Honda comes out on top in What Car? Servicing Satisfaction Survey
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROADSIDE BREATHALYSER
Honda has won What Car? magazine’s inaugural Servicing Satisfaction Survey, with the Japanese manufacturer receiving widespread praise for the quality and value of its comprehensive road car range. New for 2017, the poll – published in the November issue of Britain’s leading consumer automotive magazine – canvassed readers for their views on key criteria, from quality of work to politeness of staff and value for money. Honda is the only manufacturer to be rated inside the top three in both categories, placing second in ‘Best franchised dealers, 0-3 years’ – to reflect a typical new car warranty period – and third in ‘Best franchised dealers, 4-20 years’, indicative of how dealers perform as a car ages. Honda’s strong scores across the board earned the brand top honours in the overall ‘Best franchised dealers, 0-20 years’ rankings. “What Car? is an esteemed publication, and to be the only manufacturer to score so highly in all
three age categories is
testament to our unstinting commitment to offer the very best in customer service,”
said David Hodgetts, Managing Director of Honda UK. “It is immensely satisfying to be recognised in this area. “At Honda, we pride ourselves on the quality of our products and our attention- to-detail, the value for money we offer and our ethos that the client relationship begins the moment consumers set foot in one of our showrooms. For us, every single customer is unique and that is why we create bespoke sales experiences from beginning to end.” "Most people get their cars serviced at a franchised dealer during the warranty period, making the experience you can expect an important consideration when buying a new car,” added What Car? editor Steve Huntingford. “Te What Car? Servicing Satisfaction Survey shows that Honda dealers
score
well in every area – and while the level of satisfaction with many brands plummets as cars age, Honda owners can expect attentive behaviour from staff and a high standard of workmanship throughout their cars' lives."
Used diesel prices continue to grow in September
According to the latest figures from the Auto Trader Retail Price Index, the average price of a used car in the UK is continuing to grow, reaching £12,436 in September; a like-for-like increase of 5% on the same period last year. The Auto Trader Retail Price Index combines and analyses data from c. 500,000 trade used car listings every day, as well as additional dealer forecourt and website data (OEM, fleet and leasing disposal prices, in addition to pricing data from over 3,000 car dealership websites and data from major auction houses across the UK), ensuring the Index is an accurate reflection of the live retail market. According to the latest new car registration figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), new diesel registrations dropped 21.7% in September, marking six consecutive months of decline. However, whilst the new diesel car market is struggling, according to our data, used diesel car prices are showing resilience. Despite recent reports that have suggested the prices of used diesels were in decline, the Index reveals that average diesel prices are in fact slightly increasing. Whilst diesel average price increases have been slowing for most of 2017, since August they have started to grow again.
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In September, the average price of a used diesel was £14,360; an increase of £282 on the previous month, representing an annual increase of 2% on a like-for-like basis (adjusting for changes in the mix of cars being sold at any point in time). However, despite this respectable increase, diesel continues to be significantly outperformed by petrol. The average price of a used petrol car saw a monthly increase of £223, rising to £10,029; a 10% like-for-like increase on September 2016.
Diesel still popular with many Data taken from Auto Trader’s market place, which attracts over 55 million cross platform visits each month, revealed that despite the ongoing fall in diesel new car registrations, diesel remains the most searched for fuel type on Auto Trader (new and used).
Since November 2016 the number of searches for diesel cars has steadily declined in line with negative commentary. However, since May 2017 this decline has started to reverse with diesel searches rising to 56% of all fuel searches in September, with petrol dropping to 40%. In August, diesel accounted for 55% of searches and petrol 40%.
Te drink drive breathalyser is 50 years old this weekend. Police carried out the first roadside breath test on a motorist in Shropshire on 8 October 1967. Prior to that, the criteria for prosecution were somewhat less scientific – whether you could touch your nose with your eyes shut, walk in a straight line or stand on one leg. Back in 1967 there were 1,640 road fatalities attributed to alcohol. Since then, there’s been an eight-fold reduction in the number of deaths alongside a dramatic increase in car ownership. But 200 people a year still die in accidents where at least one driver is over the alcohol limit, according to the latest statistics from the Department for Transport (DfT). Final figures for 2015 show a 9% increase in the number of seriously injured casualties - from 1,070 in 2014 to 1,170 - the first rise since 2011. Te total number of casualties in drink drive accidents for 2015 was 8,470 – up 3% on the previous year. Police carried out over half a million (520,219) roadside breath tests in 2015, the lowest number since data collection began in 2002. More than 60,000 drivers (one in eight of those tested) failed or refused to take the test Men were twice as likely as women to fail a breath test, a trend that was consistent across all age groups according to the DfT report. Te Road Safety Act of 1967 set the maximum limit at 80mg of alcohol per 100mL of blood (0.35mg of alcohol per litre of breath). It became an offence for the first time to be in charge of a motor vehicle with a blood or breath alcohol concentration exceeding that limit. “It seems remarkable now that the new law was greeted with outrage in some quarters, with publicans heckling the then Transport Minister, Barbara Castle, accusing her of damaging their trade,” comments Hunter Abbott, Advisor to the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) and Managing Director of breathalyser firm AlcoSense Laboratories. “In the first 12 months alone, there were
1000 fewer deaths and 11,000 fewer serious injuries on the roads – proving that the use of the ‘drunkometer’ was both necessary and justified”. Te original ‘blow in the bag’ breathalyser was a relatively crude device, initially used to confirm a policeman’s suspicion that a motorist was under the influence. A subsequent blood or urine test at the police station provided the evidential proof. Te fuel cell alcohol sensor was later developed, an electronic device that transformed the process of screening by providing the police with a quick test to accurately quantify the driver’s alcohol level at the kerbside. For prosecution a second evidential test needed to take place at the station using a second, more precise method than used at the scene. Until the Nineties this involved blood or urine testing at the station which required a doctor to be called out to take the sample. If a doctor was unavailable, sometimes a driver could escape prosecution. Te process was dramatically simplified with the invention of evidential infra-red breath testing at the station, offering comparable accuracy to blood testing - removing the need for a doctor to be called out and improving the prosecution rate. “Tere
are still more than 5,000
accidents a year where at least one driver is over the alcohol limit, and nearly a fiſth of drink drive convictions are the morning aſter the night before,” adds Hunter Abbott. “Studies also show that if you drive while having only one-eighth of the English drink drive limit in your system (one fiſth of the Scottish limit), you are 37% more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than when sober. "Te only way to tell when you’re safe to drive the morning aſter is either to abstain completely or to use an accurate personal breathalyser.” Te AlcoSense Excel (available from Halfords priced £99.99) features a smaller version of the sensor used by several UK Police forces, making it highly reliable, and gives detailed readings of either your blood or breath alcohol concentrations.
Cardiff & South Wales Advertiser – Friday 13th October 2017 - 27
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