British chemicals specialist and sustainble technology company Johnson Matthey has pulled out of the UK battery industry. The company said potential returns would not justify future investment and it is instead looking into hydrogen and decarbonisation systems for transport. Vertu Motors says Brits need to save £6,098 to afford to be a new driver for … [Read more...]
Young applying brakes to driving
Passing your driving test was once seen as a rite of passage for most youngsters, but times are changing. The number of young people getting behind the wheel now declining, research conducted by the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, has indicated why many young people aged 17-24 have put the brakes on learning to … [Read more...]
Young drivers pass on manual gearboxes
The ‘green agenda’ is radically influencing driving attitudes of young people aged 17-24, reports IAM RoadSmart. The ban of new petrol and diesel vehicle sales from 2030 and the absence of manual gearboxes in electric vehicles has prompted 61% of the 1,000 young drivers to tell the road safety charity that they plan to apply for an automatic-only … [Read more...]
Learners knocked back nine-months by pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed learner drivers’ gaining their licence by an average of nine months, according to GoCompare Car Insurance. Lockdown restrictions meant driving lessons and driving tests were cancelled across the UK, causing chaos for thousands of learner drivers hoping to get legally on the roads. According to a new survey from … [Read more...]
Newslines 5 July
Over the past 12 months used car purchases completed entirely via mobile devices have soared by 48.7%, compared with a rise of 22.1% on desktop or laptop computers and BuyaCar analysts say that transactions via tablets, such as iPads, are also up, but account for little more than one in every 100 sales. Mobile phones are thought to account for a tenth of … [Read more...]
Learners are getting older, survey suggests
As driving lessons and tests return, new figures from a car insurance comparison website show almost a third of all learner drivers are over 30 years of age. Quotezone.co.uk data also reveals that many motorists spend longer as learner drivers than might be expected, with almost a third (32.2%) holding a provisional licence for more than a decade. While … [Read more...]
Tradelines 14 April
Marmalade Insurance says the successive lockdowns have created an eight month backlog of driving tests. It calculates about 1.16M provisional licence holders are waiting for test dates and it’s been made worse by instructors numbers going down. Peugeot's introducing a reduction in Advance Payments across the range of up to £1,250, in comparison with Q1, … [Read more...]
Newslines 26 February
The Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa pass the test with learners. They are the most popular models for driving schools says Veygo insurance. Five Welsh businesses have been included in this year’s best garage award from WhoCanFixMyCar. Euro Testing Centre, Cardiff; Keep Driving Auto and NGS Swansea; Motazone, Cwmbran and Greens Mobile Mechanics of Pontypool … [Read more...]
Learners and commuters boosting car sales
In what has been a turbulent time for the industry, car dealerships across the UK have been desperately trying to claw back car sales. To paint a statistical picture of the downfall, figures for new private car registrations dropped by 98.7% in April, the worst downturn in 70 years. Only 871 cars were registered, compared to 67,873 at the same time in … [Read more...]
Learning to drive is breaking the bank for some
Cost is putting the brakes on learning to drive. A study by Comparethemarket shows almost a third (31%) saying the cost of lessons put them off from learning, and a further 31% of people say that they can’t afford to purchase a car or its running costs. Nearly a quarter (24%) of Brits have said they simply don’t want to drive, and the fear of getting … [Read more...]
