New Study Reveals Most Likely MOT Failures

Cars most likely to fail the MOT are revealed in a comprehensive study of top selling motors. Should you be thinking of buying a new car any time soon, think about getting a gap insurance quote and if the car is a few years old find out if the car you are about to buy has a car warranty as extended car warranties are an essential part of todays motoring costs.

Halfords-owned Nationwide Autocentres, which performs more MOTs than any other garage group, has undertaken research which details the how cars perform when it comes to the annual road worthiness test.

It found that three year old Renault Meganes examined in 2009 had a one in four chance of failing, while similarly aged Vauxhall Corsas had a one in five chance.

For five year old cars, the Corsa had the biggest number of failures, 39%, while over a third (35%) of Meganes failed. This compared with 1 in 5 Ford Fiestas, which was shown to be the best performer of the top 10 selling model of that year.

5 Easy Ways To Reduce Your Auto Insurance Rates

(Posted by 21st Century Insurance at benzinga.com)

Everyone is looking for ways to save money these days, and sometimes you can find big savings in places you never considered. One of the hidden gems is your auto insurance policy. Many people go for years without comparing rates or adjusting their policies, which often leads to overpaying. Here are five easy ways that you can reduce your auto insurance rates:

1) Bundle your insurance. Many insurers give big discounts to customers that bundle their auto insurance with either their homeowners or renters insurance policy. Some offer rates up to 20% lower when combined, while others only 5%. If your current insurer doesn’t have a bundled rate, call an agent or do some quick online quotes to see if a competitor can do better. You’ll also see very low rate increases on a second (or third) car on a single policy, so check that any vehicles you are insuring are together in one policy for added savings. For full article click here

Drivers Get Sneaky With Their Car Insurance Claims

Online car insurer swiftcover.com says motorists are trying to pass off old damage and normal wear and tear to their vehicles as part of genuine car insurance claims in order to get their insurers to pay for all their repairs. Now the company has published the top insurance claims tricks and misconceptions.

When you're involved in an accident or an insurance claim, your insurer - or the other driver's insurer if it wasn't your fault - will pay to fix the damage and get your vehicle back on the road. But swiftcover.com says that some drivers are confused about what is actually covered in a claim, whilst other sneaky motorists try and claim for things they know full well are not covered by insurance.

swiftcover.com's top insurance claims tricks and misconceptions

1. The "Two For One" claim

The trick: A driver will pass-off old damage to their vehicle as being caused by the accident they are claiming for hoping that the insurance claim will cover repairs they have been unable to pay for.

The reality: Insurance assessors and garages can spot old damage and dents that were clearly not caused by the accident the driver is claiming for and will not do the repair work. Passing off old damage as part of the accident is fraud, and insurers carry out audits to make sure that garages are playing fair.

Lenders Fight Back Against Motor Fraud

Lenders and dealers are working together to tackle motor finance fraud. The Finance & Leasing Association's statistics show that only 8.7% of attempted motor finance frauds succeed. And of those that do succeed, 44% of the cars involved are recovered by lenders.

The FLA (which financed more than 46% of all new car registrations in the UK during 2009) statistics reveal that in Q2 2010, there were 2,361 cases of attempted or suspected motor finance fraud. Rigorous checks by dealers and finance companies kept the actual number of cases where the fraud was not spotted down to 224. This figure is also down 5% on cases of actual fraud recorded in the first quarter of last year.