Curious Driver

Europe offers a wide variety of vehicles for hire in its numerous airports since it is a common holiday destination. Whichever port, train station you may choose to get down from, you will be able to get a car for hire for your holidays. But, this wide range of car hire companies can prove to be a problem in itself in that it may become difficult to choose the best agency, with the best deals and getting the car most suited to your needs.

The car hire search engine that is offered here is very simple and direct so that you do not have to go around checking out various sites again. You can just input your details and a selection of vehicles will be offered to you; all the agencies are trust worthy and strategically located so as not to pose any pick up problems.

By entering your dates and location into the search engine, you will get a list of vehicles at relatively interesting prices through the database of car hiring agencies. Once you have made your choice, you can make your reservation and payment right online and when you get to the destination, the car will be waiting for you. No more paperwork to be involved in then, you can just get into your car and drive off.

One of the best ways to enjoy your holidays is to go for a car which can easily take you from one place to another. There are many places that are not accessible by common transport and so you really have to have your own means of transport for moving about and this where a private car can help you out. You might want to get a 4×4 if you are staying in remote places and where you will often go off the tracks for exploration; for this kind of activity a normal car would not be suitable and so you can get a better suited 4×4 from an agency. You can also get people carriers from an agency if you are travelling with your family so as to enjoy more space and make your holidays more comfortable.

You might want to get a luxury car for your holidays to get you around and there are numerous agencies specialising in hiring luxury cars such as Mercedes, BMW or Audi. You can pay a little extra and enjoy your holidays in the comfort of a posh car.
Once accommodation and flights have been confirmed, it is important to book a car as some models are very common and thus gone very soon while some agencies do not have many models of the same car.

There is now a lot of awareness programmes regarding the environmental impacts of driving especially about the effects of carbon monoxide emissions and a wider audience is understanding the effects of careless driving down the roads. Nowadays, there are green drives to have fewer cars on the road which are more fuel efficient and more environmentally friendly.

Another reason as to why pay as you drive is getting more famous is that in the past people wanted to pay less when they drove less so as to save on their vehicle insurance costs. Today, though, it has come to the attention of environmentalists that pay as you drive is a better means of driving as it reduces gas emissions to the atmosphere and hence is better for the environment. But before going into environmental details, we will see how pay as you drive works.

The pay monthly car insurance is calculated on a cent per kilometre rate which is in turned based on some factors like age of the driver, driving history and the type of vehicle. There is a certain fixed fee that you must pay for every month and you are also given some kilometres to travel for free. Once you go beyond that fixed number of kilometres, you must pay for the extra distance covered. A tracker is installed in your vehicle by the insurance company so as to monitor the distance that you cover per month. The tracker can also be used to relocate your car if it is stolen which thus adds to the security of the vehicle.

The reason as to why environmentalists believe that pay as you drive is a better insurance coverage for cars is that it encourages drivers to drive less which then results in less carbon monoxide emissions into the atmosphere. When you know that you will be paying every time you drive, you will want to drive less to save on money or else go for public transport. Pay as you drive insurance is readily accepted by those concerned about the environment who would rather go for public transport then or use lift clubs. However, in many countries, even environmental conscious people have to pay for their insurance coverage on a monthly basis even though they are making the efforts to reduce gas emissions to the atmosphere as other people which may not look fair to them then. But if they are actually paying for the time that they are driving, it is a better deal for them.

As can be seen, there are many reasons as to why pay as you drive is a concept that is embraced by a lot of people. While it helps to protect the environment, it also causes those who drive less to save up on their insurance costs.

If you find yourself at the test driving part of the car buying process, it means that you have already narrowed your car choices down and now have to see how they drive. Try not to test drive cars that you are not interested in as this how many dealers may trick you into buying things that you did not originally plan to.

