Recently there was good news as Saab was saved from the scrap heap due to the recession meaning General Motors cutting them out of their plans. Dutch supercar maker Spyker confirmed they had completed a deal to buy the Swedish company from owner General Motors.

I remember having a 1991 H Reg Saab 9000. It was a 2.0L petrol car with an automatic transmission and was such a good reliable car. The car is still running now is looked after properly, even if at nearly 20 years of age it doesn’t run quite like it used to. In terms of fuel economy it wasn’t great but the best thing about this car was the heated seats! All winter I would use them and they were a great feature to have. So the news that Saab have been sold and not completely gone out of business is great news, I hope they start building the cars more like they used to before General Motors.

German car tuners Gemballa are going to work on 25 Ferrari Enzo’s to suit the lucky owners of these magnificent cars. The power that they produce will be 700 bhp and with a wide range of aerodynamic changes including wide arches, reprofiled nose, roof scoop, assorted gills and a massive rear wing -this car will go like the clappers. It is inspired by a jet fighter by the looks of it, and while many purists will wonder what on earth the car looks like - I think it looks strangely attractive.

On the inside it’s a mix of equally brash touches. Leather is standard and there is a revised centre console which includes a 950-watt stereo system with seven-inch touchscreen. It is unlikely that Enzo Ferrari himself would approve of this tuning but it is undoubtedly a fantastic car with the look of a Stormtrooper from Star Wars.

Britain’s bestselling car is here, and the look of car has changed dramatically. This new look which you can see has been based around the look of the Ka and Fiesta will be an ambitious evolution of the most popular car in Britain. Prices for the range are yet to be confirmed but the standard models are likely to cost from £15,000 which is good considering the changes and improvements Ford have made.

Ford will offer a range of engines from the new series of turbocharged EcoBoost systems. There will be a British built 1.6 litre petrol engine with between 148bhp and 178bhp as well as a 2.0 litre petrol providing 203bhp. There will also be a 2.0 litre TDCi diesel engine for the eco-friendly amongst us which is likely to offer between 134 and 160bhp. There will be a hatchback model and also the less popular saloon to choose from.

In general you don’t usually think of GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems until you have the need for it, i.e. in the unfortunate event of your vehicle being stolen, currently vehicle manufactures usually only offer GPS vehicle tracking as an add-on to a standard package as a chargeable addition extra, however it comes highly recommended as the chances of recovering your vehicle increases considerably.

Additionally GPS vehicle tracking systems are commonly used on Hire Vehicles to track your whereabouts should you breakdown. Up on calling the breakdown company and giving your registration number the roadside assistance team can identify exactly where you are and get a repair vehicle out to you.

Vehicle tracking systems vary, generally for businesses with a fleet of vehicles you can view your fleet locations, speed and status throughout the day. This would then allow you to ensure your fleet is most productive, better respond to customer deadlines and cut fuel costs. They also allow you to plan routes, give customers better response times and keep them updated with times of delivery and pickups.

With some of the advanced GPS tracking systems you can use and manipulate the data to check the speed of the vehicles, the numbers of stops the driver has made and estimate fuel consumption allowing you to make informed managerial decisions.

You have been involved in an accident and have been advised that it will be settled under a knock for knock agreement.

You are not happy about this as it infers that you were considered to be as much at fault as the other person and you consider yourself to be the completely innocent party on this occasion.

This is a scenario many people will have suffered under the hands of a Knock for Knock agreements, but what does it actually mean?

Well, don’t get too disappointed as the term Knock for Knock Agreement is actually an administrative term used by insurers.

To be succinct and lay it down in basic terms, what it actually means is that the two insurers have an agreement in place between themselves that they will each settle their own policyholder’s insurance claim.

Blame is not a contributory factor, it is simply an agreement between the two insurers which helps them save money by not arguing costs associated to the accident, negating any possible legal litigation.

Their correspondence and discussions will be restricted to the apportionment of blame.
That is not to say that they will still conclude that you were in fact partially at fault and your no claims bonus is to be affected as well as the other person’s but that is something that you will need to take up with them separately.

Just don’t think that if your insurer has elected to settle your claim on a Knock for Knock basis that you are immediately considered being partially at fault.

Occupation has been mentioned previously as something that can affect insurance premiums.

Whilst it is extremely important to ensure you accurately describe your occupation in order to secure the best car insurance premium quote when it comes to renewal, there are many other factors or changes, some more significant than others, that can affect premiums.

If you are looking to help reduce insurance premiums costs, it is worth remembering the following when it comes to discussing renewal or reporting changes to your insurer.

In short, pretty much everything except your name can affect the premiums charged.

You may think that having access to other cars may increase your premium but if you are also on your parent’s or partner’s car insurance as a named driver with occasional use, with some insurers, it can actually reduce your premium.

When asked about previous accidents, ensure you disclose everything, including who was at fault. Remember, if it wasn’t your fault but your insurer was unable to recover costs from the other person, then it is likely that you will have lost your no claims bonus which many insurers will therefore record as a fault accident.

