Musings on tyres

Oh how fickle the heart is, it wants what it wants. I have said it before and I will say it again. Owning a car is expensive. Owning a luxury car is even more so.

The underlying costs of owning a car is what really mounts up; insurance, road-tax, MOT, repairs, and fuel - are all part of the on-going drainage on the wallet. But here at the smart wallet HQ, even in the face of defeat, we will save a few quid.

Todays topic of discussion is tyres. Cars get a lot of wear and tear, especially if your job role see's you travelling up and down the country, and meeting clients and discussing projects - a mans got to make his money somehow. Of all the parts on a car, the part that gets the most wear are the tyres. They are on the ground all of the time and are subject to contact with mud, water, tar, metalworks, pot-holes, stones, grit, sand, rubbish, heat, cold, ice, snow - you name it, the tyre comes into contact with it.

I have recently discovered a split in the sidewall of one my rear tyre. The tyre itself is still in great condition, with loads of tread left on it. I am a little unsure of how the tyre split, as it looks very unnatural. There are 2 distinct cut marks on the tyre, almost like a stabbing from some sharp metallic object.

The damage is by no means extensive, it is just superficial and on the surface. The cuts are barely more than a mm deep. But it is alas, enough to warrant an MOT failure, or so I am told.

So, I will now need a new tyre. But no, to ensure even performance, and wear and tear, I will need to replace BOTH rear tyres. (you can image, the new tyre has more grip than the other, and then if you apply the brakes harshly - one side of the car will brake faster than the other, leading to swerving or spinning of the car - not a situation you want to find yourself in).

So, what are my options? Well, my first port of call to the Lexus showroom in Birmingham, 2 recommended manufacturer tyres - £155 each, plus fitting, plus geometry and tracking of all 4 tyres - total cost was just shy of £600. No thank you.

Part worn, again you cannot be sure of the safety of part worn tyres. I mean, they are all not bad and will not kill you, but there is a small risk in putting on part worn tyres, also as they are part worn, they will wear out faster, lead to MOT failures or problems faster than new tyres. It is in my opinion, not much financial economy to be gained using taking this route.

I then proceeded to call a few local tyre fitters, having experience with them in the past, I was a little wary. The tracking and geometry of performance cars is very subtle and should ideally be taken care of by a professional, who has enough reference material to look up exact angles, weights and variances to set the position and angle of the tyres correctly. A lot of small garages, use a string and hammer to measure and set tyres straight - which isn't accurate and may not be best for your car. Again, there were savings to be made here - I could get 'like new' tyres for £50 each, fitted - but again, there is no financial economy or reassurances on doing a shoddy job on car tyres - the only point of contact that I have to the ground at any speed.

Then I turned to a hybrid approach. My plan is to buy tyres online, at low markup. This is possible as a lot of online only companies have very little in the costs of storage (small warehouse or even no warehouse - stock is bought in, as and when ordered), employee costs (very minimal administrative tasks), and very little running costs (web hosting, no large office or building costs). Some reputable ones that I have found are listed below:

http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/
http://www.blackcircles.com/
http://www.tyresonthedrive.com/ (who will fit and balance tyres for you on your driveway, you will still need to go to a garage for the tracking)
http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/
http://www.oponeo.co.uk/
http://lovetyres.com/
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/
http://www.camskill.co.uk/ (Whom I have used in the past, with plenty of success)

Most will do price matches too, so you are able to research your tyres across all of these sites (read reviews and performance metrics), and find the cheapest and get them all to price match each other, to see if you can save a little money. Plus also search online (google: websitename voucher) to see if there are any current discounts for the site in question.

Well, with delivery of 2 goodyear performance efficientgrip tyres 245/45/R17 at £220, fitting at £10 (local garage, I then got Lexus to do the tracking at a one off cost of £99 - a total cost of £329 for what would have cost £600 initially. I also sold my old tyres through gumtree, as a set (clearly stating the issue with the defective tyre) for £60. (so total cost of £269)

Not a bad result, but it still stings that I had to shell out unnecessarily in the first place.

Car Insurance Scam: Scammed By The Insurers 3

This is a continuation of my previous post.

I went on to their Facebook page and decided to write about my experience as a way of letting others know about it, and thus help them if they were planning on getting insurance with GoSkippy. However a short while later I received a private message on Facebook asking for the policy number and further details. I did as asked for, and I was told that they said they would consider giving me an extension to provide the required documentation.

No thanks! No other insurance company needs scanned driving licenses and counterparts, and they also know how to use email. Furthermore, this hidden cancellation fee was outrageous, I just wanted to end the policy and move on. I conveyed this to the person messaging me and he said he would raise the issue with the complaints department.