Car dealers know that once you sit in an expensive car that appeals to you and drive it, you will come up with all sorts of justifications to actually buy the car. So, the best thing is to keep yourself out of such a situation and not test drive any car that you have not already selected which would fit well within your monthly budget too. Always remember that test drive insurance should be purchased if not already available. When you are test driving the car, go for the same conditions that the car will be put to normally. Put it on a nearby highway to test it out if this is what you are used to or look for some stop and go traffic if this what you are used to.

Check out all the safety features of the car such as horn, windshield wipers, headlights etc once you get inside the car. Many people get into unknown cars without getting accustomed to the important parts of the car and start fumbling with them right on the roads where such distractions are very dangerous.

Get in and out of the car a few times once you have parked it so as to check out the ease of doing so. Also, remember to check out the ease of getting in and out of the backseat (and front seat) especially if you have a family, to make sure that they will fit in comfortably.

For tall drivers, remember to check the driver’s seat and if it goes way back comfortably to accommodate your height.
A good idea is to take the car to a deserted parking lot and drive the vehicle around more thoroughly and aggressively than you would really do on the road but in a safe way. Also, keep the radio off so that you can hear any noise that may signal a problem with the vehicle.

These suggestions may help you get more acquainted with the car during your test drive and see if it is up to your expectations or not. If it is not, you can always broaden your choices but make sure that it is the best one once you are done with testing it.

It must have happened to each and every one of us when at some point we just had to have access to a vehicle, either a friend who badly needed to use our vehicle for some time or even ourselves badly in need of a car for a short period of time as in a few days or even for an hour or so. Obtaining temporary car insurance in such a situation is not as difficult or even expensive as one may think.

There are indeed insurance companies that can help you out of these situations and get you just the right policy that you are looking for so that you can be on the road in no time at all whether the car is yours or not.

The policy that you can obtain from insurance companies can range from 1 day coverage to 28 days even if the car does not belong to you but short term car insurance for under 21 could be a problem though but whatever may be the reason for you to look for this kind of coverage as in you staying over at some friends’/relatives’ for some time and there is a need for you to drive their car or even in you and a friend deciding to hit the road from one end of the country to another and sharing the driving is the most logical thing to do. This is exactly where temporary car insurance fits in, very easily obtainable in the blink of an eye.

For instance, if you and a friend have decided to tour Europe for a couple of weeks and get a glitch of some of the interesting cities for their beautiful buildings, one of the best options is obviously to share the driving and one of the advantages is that you will also get comprehensive insurance on your car or your friend’s car to cover you up during the Europe trip.

If you want to, you can even add temporary breakdown or road side assistance as in normal car coverage. You can also get this type of coverage on a vehicle for a business trip so that you are covered in any situation that may crop up in getting you to that crucial meeting.

You can easily get a car insurance quote from the broad range of insurance companies and brokers right online and directly from their websites in a matter of time which are all very efficient and easy to use and above all provide you the peace of mind that the vehicle that you are driving is covered.

I have noticed that there aren’t as many zebra crossings as there used to be, as a driver its great but for pedestrians this is causing many problems. As a result of fewer zebra crossings pedestrians are now crossing the road where ever they feel like it; this is both dangerous for them and drivers. Of the few zebra crossings I have come across, not many drivers stop these days and choose to ignore them and continue full speed ahead, rarely do they slow down or give way to pedestrians to cross.

In America they have a law for pedestrians that cross the road where they feel like, it is also called jaywalking. If you are caught or stopped you can face a fine or even a prison sentence depending on how serious it was. In the UK however there are no such laws to prevent pedestrians crossing the road wherever they feel like so the accident rate is higher for careless pedestrians.

Although there is notable difference in how many official zebra crossings there are pedestrians argue that drivers should be aware of them and slow down, if this is how everyone feels then people would be stepping out into the road all the time. More needs to be done to ensure that pedestrians are able to cross the road safely and those who don’t should be aware of the consequences.

