off the road.

Fiesta RS Result

Ok here is the result for my Toyota Starlet GT Turbo that i owned for around 1 year back in 2005/2006.

Clearly still been used on the road which i fully expected, and due to be re taxed soon.  Notice how cheap the tax is which the car been a  Japanese import.

And lastly the Ford Sport Ka SE which i sold only a few months ago. Showing that the Road Tax Liscene isnt due yet. But with the Sport Ka been newer it shows the C02 Emissions which are rather high.

Ford Sport Ka SE Result

This information is all pulled from the DVLA database of vehicle records.  so as long as you know your cars old registration number then you can find out quite a bit of information out about it.

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Not like the BMW Mini range is short on flare design or even trims, but BMW have decided that they’re going to release a new model which will be called the Graphite. The One, Cooper and Cooper D will each be eligible for the graphite model which starts a £13,000 for the Mini One and the Cooper D been the most costly at £15,660.

The Mini One Graphite gets the dark silver metallic paint, the common silver that you see Cooper S’s in. Two black bonnet stripes, white indicator lenses, Piano Black interior, 15” alloy wheels and a few graphite badges.

The Mini Cooper models get all the same upgrades but come with 16” alloys and either black or white bonnet stripes.
The graphite models would be a money saver if you could get the darker metallic silver on the lower models which you can’t. But could save you up to £300.

The graphite models are available to order now.

Mini Badge

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Looking at trading in your ford focus which will just qualify for the 10 year scrappage scheme. Then think again if you’re looking at getting the new Ford Focus RS.

Stated in the small print is a clause that any car with a 3 month waiting list may not be included in the scrappage scheme offer.
Not only will this affect hot rarer models like the Focus RS but it might affect other models if there is a high demand for them in the market place.

At the moment  BMW, Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Mini, Nissan, Renault, Ssangyong, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo are all taking part in the government run scrappage scheme which enables you to trade in any car over 10 years old for a fixed value of £2000, And they have all seen a upturn in new vehicle sales.

The only main terms, are that you are the owner of the vehicle and have been for the last year, it’s got tax and test and that you have a V5 document for the car.

Ford Focus RS

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