New car sales in January were the best in five years due to strong demand from car rental companies, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said on Thursday.

“The January 2012 new car market represented the highest January month in the past five years and had received support from strong demand by car rental companies, with the car rental industry accounting for about 17% of total new car sales,” Naamsa said.

Aggregate industry new car sales in January improved by 2465 units or 7.5% compared to the 32 963 new cars sold in January 2011.

This included figures from Mercedes-Benz SA (MBSA).

Last month, MBSA announced that as a result of a global directive from its parent company Daimler AG (Germany), it would not report its detailed sales data for the time being.

MBSA would, however, still provide a single total sales number for passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

Overall new vehicle sales in January improved seven percent compared to the same month last year.

Aggregate industry sales – including MBSA – increased by 3144 units to 48 251 vehicles in January this year from 45 107 units in January last year.

Excluding MBSA vehicles, dealer sales made up 79% of vehicle sales in January. The vehicle rental industry accounted for 13%, government five percent, and industry corporate fleet sales three percent.

Total commercial vehicle sales improved by 250 units from 12,144 units in January last year to 12,394 units this year.

Exports of South African produced vehicles – excluding MBSA – improved by 260 units to 10,445 in January 2012.

“The latest monthly export figure reflected the fact that automotive factories only resumed operations from the middle of January 2012,” Naamsa said.

Export sales were expected to improve from February onwards.

South Africa exports vehicles to 77 countries.

“Export sales to Europe were likely to soften as a result of the recession and debt crisis in the Eurozone.

“However, projected higher exports to African countries, and factoring in the contribution of the Ford global compact vehicle export programme, should enable the industry to record growth and exceed the total number of vehicle exports of 271,763 units in 2011.”

Naamsa expected modest growth in total industry sales for 2012.

“The direction of the global economy remained uncertain and international markets were characterised by volatility and turbulence. This could impact on future export sales,” Naamsa said.

[SAPA]

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For a once off installation fee you can now have the peace of mind that your vehicle is secure. No drilling or cutting is required and the system can be installed in less than an hour. It can be removed and re-installed when the vehicle is sold.

Known as PG Secure the system will not interfere with your car’s electronics.

It is approved by the South African Independent Accreditation Services (SAIAS) and has a 12-month warranty. Your Citi Golf’s electrical system is protected from being tampered with by the alternator shield, ensuring that the alarm and immobilizer remain intact and operational. The Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Bracket prevents the ECU from being disconnected and replaced with a foreign ECU. This bracket is developed for fuel injection models manufactured from 2004 and later.

Both units need to be installed with these models.

The starter motor shield is positioned in the engine bay, preventing the disconnection of electrical cables, thus leaving the alarm and immobiliser operational. It also protects the distributor from being tampered with, further preventing “hot wiring” of the vehicle.

Call PG Glass Edenvale at (011) 452 2657 to secure your Citi Golf.

For more info also see:

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Do you believe that women are poor at parking? We have always believed that even though we accept that women may be safer driving, they are not as good as the male drivers when it comes to parking a vehicle!

A new study might however challenge these beliefs! I have come across an article by Murray Wardrop in the Telegraph titled “Women are better at parking than men, study suggests”. On reading the title I immediately questions what the criteria might be for being “better”. There are often different studies coming to different conclusions and we should always hesitate before claiming the findings of one study as being the ultimate and only truth.

It is however also important to share some of these findings.

Study on Parking Behaviour

This study was undertaken by way of covert surveillance of car parks across Britain, and I would like to quote from these findings:

“Covert surveillance of car parks across Britain has shown that while women may take longer to park, they are more likely to leave their vehicles in the middle of a bay.

The study is one of the most comprehensive ever conducted on gender driving differences, and took into account seven key components of parking styles.

Women were also found to be better at finding spaces, more accurate in lining themselves up before starting each manoeuvre, and more likely to adopt instructors’ preferred method of reversing into bays.

Men were shown to be more skilled at driving forwards into spaces and more confident overall, with fewer opting to reposition their car once in a bay.

But once all the elements were taken into account, women were ranked first with a total score of 13.4 out of 20, compared to 12.3 points achieved by men.