So come Monday morning, I received another email, from the complaints department, who said that the £75 fee was final, and I was expected to pay for the 6 weeks of coverage (another £49), unless I could resend the documentation within 3 weeks - so that they could keep me as a customer. They assumed that I was grumbling about them not receiving the relevant documentation, however what they didn't realise, was that I was tired of their business practice, my real concern was the excessive fee and no matter what they did, I was leaving them. That really wasn't on, I was being charged a fee that I was not made aware initially. I was not fully convinced that cancelling a financial contract required £75 worth of man hours.

Clutching at straws, I fired off an email, mumbling about their hidden fee and I would be in touch with Southern Rock (the underwriter) and other financial regulatory agencies (in the UK, this means the 'financial ombudsman'). A day later I was presented with another email, but this was in a different tone.


"Firstly we aim to provide excellent customer service at all times, and I am sorry that you do not feel
 we have done so in this instance. , I am concerned to hear of the issues and challenges that you have faced with your Go Skippy insurance policy. I would like to reassure you that this is not the experience I wish a valued customer to receive.
...
However I do note that you have expressed your dissatisfaction providing this information and therefore, as a gesture of goodwill, upon cancellation of your policy, I will waive the cancellation fee of £75.00. 
...
Finally, and once again, please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you."

Now, this I liked. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I assume the mention of "financial regulatory agencies" may have moved a few cogs somewhere.

A small fee waived, but a large victory, over a large, greedy, over-zealous insurance company.

I managed to set up insurance with Churchill again, but as a new customer, my father was only charged £470, which was reasonable, and a lot less than their previous renewal price. So another small victory.

Beware: insurance companies registered abroad

Having read some comments on forums, it appears that GoSkippy have consistently poor customer experience, and use Southern Rock as their insurer, who are actually registered in Gibralter and not in the UK. Not sure how easy it is to deal with them, but I am glad I never had to find out.

Car Insurance Scam: Scammed By The Insurers 2

This is a continuation of my previous post.

After the phone call, I read all of the emails and letters they had sent me (luckily I do keep these important letters organised in a metal filing box). Now this left me confused, I could not find any letter or email that specified this £75 fee. In particular, their initial email stated:

"It is also important that you read the full Policy Booklet, Your Statement of Information, Your Motor Policy Schedule and Your Certificate of Motor Insurance, which together, form the basis of the insurance cover you have purchased to ensure that it meets your demands and needs and you are familiar with all aspects of cover given to you and in what circumstances this may be excluded or limited. Policy Key Facts and Full Policy Wordings can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on 'Policy Wordings' from the GoSkippy website"

So, I read the "policy booklet", "statement of information", "motor policy schedule", "certificate of motor insurance" and finally on their website their "Policy Wordings" (they have several PDF files, I read the Southern Rock one, as that was the underwriter for this policy). This is what it said about cancellation:

"Where We do not receive evidence of Your no claim discount, licences for all drivers named on Your Policy or any other valid requests to support the accuracy of information You gave Us and on which Your insurance Terms are based upon, within 21 days from the start date of the Policy. If We have not received such evidence by the end of the 21 day period, We may issue a cancellation letter and We will cancel Your Policy if We do not receive evidence by the end of the seven day cancellation notice period"

So I promptly called back, and asked where this £75 fee was stated. The same woman proceeded to open her web browser and asked me to follow her instructions so I could see what part of the website it was shown in. At the bottom of the homepage, there was a link for their "Terms of Business". The woman was adamant, that was standard fee, and that I agreed to their terms of business when I took the policy out. I could see that this conversation was not going to progress any further and she was not going to back down or offer any reduction to this stupidly high fee, and thus I ended the call politely.

Find out how I recouped a small win, in the next post.

Car Insurance Scam: Scammed By The Insurers

Better safe, than sorry

Car insurance, the bane of motorists lives, the world over (or at least in the UK). We hate it, but we need it. And given the abundance of insurance companies (at least several hundred by my reckoning, having compared most of them on comparison sites), we would have thought that with rife competition, prices would be low and added extras would be plentiful. Alas, the insurance market place is wrought with many hidden pitfalls including poisonous small-print, booby-trapped cancellation fees, and spear-headed administrative fees.

My father is in his 50's and his insurance renewal was due in January. And like he has done every year for the last 11 years, he was going to let the insurance auto-renew and not have to worry about a thing. This year he was quoted £585, to auto renew with Churchill. Unfortunately for him, his meddling son, had other plans. I compared the prices of insurance for him as a new customer, online, with various comparison sites (including GoCompare, Money Supermarket and Confused.com)

My advice, skip insuring with GoSkippy

Voila, £387 was the cheapest, with a company called GoSkippy. I rang the company and asked to pay for the insurance and to ensure the new policy was activated the day after his previous insurance cover ended. A job well done, £200 extra to spend, and a pat on the back for myself.

