March 1. A wonderful day to see cars flying off the forecourts. At least if they were 4x4's this year, or you had plenty of stocks of salt to melt the ice. The start of the new registration month was met by some of the most severe weather that the UK has seen for many years. Good weather for bodyshops.
And if that was not enough, the Met Police reported that the first 08 car to be booked was actually nabbed some six hours before midnight. It was meant to be on trade plates, but they were in the boot rather than on display - the car was officially uninsured. Oops!
You may have missed it, but MPs have called for a major investigation into Motability, the organisation that allows disabled drivers to purchase and run a car. As over 5,000 dealerships are signed up to their scheme, it is an important source of income for manufacturers and dealer groups alike. But MPs have complained about a £2.4 billion reserve that was allegedly revealed by the Daily Mail, and about chief executive Mike Betts £1.7 million salary package.
Such headlines never play well, and MPs are questioning why a charity should be producing such figures. The company itself has hit back, saying that the reserves are in Motability Operations, a Ltd company and not the charitable part. They are part of the way it operates, allowing it to lend money and a hedge against potential catastrophic drops in used-car residuals. In case you were wondering how large the operation is, the last time I looked they had over 350,000 cars on their books. They were said to be the largest fleet in the world, with the exception of the Chinese Red Army. So if their used cars take a beating, it will take some buffering.
Diesel has taken a hammering this week, not least in the German courts. A decision over there has allowed cities to start banning diesels from their centres. Some are predicting that this could mean the end of the fuel across Europe, as other countries follow suit. Whether it is quite as dramatic as that, time will tell. But there is no doubt that a movement that started just a few years ago with VW's emissions scandal, has turned very quickly into a headlong plunge for diesel technology.
Have a great weekend, stay safe in this weather.