Neil Beeson, a professional driving instructor who devised the experiment, described the results as “surprising”.

Mr Beeson, who has recently appeared on the ITV show Last Chance Driving School, said: “In my experience men have always been the best learners and usually performed better in lessons.

“However, it’s possible that women have retained the information better. The results also appear to dispel the myth that men have better spatial awareness than women.

“It shows that us men need to give our partners more respect when it comes to parking. The facts don’t lie.”

The study was produced by the car park firm NCP, which employed a team of researchers to observe 2,500 drivers across its 700 car parks in Britain over a one-month period.

Each aspect of a person’s parking was marked and added to a final tally to produce a “parking coefficient” for the two sexes.

The first category analysed people’s ability to find spaces. Researchers found that impatience caused many men to drive too quickly around car parks, meaning they missed free bays. Meanwhile, women’s slower approach meant they were better able to notice spaces, or spot when other drivers were about to leave.

More than three quarters of women were found to excel in their so-called “pre-parking pose”, setting themselves up to pull into a space, compared to just over half of men observed.

Thirty-nine per cent of female drivers cleanly executed reversing into spaces, compared to only 28 per cent of men.

Men were much quicker at parking, taking 16 seconds on average against the 21 seconds women needed to complete the manoeuvre.

However, the extra time paid off leaving 52 per cent of women parked in the middle of each bay, compared to 25 per cent of men. This category proved particularly punishing for the men’s rating as it was the most heavily weighted in the coefficient.”

Conclusion

Not everyone agrees with the criteria used to determine what can be regarded as “better parking”. This does however support the reasoning behind cheaper car insurance for women. Even though they may take longer, they are taking more caution with their vehicles and this will lead to fewer accident and insurance clams!

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Question:

Is it possible to get a list of accredited driving schools? There seems to be so many fly by nights out there so any advice as to how to go about finding a reputable school would be greatly appreciated.

Answer:

Thank you for your enquiry. We agree with you!
Please consult our website. I do hope we have a member in your area.
If not, we can invite instructors in your area to join SAIDI so that they will be under our code of conduct too.
You need to ask to see their valid driving instructor’s certificate as well as a receipt proving they are re-applying, if that is the case.
It is also recommended that you check to see if the driving school vehicles are fitted with a dual control brake, (at least), sign-marking and that they keep records.
This Annexure 250 is not included in the present National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996, for some unknown reason, so there are no laws enforcing it.
Make sure you receive a receipt for any lessons paid for. Consult local people for advice and referrals too.

Best Regards,

Pat Allen
National President: SAIDI
Tel no: 012 998 3910
Fax no. 086 553 8650
E-mail: pat@saidinational.org
Website: www.saidinational.org

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“White and silver cars remain the most popular in South Africa with a combined market share of over 60 per cent of all new cars sold in the country last year. Most car buyers opt for white followed by silver and much lower down in the popularity stakes are grey, blue and red. Yellow, maroon, purple and pink are the least popular colours with pink right at the bottom.”

It appears that these colours are perceived to be more “neutral” and it might be easier to sell vehicles with these colours. Others believe that is is easier to repair scratches and damage to these vehicles.

It has also been revealed that the colour black has slipped down the rankings and that the warm climate in South Africa is what is making this a less desirable colour for vehicles in South Africa.

Also view:

Which color car was most popular in 2010?

“Your colour does affect car insurance in South Africa”

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A friend and regular visitor to the Arrive Alive website emailed a rather nice video illustrating the driving ability of some of our elderly road users! We have previously on this blog referred to the elderly and how they use their experience to reduce collisions and car insurance claims.

This is not to be tried at home, or near the home or anywhere in the vicinity of other objects, vehicles or people – and definitely only for the advanced drivers amongst us!

Also view:

1. Parking with caution can prevent vehicle theft
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A Man in Waterton Park Alberta, came out to find the inside of his 18 month old Toyota Sequoia trashed.

A grizzly bear had somehow got a door open (easy considering the way the handles are) and once inside got trapped when the door shut behind him. Probably by the wind.

The Toyota was a platinum edition, all the door panels were ripped off, the headliner torn to pieces, all headrests, the leather seats, the dash shredded.