I should have researched the company beforehand, that was my first mistake. They asked for scanned copies of the no claims bonus (8 years, no less), and a copy of the front and back of his license photocard, and the counterpart.

Having sent these in via email, the company claimed not to have received them, and thus I re sent them. And had the same response. A week later (5 weeks into the insurance policy), we recieved a letter, stating that the insurance was to be cancelled within a week as they have not recieved the relevant documentation and that they would be charging us for the 6 weeks of cover and a £75 administration fee!

So I called them and asked what this administrative fee included. The lovely woman on the phone explained how that is the standard fee and it included costs of cancelling the financial contract with the underwriter. I then asked, why this was not specified when I took out the policy. She said that it was. This was my second mistake, I did not record any of the calls I had made to the company.

Find out what happens in the next post.

Save 11p per litre of fuel at Sainsburys

Hot off the press!

Save 11p per litre of fuel at Sainsburys.

I have just been been alerted to a promotion been run by Sainsbury. The caveats are that you need to be on their mobile network and you must top up.

You must top up £10 in store, and you will be provided with a coupon that permits 11p off a litre. By any means, I am not insinuating that you will save a large amount of money on this one, but if you already have a Sainsbury Pay As You Go sim card, and will utilise the minutes, then this is quite a bargain.

The calculations are as follows 
(for my average fuel top up):





Diesel costs £1.349 per liter.
50 liters will cost you 1.349 x 50 = £67.45

after your 11p discount:
Diesel now costs £1.239 per liter.
50 liters will now cost you 1.239 x 50 = £61.95

A discount of £5.50 (don't forget that you have just spent £10 on your PAYG sim card)

The discount get bigger if you have a larger fuel tank, (100 litres = £11 discount). Don't forget to take a large fuel can too ;)

But assuming that you already have a Sainsbury PAYG sim card, and you will use the £10 credit (perhaps as an emergency phone), then the savings are well worth it.

The promotion runs between the 10th of February until May 6th. So if you have multiple cars in the household, have large fuel tanks, and you have a credit hungry phone (young teen perhaps?), this might save you a few quid.

Edit: Phone top ups are eligible for double nectar points apparently, so if you save up for those, that is another incentive.

Further edit: I cannot find any viable reason to choose Sainsbury as my network provider, their rates are horrendous, so unless your absolutely sure you will use the minutes/texts/data (50p for 25MBs, pfft!!!), I cannot see any benefits. Or unless you have a large fuel tank, capable of filling up over a 100 liters.

You can view the promotion details on the Sainsbury site.

Musings on Fuel Efficiency 3

Welcome back to our series on cutting our fuel costs. Last time we looked at some ways to find cheaper fuel or to pay less for fuel. This time we will focus on what we can do to our car to ensure it is using fuel as efficiently as possible.

De-clutter the car

To start off with, the biggest fuel efficiency sinker for a car is its weight. The heavier a car is, the more energy it requires to move it. Basic physics, really.

Go check the boot. I have seem family members with toolboxes, excess clothing, tripods and camera gear, pushchairs and baby seats, in their vehicle boots. If you do not need it for your journey, leave it behind. I carry a pocket multi-tool as part of my everyday carry, for emergencies; and in my boot is just a warm waterproof jacket and a bottle of clean water.

While your cleaning your boot, this might be a good time to change your large spare tyre for a space saver tyre. The weight savings will make it worthwhile.

While we are discussing weight, if your petrol station is nearby home or work, and not out of your usual journey routes. There is no need for a full tank of fuel every few weeks. The weight of all that fuel your carrying around for a fortnight is costing you extra fuel. Go for half a tank each time and use that. You never know, next week the prices may drop, and since your car is less heavier in the interim, you will save a few quid (over the course of the next few months). Obviously if you're going on a long journey, make sure you have adequate fuel or plan where the cheapest places are to stop for fuel.

Reduce drag.

The shape of your car determines how much air resistance your car faces, the larger and less slimline your car (that's one of the reasons large off road vehicles have larger engines), the more energy it requires to cut air resistance and get up to speed. The killer items here are roof racks and cycle carrying equipment. Stow them in your shed/garage unless you absolutely need them.

Under or over inflated tyres.

