Automotive Blog

What Affects the Cost of Van Insurance?

Ultimately there are many factors which can affect the cost of insuring your van (or vans). Detailed below are a list of key factors which insurers will consider when pricing up your policy:

1. How many vans are to be covered in the policy
2. The weight of the van (s)
3. The make and model of the van (s)
4. Your geographical location
5. The age and experience of the van drivers
6. Whether or not the van drivers are named (or an ‘any driver’ van insurance policy is required)
7. The security of the van(s) – e.g. whether alarms, immobilisers or trackers are installed
8. Claim history
9. What the van will be used for
10. The excess

Continue reading ‘Van Insurance – A Guide’ »

Couriers are usually regarded as “high risk” for motor insurers. Van drivers statistically have a higher accident rate than private vehicles, their exposure on the roads is far greater than that of a private motor car, therefore dramatically increasing the chances of a road traffic incident. The vehicles are more often than not owned by a company or fleet and drivers are less likely to worry about the damage they may cause to the vehicle.

Courier van drivers, also referred to as the ‘White van man’ are notoriously known for being involved in road traffic accidents. Couriers can be up against tight pick up and delivery time slots, and some are even incentivized on the amount of collections and deliveries they make. This can encourage the drivers to race around town and hence are prone to more incidents. Insurers take this into consideration when quoting this type of risk and the premiums quoted are a reflection of the claim statistics.

Continue reading ‘Courier van drivers posing an insurance concern’ »

When leaving a deposit with credit card for your rental car, some customers find it confusing between “blocking” and “charging” the deposit amount. The following explanation may help you clear up the confusion.

By terms and conditions of most car rental suppliers, you need to present a credit card under the name of the lead driver for deposit use upon pick-up. When your chosen car rental supplier takes the authorization from your credit card, it only blocks this amount to prevent you from using. This amount is not charged or transferred to a supplier’s account at this point, but is only held in case of any additional charges incurred during the rental period, such as fuel, one-way fee or penalty for damage to the vehicle. Therefore this blocked amount will not reflect as a refund by the end of the rental period, because no amount has been deducted from your credit card.

Process:

1, upon pick-up of the rental car, a hold will be put on your credit card for the amount of excess and potential extra items, such as fuel, child seat, GPS, one way fees, etc.

2, upon returning your rental car, the supplier will check if the fuel is refilled as agreed, if any scratches, dents or other forms of damage have been brought on the vehicle. A final invoice will then be calculated based on the checking. The supplier will only deduct the amount stated on the invoice, should there be any amount to be charged at all.

3, in case there are items that need to be paid, the amount will be charged to your credit card and will appear on your credit card statement.

4, if no additional cost has incurred by the end of the rental period, the withheld amount will be released by the supplier and by the bank of your credit card, usually within four to ten work days, meaning you then have access to the amount again.

5, if this withheld amount hasn’t been released within this time period, you can contact our After Sales department of Holiday Cars. We will contact the supplier directly via email to request the release. They will further contact the bank and confirm the release date. We will keep you informed during the process.

When the work is completed on your car body, carefully check it before leaving the body shop:

• Check light reflection from the repaired surface to easily detect undulations, depressions, or bumps.
• Be sure that the edges of the trunk lid, hood, sunroof, and doors are perfectly aligned with the car body.
• Ensure that the inner edges of the doors, hood and trunk are carefully painted, or check whether the old paint is still faintly visible.
• Look for the unpainted areas like the chrome, door handles edges, and other accessories. When painting, these parts must be removed, so the paint can cover and protect areas under them from rust. If the shop oversprays some areas, don’t pay until the undesired paint is completely eliminated.
• If you only paint a small part of the car, compare the freshly painted area to the old paint. Because painting the car body requires a high degree of skill, buying a piece of trim or a new bumper is often cheaper than restoring the damaged area. Many modern vehicles are equipped with panels that make the body slimmer, they are designed to be replaced rather than repaired when damaged. They can be very easily dented and repairing them is as easy as repairing a wrinkled tin can with a jackhammer, so it is easier and cheaper to buy a new one.