Its worth bearing in mind that if the out of pocket costs by your insurer was less than the increase in your insurance premum as a result of your no claims bonus being affected, it may be worth having a chat with them to see if they will let you reimburse them their costs so that they will give you your no claims bonus back.

Ever wondered whether insurance premiums are affected by the state of the roads around where you live?

Well, the answer is probably no, but we will never be able to confirm that.

Generally, whether we think it or not, UK roads are an awful lot better and safer than some of those roads around the globe.

Take the road to Hana in Hawaii - whilst not overly dangerous in itself, the bridges on which it runs in places are in serious need of repair. Hawaii is subject to earthquakes which have affected these bridges over the years.

In the Australian Outback such as the road to Adelaide, it can be lethal. Not because of the state of the road but because drivers don’t prepare properly. It is so, so hot.

The road to Nepal, leading from Katmandu to Everest Base Camp, is extremely rocky and scattered with loose boulders from the unsecured cliffs flanking a lot of the way and at 4000 feet above sea level, conditions can be tough.

Moving back to the UK, we have the A682 in Lancashire where a 15 mile stretch is now considered one of the most dangerous roads in the UK having seen nearly 100 deaths in the past 10 years.
This nasty notorious stretch of road that has seen so much tragedy is located between junction 13 of the M65 and Long Preston.

It is sometimes inevitable to avoid riskier stretches of road and you will probably know exactly which ones in your area are more dangerous than others.

You can help avoid risking your no claims bonus by simply taking that extra bit if care when driving on them.

Swinton Car Insurance have revealed that some drivers are finding themselves having to submit insurance claims because of damage to their vehicles which could have been avoided.

According to their recent research findings, 36% of drivers do not know their vehicle.

Furthermore, 29% of these people did not know one of the most basic tasks; namely how to change a tyre.

Tyre conditions form part of the Road Traffic Act and if you drive around with your tyre treads which are less than the legal minimum, you could face prosecution, endorsements on your licence, and an increase in your next renewal premium.

Of even greater consequence is the risk of your car not stopping and sticking to the road as effectively thereby increasing the chances of you having an accident.

Tyre pressures are equally important, and Swintons research identified that 20% of people questioned didn’t know the correct tyre pressures for their vehicle or indeed, how to check them.

Drivers with a better understanding of their vehicles that regularly conduct routine maintenance checks are less likely to need to make unnecessary claims on their insurance.

If you are a parent, take the trouble to either show your kinsfolk how to undertake the checks or enrol them on a basic car maintenance course at your local school or college.

You will be doing them a big favour and helping them to keep their insurance premiums down.

Insurance companies use people’s occupation as one of their underwriting criterions when calculating an insurance premium.

Did you know that some insurers will view what is pretty much the same job in different ways? Would you consider the job of a reporter to be different to that of a journalist? Some insurers do!

How would you describe your occupation?

Whilst we are not in a position to question the technicalities of such insurance providers underwriting decisions, you can be sure that if they charge journalists higher insurance premiums than those working in a job described as a journalist, then they have, at some time, had their fingers burned and had to pay out more money and probably more often to policyholders that have declared their occupation as a journalist than they have for those declaring their occupation as a reporter.

Therefore, ensure you give as much information as possible about your occupation and you may even realise a saving on your insurance premium.

That is not to say you should lie, you simply need to honest and ensure you describe your job accurately.

There are always several ways to describe the same job but ensure you don’t mislead your insurer otherwise you could find you invalidate your cover.

Play around on those aggregator websites and you will see for yourself.

It’s a common theme and thought at the moment for many people in the current economic climate.

Downgrading to save money on fuel, insurance premiums and road fund licence fees makes sense. Cars are luxuries that few of us can afford to be without nowadays, but luxury they remain.

With this in mind, rather than do away with the car completely many are turning to downgrading their car for smaller, less expensive models, albeit a short term decision for the lovers of the big SUV’s and hot hatches etc. hopefully.

Here are a few that aren’t quite as hot but still offer performance of note that you might like to consider:-

The Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart is a good smaller, hot hatch offering 147bhp from its 1.5 litre engine. With it coming from the same stable as the Evo, there is some real pedigree. It’s quite a lot cheaper than the Golf GTI and Focus ST, lower insurance grouping and turns in 40.9mpg.

The Ford Fiesta Econetic is arguably the best supermini on the road and is now more eco-friendly. It turns in a staggering 76.3mpg enabling you to travel some 755 miles on a tank of fuel. Even greater news is the fact that it is only group 4 rated for insurance and with only 98g/km of CO2, you pay absolutely no road tax.

Driving around in town and needing a small car to park in those oh so tight spaces and you could be a lot worse than the Toyota iQ. It may be small and only around one foot longer than the Smartcar but you can still fit 3 adults in it.

Again, with CO2 emissions of only 99g/km means no road tax to pay.