6 Challenges Facing the Parking Industry

Engineering the perfect parking system takes a lot of initiative. Before long, several insurmountable challenges will present themselves. But the best in the business know how to overcome these challenges. First, we must understand them though.

Let’s look at six clear challenges we are facing in the development of better parking systems around the world.

Web Access

Global web access is a dream that will perhaps one day be recognised.

But until then, we can’t always be sure that Wi-Fi is available wherever we go. The absence of freely available Wi-Fi poses several car parking barriers.

  • Mobile parking apps cannot function on phones without a web connection
  • Pre-booking your airport parking isn’t possible without web access
  • Location software will not work without mobile web access
  • Electronic payments are rendered inoperable without a connection

As the internet becomes more and more accessible around the world, these issues will become negligible. But until then they remain challenging within the parking industry.

Generational Gaps

Believe it or not, but there is a downside to super-fast-moving technology. People can’t always keep up. When something changes, some people get uncomfortable. “What was wrong with the old way?”

Since the point of upgrading a parking system is convenience, it stands to reason that this should be the ultimate goal—even for the older generation. If older people who are not technologically savvy don’t understand a new parking system, the establishment will lose out on a massive demographic.

In some ways, older people determine whether a general area is ready for advanced technology. If it’s too advanced, some areas simply aren’t ready to implement them yet. You could call this a technological delay, which is one of the challenges facing the parking industry today. Continue reading “6 Challenges Facing the Parking Industry” →

Staying Safe on the Roads in Winter

With Christmas fast approaching, it’s also unfortunately the time of year when driving becomes more tricky! Although getting around in winter conditions is generally more hazardous than in other seasons of the year, there are plenty of ways to ensure you have a safe driving experience.

Be aware that driving conditions are different

Simply bearing in mind that conditions are likely to be more difficult is more than most drivers will do, as many people forget that the average stopping distance will be at least 9-10 times longer than in normal, dry conditions. Keeping several car lengths away from the car in front and staying extra alert (as well as driving at a sensible speed, of course!) will pay dividends in safety benefits.

Drive in a high gear (especially when setting off)

Somewhat counter-intuitively, driving in a higher gear is generally better than a low gear in the snow. The reason for this is that when in a low gear, the average vehicle will tend to drive a lot more torque through the wheels, which when presented with icy or snowy conditions will result in a loss of traction. Driving in as high a gear as is practical will reduce this, allowing for safer departures. Continue reading “Staying Safe on the Roads in Winter” →

5 Reasons why Car Leasing is Popular

Nowadays car finance is one of the most popular ways to obtain car ownership. With car loans now becoming as easy to obtain as mobile phone contracts, it’s never been easier to drive a brand-new car. And with big premium brands such as Audi or Volkswagen offering cheap lease deals, it’s never been easier to drive a car that would potentially be out of your budget otherwise.

You can get the car of your dreams at an affordable price

Ever wanted a brand-new Mercedes A-Class? If you have a spare £27,000 for the top spec you can! Otherwise you may be out of luck, unless you jump into leasing deals. For as little as £238 per month you can get a brand-new A-Class delivered straight to your door. Leasing deals are extremely affordable and easily customisable. You can get better prices by reducing your annual mileage or extending your contract length by a year, meaning you have an extra year to pay off your car finance.

You get to drive a reliable car with modern technology and safety features

Modern cars are equipped with the latest technology and safety features that make driving far easier. Some used cars also have basic safety features such as ABS, traction control etc, but modern cars have evolved far past this. You can expect a host of new technologies on modern cars, including front and rear parking sensors, integrated satnav, automatic window de-icing, tyre pressor sensors and much more. A modern car is extremely safe to drive compared to the cars of 20 years ago. Continue reading “5 Reasons why Car Leasing is Popular” →

Race Cars

One of the fastest ever race cars is the SVJ, which stands for the Super Veloce Jota. This is a model of the Lamborghini that is designed to have the speed needed for race-track style racing. The SVJ holds the top record for laps on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, a famous track in Germany. The record time that it holds is 6:44.97.

Super Veloce Jota

So let’s move forward in discussing the engine that the fastest sports car has installed inside it. The engine is a 6.5-liter V12 with titanium inlet valves, and it also features a light flywheel that has less friction. The rpm is 8700 which creates up to 759bhp. Even better now, the torque reaches to about 5500rpm for the Aventador SV, but SVJ holds more torque with a much smoother ride. The curves are a bit more flattering as well. Continue reading “Race Cars” →

The UK’s favourite car colour: Past and Present

It’s official: black has returned as the nation’s favourite car colour. A report by the SMMT in January 2018 confirmed the news, with 515,970 new registrations reported last year, representing a 20.3% market share. The findings show a 0.2% increase from 2016 and this is expected to rise further in the coming years. Grey also showed some improvements, taking the second place slot with a 2.4% increase compared to 2016. White cars were shown to be losing out, with a 1.5% decrease in market share with just 482,099 new registrations.