The steering column was twisted sideways. Two of the six airbags went off, the other four the bear ripped to pieces. You can imagine a trapped grizzly being hit with an airbag in an enclosed space must have figured he was in for the fight of his life.

When the bear ripped off the door panels he clawed all the wiring harnesses out. Toyota figures every wire he pulled or clawed at resulted in bells, voices or sparks.

The head mechanic at Calgary Toyota doubted if they had the expertise to put it back together.

To add insult to injury the bear took a big dump in the back of the SUV and then broke out the rear window. Fish and wildlife officers have inspected the damage and figure it was a 3 year old griz.

From blood left behind they are doing DNA.

The vehicle has been written off, cost new over 70,000 they stopped counting repair costs at 60,000.

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Question:

I really hope you can help me! My girlfriend is Dyslexic and has trouble learning and understanding the words from the learners book and i would just like to know if there is any way that she could do a oral test or something or if there is someone who could assist us in this matter?

Your assistance would be much appreciated.

Answer:

Yes the National Road Traffic Act makes provision for the application of an oral test to can be conducted. The applicant needs to make an application at any Driving Licence Testing Centre, who will forward the application to the MEC of the province concerned.

A person may only do an oral test for a learner’s licence if he or she is illiterate and if the MEC has given permission.

Electronic learner’s licence test may also be used to examine a person for a learner’s licence.

I don’t see a definition of the word illiterate in the list if definitions in the Regulations.

Here are dictionary definitions:

illiterate adj 1: unable to read and write. (http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk)

dyslexia noun, psychol, medicine 1 a disorder characterized by difficulty in reading and writing, and in spelling correctly, although individual letters can be recognized, and other intellectual abilities are unimpaired. 2 popularly a term used for difficulties in reading and writing. (http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk)

I’m not sure how Regulation 104 is interpreted by the authorities in a case such as this. If the candidate can read and understand the printed questions, then the answers are multiple-choice options of which the correct answer must be selected. No writing is required. However, perhaps special oral testing can be arranged as noted above.

Gavin Hoole

The New K53 Manual
For Learner’s & Driver’s Licence Test Preparation

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They handed themselves over at the Pretoria Central police station following an investigation by the Gauteng Commercial Crime Unit, said Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale.

Cases of fraud were opened in Brooklyn, Pretoria, last year in July and November by the Road Accident Fund.

Another attorney, a doctor and an agent acting as a middleman, were arrested on Tuesday and had appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.

The attorney and the doctor were granted bail of R10 000 and the agent bail of R1 500, said Mogale.

Two other attorneys were arrested on Wednesday. They appeared in court and were also granted bail of R10 000 each.

It was alleged that the six attorneys, the doctor and the agent were lodging claims on behalf of clients, said Mogale.

Third party claims lodged after an accident were referred to the same doctor, who in some instances provided medical certificates for claimants he had not physically examined.

In some instances, those claimants had not been involved in accidents, he said

All eight would appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on March 6.

- SAPA

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We have all kinds of unique identifying features! It is however not only fingerprints and eye scanning that can be used to identify a specific person.

Japanese scientists claim their pressure sensor sheet can accurately identify an individual’s backside and when placed on a driver’s seat could be used as a last line of defence to stop someone else driving away your motor.

Your buttocks may have 39 identifying features

“The sheet has 360 sensors, which collect data for 39 features to recognise a person, such as pressure patterns and the dimensions of the buttocks,” said Dr Shigeomi Koshimizu, who led the research.

Koshimizu, an associate professor at Tokyo-based Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology, said his device is 98% accurate and far less onerous than conventional biometrics as it requires nothing more than someone to sit naturally.

Clothing may present a challenge

But, he added, there are still a few hurdles to clear before the technology makes it to market.

“The recognition tends to be compromised by different clothes,” he said. “Sensors read different signals from a pair of trousers and a pair of jeans.”

Conclusion:

Few would have thought that the size and shape of your buttocks may one day be an anti-theft device! We believe that not only clothes might present a challenge – but also our ability to change shape with fitness exercises and weight loss programmes.

We look forward to seeing how these studies could impact on fighting vehicle theft and the potential benefits for car insurance!

[Information from a story that appeared via Sapa]

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