Ensure that your tyres are the recommended type for your vehicle (especially if you have just bought a second hand car) and that they are inflated to the right pressure and tracked correctly. There's a lot to take in there, but your car manufacturer recommends certain pressure/size for your car, so follow those guidelines (the previous owner may have cheaped out during an MOT or service - so it might affect your fuel efficiency); Also check that you have the correct tyres for the season, summer tyres in winter and winter tyres in summer, may be wasting valuable fuel.. Secondly check the amount of air in the tyres, deflated tyres will cause your engine to work harder to maintain the speed shown on your speedometer. Finally ensure that the tyres are tracked correctly. This just means that your tyres need to be the correct angle to the axle/suspension, as recommended by the manufacturer (its not just a straightforward 90 degree angle, unlike toy models). Again, your engine has to work harder to maintain the speed shown on your speedometer, if your car tyres are not aligned properly. Get a good mechanic to check this at your next service.

Servicing

Ensure that your car is serviced properly and regularly. The air condition/filters and oil inside the car, will ensure a smoother and better ride if they are clean and the correct type for your car. Greasy air filters and incorrect amounts and types of oils inside the engine will make for an unhappy engine and will cause it to be a little bit more thirsty.

This doesn’t have to be expensive. Man up and do it yourself. With the availability of the internet and sites like youtube and howcast, you can find very specific instructions for your make and model on how to get your hands dirty (and save yourself some money). It is pretty basic, like checking your oil levels and locating your air filter, and if done regularly, it will not take too long.

That's it for now. I hope I have saved you a little bit of money. Do you have any further advice for our readers, please let us know in the comments.

This is part of a series on fuel efficiency and money saving on motoring fuel. Keep your eyes peeled for the next part in the series with further tips on getting you saving you money on your fuel expenditure.

£2 off £10 spend at shell

Hot off the press!
£2 off £10 spend at shell (via Quidco mobile app)

It seems that all the deals I am posting on this blog seem to be fuel related, but that is only because that seems to be a popular theme this Christmas with a lot of retailers.

Here, Shell and Quidco have teamed up to bring you this discount that makes your petrol (sorry diesel engined car drivers, you'll have to sit this one out), almost £1.04 a litre. Scorching!

Download the Quidco mobile app, and sign in or create an account. (You can do this later, as you have up to 48 hours to upload your reciept). Visit your local shell station, fill up £10 and get a reciept.

When you get home, upload the receipt, via the app (take a picture with your phones camera), and voila. £2 discount.

You can do this once per day whilst the offer lasts, so keep doing it every 24 hours until your full on fuel. You wont get these prices at the pump regularly so make use of it while you can.

First world problems: Clutch

Just a quick note on a recent incident I have had with my car. Driving at 30 miles an hour on a main road, on familiar roads on a journey that I had been planning all morning to visit a friend. Seeing my exit come up, I began my preparations to take the corner, checked my mirrors, indicated left, knowing very well where the road would lead and that very soon I would drive past that gleaming red Porsche that I dream about... anyway I digress.

I put my clutch down to shift into second gear and lo and behold my clutch stuck to the floor and the gearstick refused to budge. This was not like anything I have ever experienced (I have quite a short driving history), in my panic, I slowed the car down to a crawl, went round the corner, and let my momentum pull me to the curb, before stopping the car and putting up the handbrake.

In the ensuing half an hour, I did some very rudimentary checks on the car, under the bonnet and in the cockpit, all to no avail. I then thought back to my insurance renewal a few months back and remember something in the terms and conditions about some RAC cover.

I rang them, (not on the 0800 number on their website, more on this in another post), the very helpful customer services woman, assured me that I had free RAC roadside breakdown cover, and gave me a number to call. Within 45 minutes, a very helpful engineer had come up and inspected the car, gave me a diagnostics and towed my vehicle to a recommended garage*.

So, the moral of the story is that it pays to check your terms and conditions and negotiate with your insurance company!

*I did end up paying £800+ for a manufacturer produced clutch with warranty (there seems to be a lack of aftermarket parts for my brand of vehicle), but that's one of the windfalls that life throws at you, you take the blow, get up and keep fighting. Without having the complimentary breakdown cover, my day could have been a lot worse.

Musings on Fuel Efficiency 2

We will start our search for money saving on fuel by looking at what we can do at the fuel pump to spend less, so here are some tried and tested tricks to fuel up the smarter way.

Shop smarter

The pump round the corner of your house may not be the cheapest, so shop around. You may save you a fair few quid, if you're willing to drive the extra mile or two. But beware, in your hunt for cheap fuel, don't drive around aimlessly for miles, the fuel spent driving may be more than the savings you will make in the end.

