June 24, 2010
Chris Pye sponsored by Auto eBid comes 1st !
Auto eBid announced the sponsorship of Chris Pye on the 11th May 2010, and we are extremely happy to announce since that date, Chris has had his best race ever at Aldershot on the 13th June. Chris finished 1st, 3rd and 2nd in the three races that day. In the last two meetings, Chris has raced in six races and has won one race, finished 2nd 3 times, 3rd in another and 10th in the other. All the races had approx 20-26 cars in them, so a great achievement. At Aldershot he scored 530 points from a maximum 600, only 4 drivers have scored more than that in a meeting this season.
Chris is now 11th in the overall point’s race, and has nearly double the points of the next guy in the rookie championship and is closing in on the leader in the Semi Pro Division (currently 3rd in UK).
Chris is racing on Saturday 26th June At Eastbourne, a date for the diary will be the 2010 National Championship weekend at Hednesford Hills Raceway, in Staffordshire. The qualifying races are on Saturday 31st July, with the main race being on Sunday 1st August.
June 23, 2010
Experts say that EVs will be ‘worthless’ in just five years
After examining the latest additions to the electric vehicle range, experts have made some shocking predictions for a market that is supposedly set to ‘take off’.
Glass’ Guide – who specialise in estimating the value of used cars – predict that, based on the lifespan of the new electric batteries, EV’s such as the new Nissan Leaf will only be worth 10% of their original value after five years.
One of the main arguments against this analysis is that it is based on the presumption that the battery will have little or no value after its life in the car. However, EV supporters believe that the batteries could serve a range of functions outside of the car.
Currently, one of the main arguments against buying any new vehicle is that they lose a substantial amount of their initial value the moment you drive them off the lot. If these presumptions about the future value of EV’s stand true, then the predicted depreciation could stunt the EV market’s growth before it really gets growing.
June 18, 2010
Turn your old scrap car into cash for your favorite charity
With only half of the two million cars taken off the road every year ending up in Authorised Treatment Facilities, a new service Giveacar.co.uk hopes to encourage more to contribute to good causes.
Giveacar is a not for profit organisation set-up in January 2010 that collects your car within 7 days of receiving your call and either sells it at auction or scraps it and all proceeds go to a registered charity of your choice from the list provided.
Apparently the service has already raised £40,000 for charity’s including the Children’s Royal Hospital of Neuro-Disability and Cancer Trust.
June 17, 2010
How is Toyota rebuilding its brand?
We all know how much the Toyota brand has suffered in the last 6 months due to the company taking their eyes off the ball and focusing on growth before safety.
Auto eBid can report a huge reduction of all Toyota orders in the last 6 months compared with the same period last year. This is against an over all strong growth in sales of all other manufacturers over the same period.
This is a real shame for a pioneer in the hybrid car market and the largest car manufacturer in the world, well at least they were in 2009. We think that Toyota are going to lose out to rivals Honda with the new Honda CRZ, Auto eBid is now taking more orders on the Honda CRZ than on the Prius…
Toyota has now put together an advertising campaign called “Your Toyota is my Toyota.” The campaign features members of staff across all aspects of the company featuring the “My Toyota!” theme.
Toyota is trying to show the commitment of each member of the company towards quality for its customers.
You can view these members of staff talking about what they are doing supposedly using their own words.
You can view the campaign and what their staff say click here
For an overview of Toyota click here
Tell us what you think about the Toyota brand below.
June 16, 2010
Order your new Volvo in June to avoid price increases
It’s getting to one of those times in the year just before certain car manufacturers decide to increase their pricing. Auto eBid have contacted car manufacturers to ask them to divulge when they intend to increase pricing throughout the year, but to no avail.
It seems car manufacturers are also not so transparent with their own franchised dealers with Auto eBid normally finding out about price increases from a few dealers before most dealers have been officially informed themselves.
The only people who obviously benefit from this practice is the car manufacturers themselves as they would prefer to avoid people placing their orders in advance of an increase to price fix the deal.
We have been made aware that Volvo are likely to be increasing their pricing across the range from July 2010 in addition to reducing some of the discounts it offers on certain models.
Our advice would always be to ask your local dealer to confirm if there are any imminent price increases at the time of considering your new car purchase. Remember, price increases nearly always happen at the beginning of a new month and also a new quarterly period.