If a large area of car body must be repaired, you should have damaged body panels replaced instead of filled with loads of fillers. It is a good idea to ask your body shop to see if they intend to replace the damaged areas with welded metal or whether they intend to straighten the old panels and finish with a thin layer filling. Many vehicles are still using steel with plastic bumpers and trim pieces, but an increasing number of newer cars have aluminum doors and roofs, and some have all-plastic (fiberglass included) or all-aluminum car bodies. A good body shop will have no problem working with plastic or aluminium body parts. But if your car is all-aluminium and you have frame damage, just be sure that the shop is fully certified to work with aluminum.

If you are not happy with your existing car loan, there is good news for you. If you actually go through the refinancing car loan, it would be in fact benefited. That’s something you need to really consider in order to get better rate of interest. It’s possible to get lower monthly payments compared to earlier one. You can save more funds and there is nothing to worry regarding the cash for each month.

The ways for auto refinancing loan loan differ through which kind of current car loan you having. However, there is nothing to worry because it’s in a simple process. A new lender pays off for what you still own for your old car loan. The title would be transferred to his or her name and the monthly payments would be made through new lender.

Here is a clear picture on how the refinance car loan does process works there are the following steps:

• Primary and first, you need to begin with searching out for the best place for your process of car refinancing. So many websites offers refinancing car loans. You need to do window-shopping on the possibilities for you new lenders. You need to compare the auto refinancing rates with the different lenders.
• The minute you select the lender, which offers the best available rates for you, you should provide your financial information to them.
• You need to get qualify for the loan before any transactions take place. The lender needs to know you annual income along with your asset, credit ratings, and debt load.
• Fees include the holder fees that amounts around $6 to $11, re-registration fees that amount around $6 to $76.
• Once the loan has been approved both parties and closing the deal, the new lender of refinance car loan pays your exiting car loan, so transferring the title to him.

Employing 58,000 people, Canadian Tire and its Associate Dealers together form Canada’s most-shopped general merchandise retailer, with 482 stores from coast-to-coast. Canadian Tire offers customers a large selection of national and retail brands through three specialty categories in which the organization is the market leader – automotive parts, accessories and service; sports and leisure products; and home products. Also offered are automotive services such as engines fixes, brake changes, windshield wipers and fluid level checks, and muffler, hose, belt and plug replacements. Essentially, if a repair is needed, it’s up to Canadian Tire automotive service technicians to find a way to get it done. Before being employed by Canadian Tire, one must attend an automotive service technician apprenticeship.

At Centennial College, Ontario’s first community college, students can study at such an apprenticeship, which is partnered with Canadian Tire but yet designed to be product-generic and cover a broad-range of makes and models from the automotive industry. Therefore, it doesn’t limit one from working at other places of employment should they choose to.

Taking a year to complete, automotive service technician training with the Automotive Service Technician Canadian Tire MAP 32 program is more in-depth than the training one would obtain in a traditional apprenticeship. The in-school portion is conducted from Ashtonbee Campus, which is a fully-equipped transportation training centre. In fact, it is the biggest training centre of its sort in Ontario. For the in-school portion of the program, Canadian Tire supplies the tools and equipment with which you will be training. This makes it convenient to ensure that you are familiar with the tools of this particular company, as the hands-on part of the automotive service technician training takes place at a Canadian Tire dealer. Field placement gives students the opportunity to face real life scenarios, apply what they have learned, network and gain insight into the industry from seasoned professionals.

To apply for the one-year program, students are required to present at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or GED or equivalent. They should also be employed by a Canadian Tire dealership or selected through an interview process. For this automotive service technician apprenticeship, candidates may apply directly to Centennial College. As space in the program is limited, acceptance is based on successful completion of all entry requirements. Successful applicants must obtain an employer and then register as a MAP apprentice with the Apprenticeship Branch of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.