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Showing posts from June, 2016

Don’t fall victim to number plate theft and car cloning

In the last five years there have been over 40,000 cases of number plate theft in the UK according to a study by the AA. Yet a lot more cases go unreported. Why? It is mainly because people do not panic immediately if they see a missing number plate. Well, that is until the parking fines and speeding fines start landing on the doormat. Number plates are stolen for a number of reasons, but mainly because they can be used to change the identity of a stolen car or to disguise cars that will be used for criminal activity. Luckily, there are a number of ways you can protect yourself against number plate theft and car cloning. New number plates Several plate manufacturers along with the DVLA have developed a standard for theft resistant number plates. It can take up to three minutes for these plates to be removed, which although may not seem like a long time, in that three minutes they could be caught red-handed trying to steal yours. Anti-theft screws Many local police forces now have anti-

A digital driver’s license?

In May, it was announced that the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working towards launching a digital version of the driving license. Currently, the prototype is being tested on the Apple Wallet app on iPhones. The Wallet app is already available and allows users to store credit cards, debit cards and even boarding passes for holiday. Although it is not available in the UK yet, the US state of Iowa and New South Wales in Australia have already trialled the digital license. In the southern American state of Louisiana, legislation is already being pushed through the state House to allow drivers to download a copy of their license on to their smartphone as well. In my opinion this is a great idea, one that will make our lives a bit easier at least. We have all been caught out at least once trying to buy something and the customer assistant asks for ID but the card is hiding in another bag at home. Has anyone tried to buy spoons lately? This is one of the many odd purchases tha

What will it mean if we leave the EU?

On June 23, voters will take to the polls to decide if Britain should remain within the European Union. There has been a lot of mudslinging from both the Vote Leave and the Vote Stay camps, and no doubt things will continue to get messier as the referendum looms ever closer. What does it mean for the fleet industry? We will not know the true effects of leaving the EU unless a leave vote is returned in June, and even then it could take months to see the effect. However, there has already been a lot of talk about what would happen to the fleet industry if we do leave, and it has the potential to be extremely costly for everyone. So what could happen if we do leave? Tariff increases Currently, because we are part of the EU vehicles and vehicle parts can be imported and exported around the work without tariffs which helps with costs of manufacturing. Voting to leave the EU could mean that we lose the no tariff perk and we could see tariffs of up to 10 per cent. This could see fleet custome