We would also recommend saving any car you are considering on Auto eBid by simply providing your email address to “Quick register”, we will then email you as soon as we find out about any imminent increase, change in discounts or special offers…
June 15, 2010
Watch out for New Car Imports
Many new cars were imported into the UK up-to around 2003, when the exchange rate against the Euro made importing new cars less favourable.
There are still however a number of car supermarkets and new car importers who are still selling these cars and trying to pass them off as “UK Cars”.
Some of the recent tricks we have been made aware of are dealers simply calling a new car “UK Spec” and “they are built in the UK”. Now both of these could be true for certain makes such as Honda, Land Rover and Mini as these are build in the UK and exported to the European dealer then re imported back into the UK.
To clarify if a car is a true “Uk Car”, always ask if it is a “UK Supplied car” from a “Uk main franchised dealer”. This is how all of AutoeBid.com cars are supplied and many at lower costs then imports in the first place.
Buying a new car that has been imported within the European Union and is recognised as a “Parallel Import” is ok as long as the car has been ordered to the exact same stand level of specification as the cars in the UK. Every country around the world has new cars built to a different stand specifications and this is where the fun starts… So when you get the car you will then need to check every item (this is not always possible with components such as A.B.S) to make sure it was indeed ordered to UK specification.
Then you have to look at the manufacturers warranty and breakdown cover as you will often not get the full level of cover. Watch out for some dealers who offer after sales (lesser) warranty’s to try to make up for this.
Then and most fundamentally is the reduction to the residual value of the car you will almost certainly face when you come around to selling the car later on. You are required to specify it is an imported car when you sell it and many dealers will not even be interested in purchasing it due to the above reasons.
Lastly, always look out for “Grey Imports” as these will give you a nightmare with warranty issues and not being able to order components for the car.
Therefore a new car import can be ok, as long as you know the negative aspects as well as the initial attractiveness of the reduced price. Autoe Bid does not offer new car imports…
2011 Volkswagen Jetta Leaked Photos
The new 2011 Volkswagen Jetta is looking great. It seems to share the same streamlined looks as the Eos and is a well improved version of the older model. This time around the technicians at Volkswagen did not simply add a boot to the Golf, instead they stretched the platform to create a larger vehicle based on the excellent Golf chassis.
This next generation 2011 Volkswagen Jetta will come in a choice of 1.2 TSI, 1.4 TSI or a 2.0 TSI petrol, or 1.6 and 2.0 TDI engines delivering 138 horsepower.
Volkswagen will shortly be releasing further details of the new Jetta so watch this space…
Tata Nano Convertible
Well how cool are you going to look in the new Tata Nano Convertible?
Perhaps not in the same class as most other convertibles in the market, however if it ever went into production then it is likley demand would be reasonible for what would be the cheapest convertible in the world.
Should you ever have an accedent in it >>>ouch>>>
We wonder how the not so ridged frame would perform around a track, perhaps excesssive juddering and stretching of the chassis would be entertaining…
Good thing these are only used to ferry around people around the factory grounds in India…
June 14, 2010
Porsche Cayenne gets face a face lift
Many car manufacturers will from time to time face-lift their vehicles as it’s a cheap and easy way to create more demand for an existing model.
The Porsche Cayenne has never been a great looker, although when you are in the car it drives extremely well. Handling like a Porsche with the added advantage of not giving you continuous backache and not having to worry about speed bumps.
The Cayenne now looks much better from the front with bling aluminum surrounds and overall the car looking crisper.
The Cayenne diesel also comes with a VW engine giving you their stop/start system to improve efficiency although the engine is no the smoothest in its class.
Overall at just over £44K it’s not to expensive and not a bad buy for its class with good residual values.
How far will electric cars really go?
We have all heard that 100 miles on a single charge in an electric car will be the norm. Well this might be right if you live in a laboratory but not in the real world, it seems.
It’s is all dependant on how you drive, the weather and what the conditions are like.
Looking at the Nissan Leaf, the world’s first mass market electric vehicle. You could range between just 47 miles, that’s if you in traffic jam and have the air con on. Compare that to a leisurely drive cruising at 38 mph without your air con or heating on you could achieve 138 miles.
So what happens if you are in a rush, it’s raining, and the heather is on, the radio blasting away? Nissan claim these accessories will have little affected other than the heating and air conditioning…
At the end of the day getting more efficiency out of your electric car will be the same as all other cars, that is, take your foot off the accelerator and don’t give any “large” friends a lift, that way you will go further will the fuel you have.
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