The changes to Benefit In Kind (BIK) Tax has found criticism from both industry watchdogs and firms who use vehicle leasing to help benefit their business.

Previously any changes to taxation would first serve a three year notice period before coming into force but this change was already in force by April (2011).

The new policy will have massive implications on the decisions that firms make regarding their individual vehicle or fleet lease an industry insider said: “ An example would be an employee choosing their company car today and not actually knowing what contribution they will be making, there’s no clarity at all to what future tax bills could be.”

Benefit In Kind tax is a PAYE contribution that is taken for an employees use of a company car outside of the working requirements.

The amendments that came into force in April included the abolition  of reductions for alternative fuel and a restructuring of the emissions allowances.

Analysts believe that this could then result in many firms who use vehicle leasing and contract hire withholding company vehicle renewals or shortening their leasing agreements/contracts which will cost firms more money but could offer assurance in the long run.

Hopefully this shouldn’t have too much of an impact on the sector as company leasing has become more and more popular in recent years, from vans to executive saloons there has been a realisation that that you can make a good impression to a client, save money on tax and VAT without having to pay out the high forecourt prices.

Often it is easy to get left behind with the constant EU updates in laws and practices and example being a business who works in flammable areas and the law is changed from having fire extinguishers in certain places, to a requirement that intrinsically safe equipment is now a legal and insurance requirement, it gets even more complicated if this business travels to different countries which have a different set of laws and regulations.

In short business insurance is not something you take out and then just renew every year without reviewing cover. It may not be the insurance company’s change in policy, but adjustments that fit in with new regulations and laws being pressed on that particular industry.  So if it is intrinsically safe equipment, a smokers area outside or just insurance to cover you working alone in an office, make sure you review the policy every year and keep up with regulation change.

However cars that are categorised at Cat C, D or X cam be put back on the road, albeit Cat C’s need a special mot inspection first. These vehicles are sold off through salvage auction yards throughout the UK, most with online options. In theory salvage with deemed as Cat C or B, should not be economical to repair, but insurance companies have to take into account professional labour costs and replacing like for like, so there are many who believe they can buy these salvage cars, repair them and put them back on the road, either for themselves or as a business.

Clearly this what occurred  with the member of family, the car was deemed as too expensive to repair, but was inspected by the insurance company who deem it to be within a Cat band that would put the car into a salvage auction available to anyone wanting to buy and repair it.  Actually it is surprising how many insurance salvage auctions there are up and down the country and the availability of cars within. This process does help with insurance premiums, as there is some return on the crashed vehicle that will go into the calculation of your claim. With many classic car insurance policies owners as given the chance of receiving less in an insurance payout, but receive the car back, so they can restore it themselves. You occasionally also find classic salvage projects at these auction too.

With so many options available to you, amongst the composite design, you have the freedom to have any one of them that suits your need and requirement. One of the main benefits while you go out to buy these doors is that it gives you freedom to design your front glass online. So, it is not that you need to follow all the standard designs, but you can come up with some of your own designs and make them ready for your own home. You have to pay for what you have had to pay for the original design. But you can get everything with your own choice. You can add any feature you want to and you do not have to add any external hardware too. If you want to buy these doors with online mode, it can help you grab some more perks too.

You can shop for these composite doors at any time, when you choose online mode of shopping. Whether day suits you or you wish to do shopping at night time, it depends on your own convenience. The whole decision would be yours and no sales person would be involved in begging and being after you for buying these doors. This kind of decision would surely be a thoughtful decision for you. Many companies give heavy reduction in prices of these doors, when they are selling it with internet mode. So, get out with choosing your own solid and glazed designs with these doors. If you wish you can give them your own design or you can take out the traditional or standard ones. All is in your hands.

Composite doors have made their mark recently, not just because they look good, but have the strength of solid wood doors (unlike many pvc) and in some cases even stronger. The strength of these composite doors also means you can add stronger locks, even multi point locks and heavier furniture all adding to the security aspect insurance companies are wanting.

Secured by design is a police initiative designed to help customer buy doors that have security in mind. Crime prevention is key to having your door signed off by the secured by design campaign.

Global door sells composite doors that are part of this scheme as are many other composite doors suppliers and worth a look if security and correct insurance is what you are after.

Many have opted to improve their existing home instead, by extending their property adding conservatory, adding composite doors or a loft extension. For some of these improvements they may not have changed their insurance position with their company. An example could be where a house originally had good Global composite doors at the rear with 5 cylinder lock, but now had added a conservatory with a different lock system. Or say a back door had now been replaced with sliding doors, if these new improvements have not included the required lock system of makes entry into your home easier than was described in the original premium, then your policy could be void for certain insurance claims.

It is possible that improvements have taken the value of your home over the replacement limit. Remember in many cases you are not insured for the market value of your home, but the cost to rebuild or replace. If this cost now exceeds the original policy value than you may not get enough payout to bring your home back to its original position. This is compounded for those who have just renewed their policies over a few years.

The advice is simple. Go back and review your home insurance policy, especially the small print and schedule. If you believe you have crossed and limits, or do not have sufficient security measures in place as per the conditions of the policy, then you should upgrade your security or speak to your insurance company to amend your policy, before it is too late.

