Unroadworthy Cars

Lack of driver education
YouGov research conducted on behalf of Direct Line. Direct Line’s findings indicate a lack of driver education as one of the main causes of accidents with lorries. Government data shows there were more than 6,000 accidents involving HGVs in 2003 (the most recent year that figures are available for), resulting in the deaths of 166 motorists and close to 8,000 casualties. Read more...

Sods law costing millions.
Others include the heating and boiler breaking down on a really cold day (62 per cent) and being locked out of the house in the freezing cold (44 per cent). The sod’s law situation Britons dread happening the most is their property flooding just after they’ve spent money decorating – 66 per cent cited this as their worst case scenario. And according to the British public, people are most likely to have to put their hands in their pocket on a Monday – the day when sod’s law strikes most often. Read more..

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Unroadworthy Cars

Unroadworthy Cars

Over two million* British motorists persistently break the law by driving illegal damaged vehicles, according to research out today by Direct Line Breakdown.

The most common defect is driving with broken lights (eight per cent), missing or cracked wing mirrors (seven per cent) and faulty exhaust pipes (four per cent).

There are strict laws governing the state of repair of vehicles and driving a damaged car can result in three points plus, in some cases, a fine of up to £3000. In addition, motorists can also be fined for defective seatbelts, wobbly wheel trims, excessive smoke, non standard number plates and broken horns.

Breaking the law is not the only consequence of failing to have repairs done – over one million** motorists have had a car accident because of the disrepair of their car another one million have broken down.

Fidos food
These luxury menus for mutts don’t come cheap though, and the country’s pet owners shell out £2.3 billion* a year to keep their dog in the food to which they have become accustomed. But it’s not just quality meals British dogs are enjoying – it’s quantity too. Conscious about their canines piling on the pounds, one in 10 dog owners have put their dogs on a diet with one in 100 even switching their pooch to a vegetarian diet in order to lose weight. Direct Line Pet Insurance spokesperson Chris Price commented:. Read more...

Motorists who have damaged cars are particularly ill informed with 94% saying they are unaware they are breaking the law and a quarter saying they don’t believe the repairs to be urgent.

Furthermore there is still significant confusion amongst all motorists with over half (53 per cent) saying they were unaware that driving with a broken or missing wing mirror is illegal and four in 10 (41 per cent) said that they didn’t realise driving a car with defective steering is against the law because of the danger this represents to other motorists.

Many motorists blame the fear of cowboy mechanics for not getting the car fixed as they believe garages are untrustworthy and expensive (37 per cent of those needing repairs). One in eight motorists simply said they believe garages charge too much and they can’t afford the repairs (14 per cent).