Jun 23, 2016
Over the years, I’ve had various frustrating episodes involving car hire insurance charges. However, a real low point was on a trip to Florida a few years ago.
We’d booked a deal involving a flight, accommodation, and car hire. As committed “independent” travellers, my wife and I usually book all these things separately. However, this deal was particularly good, and we didn’t really imagine that much could go wrong.
Having been stung for car hire insurance before, we were prepared for a couple of unexpected bolt on charges. But our experience at the car hire desk in Orlando took things to a whole new level. As we stood, tired and jetlagged under the spotlights, the representative explained our various insurance options – all costing a significant number of dollars per day on top of what we’d already paid.
The really shocking thing was how financially liable we would still be in the event of an accident if we chose anything other than the most expensive insurance package. The background thought that a superficial accident could end up costing us thousands of dollars was never going to make for a very relaxing holiday. So, like many people we reluctantly and angrily handed over our credit card – for insurance charges in the region of $500 on top of what we’d already paid for car hire.
Car Hire Insurance
This wasn’t the first time this had happened to us, but it was the most extreme incident. The fact that a pile of cash that had been destined for Florida’s outlet malls had disappeared before we’d even left the airport made us determined not to land ourselves in that position again.
The irony is, it’s actually really easy to protect yourself from the car hire excess racket, by buying a third-party car hire excess waiver policy from a company like ReduceMyExcess.co.uk. These policies can reduce the charges you need to pay to avoid a huge excess by 80% or more, and can be purchased for individual trips, or on an annual basis. If the worst does happen, you can claim from the excess waiver company.
As always, even if you have one of these policies it’s important to truly understand what you are and are not covered for. While there is no doubt that add-on policies are quite a profitable racket for the car hire firms, the fact remains that car insurance itself is quite a complex topic – so never be afraid to ask questions until you completely understand your liability.
That said, having your own excess protection policy is always going to work out cheaper that paying the “captive audience” car hire insurance price when you get to the desk. There’s something wonderfully satisfying about turning down all the costly added extras because you can confidently say that you already have a policy that protects you from a huge bill in the event of an accident. Next time my wife and I are fortunate enough to visit Florida, we’ll definitely make sure we hang onto those 500 bucks for the shopping malls!
Jun 3, 2016
We’re pleased to announce that we now have brand new petrol price apps available for both iOS and Android devices.
The apps have gone through months of development and testing and are completely free to download and use. They allow you find the cheapest fuel near to you at any time, and also to locate the best value petrol stations along your journey, so you can fill up tactically and drive further for your money.
You can read on to find out more, but if you want to jump straight in and grab the free app the links are here for your convenience:
Find the PetrolPrices.com iOS app here.
Find the PetrolPrices.com Android app here.
What can our petrol price apps do?
The simplest answer to that question is “save you money on fuel!” But let’s look at some specifics.
PetrolPrices.com Price Engine
One of the key features of the PetrolPrices.com app is the price engine. As soon as you open the app and log in, the app will find your location and show you the cheapest fuel in your locality. You can specify your preferences for default fuel type and radius either within the app settings, or within the My Account section of this website.
You can also use the buttons at the bottom to change what you’re looking at “on the fly.” This is useful if you want to check the price of a different type of fuel, or temporarily expand your search radius. You can even find a particular fuel brand if you wish.
The price engine also has a search facility. Type a postcode into here, and the map will zoom to your chosen location and show you the best value fuel there as well. Work is underway to improve the accuracy of searching by village, town or city, but, for now, you’ll get the most accurate results with a postcode search.
Other features of the PetrolPrices.com apps
Our apps also incorporate several other features to make your life easier and help you find cheap fuel without even having to visit our website. For example, you can do all of the following:
- Change all the details associated with your PetrolPrices.com account, including your login c.
- Set all of your desired preferences to help you find cheap fuel even faster.
- Use the “find location” feature to find the cheapest fuel near you – anytime, anywhere.
Where to find the PetrolPrices.com apps
The apps are completely free and available from the iTunes / App Store (for Apple iOS) and the Google Play store (for Android). Here are the links:
Find the PetrolPrices.com iOS app here.
Find the PetrolPrices.com Android app here.
Any problems?
Our apps have gone through extensive testing, but development is ongoing. We are constantly looking to improve the apps and add features, and working on the continual process of ensuring the apps function on the ever-evolving plethora of new phones and mobile devices.
As such, if you have problems using the apps, we’d be delighted to try and help you resolve them via support@petrolprices.com – we can look at your query individually and work with the developers to make the app as useful as possible to you.
We hope our petrol price apps save you lots of money over the coming months, and we look forward to bringing you more refinement and additional features in the near future.
May 31, 2016
If you’ve seemed to notice many more signs warning you about average speed cameras while you’ve been out on your travels lately, you’re definitely not mistaken.
The BBC has revealed that the coverage of average speed cameras on the UK’s roads has doubled in the last three years. The cameras, which calculate your average speed over a stretch of road, rather than catching you out at a specific moment, now cover 263 miles of Britain’s routes. There are 51 permanent average speed camera schemes in place at the time of writing, and plenty more put in place on a temporary basis, often around the site of roadworks.