So, how has the UK’s most popular car colour changed over the decades? Used car specialists Grange are here to investigate:

Our favourite car colours through time:

Let’s start by taking a look at the top five most popular car colours in the UK according to the SMMT and comparing them to the most popular colours of 2007 and 1997:

2017

Rank Colour Number of cars Market share (%)
1 Black 515,970 20.3
2 Grey 500,714 19.7
3 White 482,099 19.0
4 Blue 405,758 16.0
5 Silver 254,192 10.0

 

2007

Rank Colour Number of cars Market share (%)
1 Blue 7,522,576 24
2 Silver 7,345,841 24
3 Red 4,497,237 14
4 Black 3,975,773 13
5 Green 2,948,959 9

 

1997

Rank Colour Number of cars Market share (%)
1 Red 6,733,640 26
2 Blue 6,284,838 25
3 White 3,561,778 14
4 Green 2,275,329 9
5 Silver 2,068,196 8

 

Exploring the findings:

The three tables above show that black has been steadily increasing in popularity for a while now. In fact, black didn’t even make the list in 1997, meaning that black has rapidly climbed up the rankings.

When reporting on the most popular car colours of 2017, the SMMT noted that black did not rank in the top five until 1998. From 1998 until 2001 however, it was the fifth most popular colour for registrations, before jumping up the ranks to become the third most popular colour from 2002-2005. Black was the second most popular colour from 2006-2008, before finally taking the number one spot from 2009-2012 and then again in 2017 (it fell to the number two position again in 2013 and 2016).

It would seem that grey may be one to watch however, especially in terms of the Land Rover Barnet ever since the tone took the second place position last year, despite not being in the top five in either 1997 or 2007.

The SMMT did record that grey was the fifth most popular colour for new registrations in 2003, before rising to fourth place from 2004-2013 without hinderance. Grey rose once more to take up the third place spot from 2014-2016 and is now just one place behind black in the popularity rankings. This rise in popularity is comparable to how black rose in popularity across the decades.

When looking at the charts above, you may be wondering what happened to the colour red when it comes to choosing a car colour? In 1997, red was the most popular tone for all cars in the UK, yet it didn’t rank at all in 2017. Data shows that red was in sixth place, with 251,104 new registrations and a 9.9% market share – this represents the first time that red hasn’t placed in the top five since 2012!

There will certainly be some colours which stand the test of time however, due to people associating them with certain brands of car – even if their numbers do fall.

Despite the decline in popularity of the colour red in the UK, many people still think of this colour whenever someone mentions Ferrari. This shouldn’t come as a surprise though – Ferrari has previously stated that a huge 85% of all Ferraris made in the early 1990s were requested with red liveries.

How many of our readers would select a new Aston Martin in silver? This shade has historically been associated with cars made by this British car manufacturer, in part thanks to the Aston Martin DB8 having Silver Birch paint and being driven by our favourite secret agent, James Bond, in many films.

Sources:

https://www.smmt.co.uk/2018/01/black-back-uks-favourite-new-car-colour/

https://www.smmt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/Motor-Industry-Facts-2008.pdf

https://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/news-events/news/more-than-just-red/

How to save Money on Your Driving lessons

It can be easy to look at intensive driving lesson sets such as a one week driving course and think that it will be more expensive than a regular set of lessons. You may feel that because you get to do more lessons closer together that it will be more expensive but this is very often not the case.

Firstly some intensive driving courses are cheaper because you will be offered a discount on a bulk set of lessons. It is therefore worth checking whether there is a course like that near you as it could really help to keep the costs down. Continue reading “How to save Money on Your Driving lessons” →

Best countries when planning a Driving Holiday

OSV Ltd has done some research to find out which country is the best for a driving experience. Their joint company director, Debbie Kirkley explained that now is around the time when people are starting to plan holidays. Debbie said that as so many people enjoy driving holidays they came up with a list of the top ten places for driving. They used a number of factors and scaled countries on those.

The factors they used included pollution & congestion, fuel prices, road deaths per 1,000 capita, road quality and driving rules enforcement. Adding up the scores for these allowed them to come up with a ranking of countries with regards to how friendly they are for drivers. Continue reading “Best countries when planning a Driving Holiday” →