To save you some hassle, sign up to the daily newsletter here at petrolprices.com. If you're constantly traveling for work, there are mobile apps that will use your location to tell you the cheapest fuel within your vicinity. They will send you a daily email with a list of the 5 cheapest fuel stations within your vicinity. Hopefully that will shave a sweet penny (or 2) off the cost of fuel for you.

Use the right kind

I hate to break it to all of you wannabe boy racers, pumping your car full of Shell V-Power Nitro+ will:

• give you negligible performance improvements (if any)
• lighten your wallet by a significant amount
• and who needs v-power fuel to go to buy milk and bread in a 1.2litre hatchback?

You will find that despite manufacturers for high end performance cars (I’m looking at you German car companies), recommending performance fuel, most cars do just fine on supermarket branded fuels.

Read your car's manual and find a balance between common sense and budget. Some people have had luck by cycling the better fuel once every two three weeks.

Time your pit stops

If you wait until the fuel indicator blinks on your dashboard, then you no longer have the luxury of waiting to find cheap fuel. Your vehicle needs fuel and you have to pay what the closest station demands. Plan your fuel usage for the week/month carefully, and go when you have a bit to spare (perhaps you can do this on the way to work or the school run or weekly groceries - so that you're not driving out and back home just for fuel).

On longer journeys, plan ahead. Where is your destination, do you know how to get there, do you have navigation aids (getting lost isn’t very fuel efficient), where during the journey can you stop for a break, can you refuel there if you need to?

Time your pit stops some more.

A common myth has it that visiting the fuel station early in the morning or late at night will get you more fuel than during the day. The science behind this may be sound, as fuel is stored in reservoirs underground, where it is cool. As the sun rises and the ground warms up a few degrees, the reservoirs warm up too and the fuel expands ever so slightly. A cold litre of fuel is more densely packed in molecules, than a warm litre as the molecules are less dense. So the theory is that you get less for your money when you buy the warmer fuel.

Science fiction or science fact? I cannot test this hypothesis accurately, so I’ll leave this one open to suggestions.

Play the supermarket sweepstakes

Competition is rife. Years ago, only petrol stations sold fuel and even then they were far and few between. Now though, supermarkets seem to be competing to lure customers in with both groceries and fuel all in one place. And it makes perfect sense to use them. But it gets better.

To lure customers in to spend even more, supermarkets will knock off xx% off your fuel price, if you spend a certain amount in-store.

Tesco have throughout 2013, given 5p off a litre when you spend a certain amount, and this is stackable. So do a months worth of groceries (thats 5 trips from the store to the parking lot to put the bags into your boot), and 5 receipts of £50 shopping, to knock off 25p per litre of fuel. Needless to say, do this when you have less than a quarter tank of fuel left, fill the tank in the car and take a fuel can with you and top that up for another 10 litres. Score!

Currently Morrisons have a 1p off for every £10 gift card you buy from them. Hmmm, you could use this for Christmas gift shopping (or just give gift cards) and get cheap fuel too (they are stackable). Keep your eyes peeled for discounts like this throughout the year.



Do you have any further advice for our readers, please let us know in the comments. 

This is part of a series on fuel efficiency and money saving on motoring fuel. Keep your eyes peeled for the next part in the series with further tips on getting you saving you money on your fuel expenditure.

Pre-Christmas supermarket fuel cuts

Hot off the press!
Pre-Christmas supermarket fuel cuts

Following the fuel duty freeze for 2014 announcement by George Osbourne, supermarkets are beginning to reduce fuel prices this Christmas!

Asda plans to cut fuel prices by 2p a liter on unleaded and 1p on diesel fuel. Tesco has followed suite and a spokesman from Morrisons reports that they will remain competitive.

Musings on Fuel Efficiency 1

Fuel prices. One of the quintessential pains in the neck of modern living, and it seems like we cannot beat it. Over time the price of everything goes up. However, fuel prices have rocketed in recent years.

So what causes this huge surge in price. In the UK it is quite simply because the TAX and import duty added to a liter of fuel is as much as the cost of fuel, which nearly doubles the price the consumer pays at the pump. I wont bore you with the details, as we cannot evade these taxes as they are applied even before the petrol comes to your station. However I can tell you how you could get more mileage for your fuel, saving your wallet from being cleaned out every time you stop for fuel. And over the course of a year this could compound to a few hundred quid!

Over the course of the next few posts, I will share some tips on how to get much better milage for your money. So fasten your seatbelts* and read on.

You can use the links below to view the rest of this series:

• Musings on Fuel Efficiency 1
• Musings on Fuel Efficiency 2
• Musings on Fuel Efficiency 3

*Please do not read this blog whilst driving. It is an act of stupidity. 

Do you have any further advice for our readers, please let us know in the comments.