The largest-scale scheme in place covers a full 99 miles on the A9 in Scotland. At the opposite end of the scale is a scheme covering the length of Tower Bridge in London – a rather scenic drive that people probably don’t object to slowing down for!
The Rise of Average Speed Cameras
The BBC cite various reasons for rise in popularity for average speed cameras. The first is technology. It’s far cheaper to implement an average speed system than it once was. According to the report, the cost was around £1.5 Million per mile back in “the early 2000s.” That cost has now dropped to around £100,000 per mile – still not an insignificant amount, but an amount that one assumes is easily covered by the revenue earned from fines!
Also on the subject of technology, it seems that on some occasions the powers that be are opting to replace old-style speed cameras with average speed cameras. The report reveals the surprising fact that some of these old-fashioned “yellow box” cameras still use traditional 35mm film.
The other factor, which will probably surprise some readers, is that average speed cameras are apparently “better received by motorists” than their old-school equivalents, at least according to the House of Commons’ Transport Committee. We’ll leave you to tell us if you agree with this in the comments section!
May 26, 2016
It was nine years ago when we first produced an article about contaminated fuel here on PetrolPrices.com.
Since then, a great many people have used our comments section to report incidences of contaminated fuel and share their experiences. As such, we thought it was high time we gave the article an update and provided some advice.
A steady stream of contaminated fuel stories continue to hit the news, but there are also more isolated incidents that seem to go unreported, as our comments section suggests
If you think you’ve been affected by contaminated fuel – perhaps because your car starts to judder and feel unresponsive, there are some important steps you should take.
- Stop driving the vehicle as soon as you can so that if the fuel is contaminated, it doesn’t do any more damage to your engine.
- Contact a local garage or main dealer and seek their confirmation that contaminated fuel is the cause of your problems. If so, arrange for them to take a sample of fuel from the vehicle. You will probably have to pay for this initially, but can potentially claim for it further down the line.
- Document everything that happens, including noting all related expenses.
- Contact the retailer where you purchased the fuel in the first instance.
- If you need help dealing with any claim, make use of your local trading standards office or Consumer Direct.
- Don’t let contaminated fuel sit in your tank for too long. You will need to arrange for your tank to be drained and the fuel disposed of.
- Check with your insurance company with regard to how they can help you; You may be in luck if you have accidental damage coverage.
Contaminated Fuel: The Number One Precaution!
A key precaution that will really help you if you one day fall victim to contaminated fuel is to always keep your fuel receipts. If you ever end up in a compensation battle, that tiny piece of paper has the potential to make your life so much easier.
We’ve carried over the many past comments from the older version of this article. We are happy to let the comments section act as a forum so your can reach out to see if fellow drivers have experienced issues at the same garage(s). However, please note you are responsible for your own posts, so please ensure you are confident of the facts before singling out any particular garage.
Misfuelling
If you pull away from a petrol station and suddenly get a sinking feeling that something’s wrong with your car, don’t immediately assume contaminated fuel is the issue. You may have in fact have been one of the 150,000 drivers each year who inadvertently fill their car with the wrong fuel.
So, retrace your steps and see if this might have been the case; check your receipt as well – if it says diesel and you use unleaded, you may be in a spot of bother. It’s at this point that you’ll hope you added misfuelling cover to your car insurance policy – or even took out a dedicated policy to protect yourself against such an incident. Either way, it’s time to call a local garage – you should never try to drive a car that’s been misfuelled OR filled with contaminated fuel.
May 3, 2016
If you’re still one of those people who thinks of self drive cars as the stuff of science fiction, it’s time to get used to the reality. Volvo has announced one of the largest UK trials of such vehicles, which will include families being transported in “autonomous” cars on public roads in London as soon as next year.
According to a report in The Telegraph, there will be up to 100 of these vehicles driving themselves around the UK by 2018. With the speed that technology moves, it’s reasonable to expect plenty more trials of this nature in the next couple of years. Another has already been announced for Greenwich this summer.
Learning to “drive” self drive cars
Meanwhile, the European Transport Safety Council is discussing how to adapt driving tests to take account of the continual development of self drive cars.
One of the key points is in training drivers when to decide to “take back control” of a vehicle that is designed to be autonomous. One can imagine this being quite a judgement call when trust is placed in the hands (or wheels) of a machine! It will therefore be key to ensure drivers understand how the underlying technology works. According to the report, the self drive cars themselves will also have to be capable of passing a driving test!
In other related recent news, The Telegraph has also been discussing autonomous features that are already reasonably widespread, specifically autonomous breaking, which can spot upcoming hazards and brake if you fail to yourself.
Apparently, studies show that cars with these systems can reduce incidents of driving into the vehicle in front by nearly 40%. However, thanks to confusion over the naming conventions of these systems, they’re not being adopted by drivers as quickly as would be ideal.
As the functionality of self drive cars improves, the real battle will be to persuade traditional drivers to trust them. A recent study suggested that 75% of US drivers “fear” these autonomous vehicles. Let us know what you think in the comments!