The worst offenders I have come across are those with children thinking that they have right of way, this is very dangerous and annoying if you happen to drive down a road where school has just been dismissed, parents and children walk on the roads with disregard to drivers. They also step onto the road to cross over without checking first! I really hope that pedestrians become a little more considerate for people who must use their cars and have children present in the car when driving too as an accident can devastate not one but two families.

Young people cannot get or afford their own insurance because they are in the high risk category. They are already hit with a high premium of thousands of pounds even before they have done anything wrong.

By going as an additional driver on a policy can save you money but be aware that named drivers no claims bonus does not really count. Named drivers can be used to reduce insurance costs and here are two ways:

The first way is fronting. Fronting is when a parent insures their child’s car in their own name and adds the child as a named driver. This is illegal if the child is the main driver. If the insurance company digs out the truth later, the insurance will be invalid.

Fronting is usually used by young drivers to bring down their insurance costs. Insurance works out cheaper this way as the main risk is based on the parent who is a lower risk to the insurance company than the young driver.

Some keep their ‘official’ address as their parent’s address to avoid paying higher premiums for a high risk area even if they are living in rented accommodation and working in full-time employment/studying elsewhere.

The drawback of fronting is that insurance companies do not like it at all as it costs them lots of money when things go wrong. So this is highly discouraged and is against the law to try that.

While this will reduce your insurance cost, you have to be careful and maintain a clean driving report. If you have a car accident while in this policy, it will affect yours and your named driver’s No Claim, and your premium will also go up.

It is claimed that some 250,000 young drivers resort to fronting.

The second way is to insure a car in your name and add an older named driver. Insurance companies will reduce your car insurance premium if you have an older driver named on your policy. It often works best when adding an older female family member or work colleague who may drive your car. Some people put their mothers as the named driver even though their mothers never drive the car.

Please note that having a named driver does not automatically lower the premium. The choice of your named driver to your policy can either increase or lower your premiums. The insurance company will assess the named drivers age, gender and driving report.

If the named driver is young, the premium is more. If the named driver has a poor driving report, the premium is also more. So it is better to include a named driver who is older than thirty, has a long driving record and has a clean driving report. A female driver is preferrred as females are considered safer than male drivers.

So which way should you adopt?

Becoming a named driver on a parents policy is fine when you are learning to drive in their car as the parent is still the main driver. Once you have your own car, get your own policy and start building up your own no claim bonus (NCB).

Putting your spouse as the named driver is a practical solution as long as your spouse does not have a previous claim or traffic conviction. Since the husband and wife do things together as a couple, such as travelling together, be it for vacation or shopping to buy groceries, they can take turns to drive the car. Having your spouse as a co-driver for long trips reduces the likelihood of a car accident. This car insurance tip can save you money on your car insurance.

A few years back, you would get more petrol for the pound but nowadays it seems that the prices have gone up so much that you need like twice as much money to fill up your tank. Only a couple of years back, petrol prices were 90 pence a litre but these days, it’s way pass the £1.40 mark. On a small Nissan Micra, you could fill up the tank with £25 before but now it costs around £50 for the same amount of petrol.

It is very frustrating that petrol has become so expensive especially you rely on your car to take you places. The problem with public transport is that it is not reliable at all and if you must make sure that you are not late for an important meeting, then you will either have to go private or leave well before you should really do just to be on the safe side. Taxis are not cheap to get as well so it’s always easier to travel in the confort of your own car.

What is more annoying is the fact that many people enjoy visiting family or places in their car. You work hard during the week and on the weekend, you might want to give  yourself a break and visit your relatives or friends or just go somewhere nice. There are lots of places where you can relax or have a nice time but the problem nowadays is that it is very expensive to travel by car.

Many people can no longer afford to keep their car because it is getting too much for them. It’s a shame really but there’s not much you can do in a recession. Of course, it is good to use the car less so help the atmosphere and environment but that is not really the problem here. If more environmentally friendly substitutes were found that were economical for the average person, then yes, everyone would jump on the chance of having one. But to make petrol unaffordable to many people is just wrong.