Automobiles : Good,Bad & the Ugly.

[Oldsmobile-88]

Trouble brewing on the horizon with the bulk import of EV cars to the EU from China.

The Chinese produced EV’s will be about 20% cheaper than EU production EV’s due to Chinese State Subsidies according to Ursula Von der Leyer the EU Commission President.
If the EU put a higher import tariff on non EU vehicles which is currently 10%, the Chinese are likely to retaliate with their own tariffs, something that mainland European car manufacturers will be keen to avoid as they seek to expand EV sales into the huge China market.
All this is bad news for the EV market, that has had a sluggish year.
The UK market will be affected by some of the expected fallout from this, possibly higher EV costs, as if they are not expensive enough at the moment for the average car buyer.

 

[DB9]

Sort of to do with cars but I've watched a few Judge Judy shows and often its car related, Also often, she will ask "Was the car insured?" and ive heard numerous times someone saying "Its not illegal not to have car insurance in our State" Has anyone lived over there for a time and this is true? Here, If you don't have insurance and you get stopped, Your car is impounded, You go to court etc.

 

[Alistair20000]

Sort of to do with cars but I've watched a few Judge Judy shows and often its car related, Also often, she will ask "Was the car insured?" and ive heard numerous times someone saying "Its not illegal not to have car insurance in our State" Has anyone lived over there for a time and this is true? Here, If you don't have insurance and you get stopped, Your car is impounded, You go to court etc.

A Google search says having no car insurance is illegal in all but New Hampshire and Virginia.

 

[DB9]

A Google search says having no car insurance is illegal in all but New Hampshire and Virginia.

Cheers Al, Perhaps because some of the shows are quite old (Nearly 20 yrs some are) More States made it illegal? Just think its weird they say it as a "Matter of Fact" and very "Meh"

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

On the subject of insurance, when hiring a vehicle it’s always best to get the ‘bells & whistles’ type where every thing is covered. I always get that type when hiring a car in the US. Saving a few dollars per day is wiped out with a hefty deduction from your credit card if someone puts a small ding in the door at a supermarket or you kerb a wheel. This of course applies anywhere in the world with car hire.

A few years ago, I had a van hired for me via my company’s vehicle management company after my own was off the road for a few days. The management company had gone for the cheaper insurance option- the basic CDW type unknown to me(I would have queried it) Sods law meant i hit a deer which ran in the road late that night near Seaton on the A3052. A bit difficult claiming from a animal. For the sake of about £30 extra insurance, the management company got hit with a £1200 repair* bill on top of the hire.

*No doubt highly inflated.

 

[Alistair20000]

On the subject of insurance, when hiring a vehicle it’s always best to get the ‘bells & whistles’ type where every thing is covered. I always get that type when hiring a car in the US. Saving a few dollars per day is wiped out with a hefty deduction from your credit card if someone puts a small ding in the door at a supermarket or you kerb a wheel. This of course applies anywhere in the world with car hire.

A few years ago, I had a van hired for me via my company’s vehicle management company after my own was off the road for a few days. The management company had gone for the cheaper insurance option- the basic CDW type unknown to me(I would have queried it) Sods law meant i hit a deer which ran in the road late that night near Seaton on the A3052. A bit difficult claiming from a animal. For the sake of about £30 extra insurance, the management company got hit with a £1200 repair* bill on top of the hire.

*No doubt highly inflated.

Good advice here Olds

 

[Stelios]

Sods law meant i hit a deer which ran in the road late that night near Seaton on the A3052.

Weirdly I was travelling with my Dad once at night and he hit a deer on that road too. I‘ve also hit one too on another road again at night. They come out in such a way that you whack them hard but there’s no time to swerve or break

Luckily no damage but doesn’t half make you jump

 

[Spoonz Red E]

On the subject of insurance, when hiring a vehicle it’s always best to get the ‘bells & whistles’ type where every thing is covered. I always get that type when hiring a car in the US. Saving a few dollars per day is wiped out with a hefty deduction from your credit card if someone puts a small ding in the door at a supermarket or you kerb a wheel. This of course applies anywhere in the world with car hire.

A few years ago, I had a van hired for me via my company’s vehicle management company after my own was off the road for a few days. The management company had gone for the cheaper insurance option- the basic CDW type unknown to me(I would have queried it) Sods law meant i hit a deer which ran in the road late that night near Seaton on the A3052. A bit difficult claiming from a animal. For the sake of about £30 extra insurance, the management company got hit with a £1200 repair* bill on top of the hire.

*No doubt highly inflated.

Definitely a bit on the deer side.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

Weirdly I was travelling with my Dad once at night and he hit a deer on that road too. I‘ve also hit one too on another road again at night. They come out in such a way that you whack them hard but there’s no time to swerve or break

Luckily no damage but doesn’t half make you jump

The engine noise seems to startle them to run into the road.

My cousin was tragically killed on his motorbike on the road out of Exmouth(top of Hulham Rd about 400 yds before the T junction) in 2000 by a deer jumping out of a field. It happened just after 6.30am in January, hence it was still dark. The investigation speculated that when he changed gear, the brief high revving startled the deer into running in the road via jumping a hedge, which caused the fatal collision.

Such is fate, his wife wanted him to drive the car to work that day, rather than ride his motorcycle

 

[contrabombarde]

On the same topic, it's worth mentioning that deer are often together in pairs. A mate of mine who was aware of this had a deer run across, inches in front of his car. He stopped in case there was a second deer and sure enough the second one ran out and smacked into the side of his car. If he had kept going he would have missed it.