Semiconductor Chip Shortage A global semiconductor chip shortage is driving up demand and car prices. Demand for chips is outstripping supply. This shortage is creating delivery backlogs for new vehicles and it may be some time in 2022, possibly January or February before the situation is resolved. The situation has been getting worse and it is really creating a sellers...
Motor Insurance Ireland The European Commission is investigating whether Insurance Ireland has been operating a cartel. Insurance Ireland represents 95% of the domestic insurance market here and more than 80% of Ireland's international life insurance market. The European Commission’s findings were presented to Insurance Ireland in a Statement of Objections, basically outlining that the insurance industry here breached EU antitrust...
Price at the pumps increases Price of petrol and diesel shot back up to pre-covid levels during the month of May. Drivers should expect to pay 129p-per-litre of petrol and 132p-per-litre of diesel. For the average family who may have a small petrol hatchback like a Ford Focus with a 55-litre tank, this may mean they will now fork out...
Driver-facing camera Tesla cars are equipped with driver facing cameras that are positioned on the rear view mirror of the vehicle. Tesla customers have enquired as to what this camera is for and the company founder, Elon Musk assured drivers back in April 2020 that the camera was “not turned on” and only “meant for vandalism monitoring in a robotaxi...
Car Market Overview May 2021 The Nissan Qashqai was once again the best-selling car in Ireland sold by Independent dealers. The Qashqai also came in fourth and fifth place, showing how popular this car is. The Hyundai Tucson came in second place at Independent Dealerships. Hyundai has maintained this position since the end of last year, showing this vehicle to...
Overview Since January 1, importing a used car from Britain has become much more complicated and also expensive to boot. Traditionally, many Irish car buyers could have saved as much as €10,000 when shopping for a car in the UK. By shopping around in the UK for a car, you could get a great bargain on a higher-spec vehicle with...
Level-4 autonomous self-driving vehicles German regulators have given the go-ahead for self-driving autonomous cars on their roads in 2022. There have already been small test projects going on in Hamburg and Berlin. Germany’s lower house of parliament approved the new self-driving rules for self-driving cars. The legislation is now prepared to pass on to the upper chamber or parliament at...
GB Vehicle Imports As most of us are aware, since January 1 the UK left the European Union and is now considered a ‘third country’. Since then, there have been VAT changes implemented for imported vehicles from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) except for Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is exempt from the VAT implication as, under the Northern Ireland...
Spotify 'Car Thing' Say hello to ‘Car Thing’, the new internet streaming smart player for your car from the popular audio streaming service, Spotify. The new compact streaming car player will bring you music, podcasts, news and entertainment on the go. Car Thing will simplify things for cars that may not have as good an infotainment system as other cars....
All electric Toyota SUV The giant Japanese car manufacturer Toyota have launched their very first all-electric Sports Utility Vehicle, the Beyond Zero BZ 4X at the Auto Shanghai 2021 show. Up until now, Toyota has been somewhat sluggish in its push to bring about their first electric SUV. It is being built on a new EV platform that will be...