What we found out was quite surprising and although it does not represent the whole mortgage market, is it worth mentioning and how Mortgagebam will address these issues.

The first thing is that many mortgage leads generated through a third party website are often only available to the highest bidder. The mortgage adviser is guaranteed exclusivity, sometimes by the mortgage seeker receiving a phone call first to qualify the lead, then that one adviser will get access to the phone number and address of that client.

Some sites put the mortgage lead into an auction, where the winning bidder gets the mortgage lead. We re not sure why a client would wait until this process is completed, but that is what we found.

The issue we see with this process is that there is no guarantee that the winning financial adviser is the right one for that client. We are not talking qualifications here we are talking about a relationship that may last 25 years.
Mortgagebam as a business is a mortgage lead or internet marketing company. It does not offer mortgages themselves, so it is all about marketing a service and hoping potential mortgage seekers will fill in a simple form.

However where things will be different to above is that all mortgage leads will be the same price. The client will see immediately who has been informed of their information and the client, not Mortgagebam will get to choose who they want to work with. Add the fact; the mortgage seeker can leave a review on the service they got from that Independent mortgage adviser, you would hope that the whole process is controlled by the customer not Mortgagebam or the mortgage adviser.

Now we are not going to list the full report as you can read it direct here at Which breakdown services league, but we do want to comment on a few things.

The first thing that comes to mind is the difference between the Green Flag score of 59% and the Direct Line score of 69%. As both these organisations are owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, as far as we know, the Direct Line breakdown cover polices are in fact delivered by the Green Flag service. Tell us if we are wrong here!
So it is strange that there be such a difference in scores. However one reason could be the variation of breakdown cover agents that deliver the call outs. They are not employed by these companies, just follow by their rules, so there may be a message of inconsistency here.

The final issue is the noticeable absence of other companies such as Britannia Rescue, Autonational, Gem Motoring Assist , Breakdown Direct, Rescue My Car and  probably a few others we could mention. If they were part of the report, why we do not see any mention of them, to give a clearer view, especially as at least one of these has awards from national magazines for their breakdown cover services so the members of the public must be using these companies.

Anyway, for now read the information from Which as it is the most comprehensive we have.

One solution could be to buy breakdown cover as a gift, either for someone who doesn’t think they need it, or maybe someone who may just not renew their current policy due to money problems. The breakdown cover organisations have never really been that good at marketing the fact that you can buy a breakdown cover policy for someone else and it is not until you visit their websites as an afterthought, which you can find out, that in most cases you can.

The AA, has just put a small banner on their homepage leading to the gift membership page, which pretty much explains it all. There is some considerations though, before you go to the AA Breakdown Cover site credit card in hand, thinking you have solved a gift problem. You will need to spend a bit of time establishing, if the policy you will buy for that person will suit their needs. No point in buying a breakdown cover policy, thinking it covers that car and only covers the driver, or maybe buying a roadside assistance option, when they do a lot of mileage away for home and really need a policy that will get their car and themselves home, should they breakdown.

At the time of writing the gift breakdown cover options start from ?39, which is a bit more that if you were to buy the cheap breakdown cover option yourself, so we must assume, there is some sort of gift package, card that comes with it. I suppose it could be an administration charge also.

Yesterday it was mentioned that even though the high street is taking a battering with sales leading up to Christmas, there is a different story for online sales. Not only is it expected that sales will stay at the same level than last year, but there is real evidence, that credit crunch or not, sales will increase for online purchases compared to last year.  Nothing was mentioned about the online insurance market, such as car insurance or breakdown cover.

We clearly have different priorities to the USA. We have easily let our motoring history disappear when the car factories were unable to compete with Japanese and foreign cars imported to us. The message has always been clear in the UK, that if a business is unsustainable then it is right for it to fail, job losses or not.  It is not seen this way in other European countries that have no problem saving their national car manufacturing forms by pumping in tax payer’s money.

This trend has crossed the Atlantic, which the big car manufacturers, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all going cap in hand to the American government for $34b or so to keep them afloat.

Insurance comparison sites have come under some criticism recently, stating they do not do a though enough job of helping customers buy the right insurance. It is claimed that insurance comparison sites, are good at delivering prices, but not so good at ensuring all the facts and conditions of each policy is explained in enough details.

Last week saw another huge drop in bank landing rates, down to an astonishing 2% base rate, in an attempt to get people borrowing and banks lending especially in the mortgage market. Many however are still complaining that they have not yet seen a reduction in their mortgage payments from the last reduction, never mind this further recent one.

It was also mentioned that the government would allow a 2 year holiday (if you could call it that) on interest payments, should you lose your job. This mortgage interest will accumulate and you will have to pay it in the end. Should your home continue to drop in value, this could create some serious negative equity. However, should home prices start to rise again; this could be the answer to giving customers some piece of mind with mortgage payments.

Finally the announcement that Honda have pulled out of Formula One should not have been a surprise in hindsight.  How can they justify spending £350 on making 2 cars go around a track faster, when thousands of jobs are on the line and factories are being shut, to keep costs down, with compounds full of unsold cars.