Learning to drive is always a daunting task for beginners, as a parent you want your children to be safe and check on their driving skill.
Provisional marmalade offer provisional insurance that lets learner drivers use cars that are group 42 or less, have a current value less that £20,000 and also if there is a crash you no claims is not affected. All this for as little as £90 a month and you know that your car is safe if there is an accident and you still have you no claims.
Provisional Marmalade has been created by the team that developed the award winning Young Marmalade scheme - specialists in the young driver market.
Young Marmalade is a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) and received the rare accolade of being congratulated by the House of Commons in an Early Day Motion for our work with young driver safety.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Friday, 6 May 2011
Improving your MPG?
Frugal driving takes patience, but by setting off just 5 minutes earlier can really make a difference to your mpg, that extra 5 minutes allows you to drive a little slower and decrease your speed by 5 mph. Simple Maintenance can also help in conserving fuel and the safety of you and any passengers.
New learner drivers are being told all of these when driving with an instructor.
Doing this has many advantages.
The First advantage is that you will save fuel and money if you have a set amount of fuel to put in to your car after a few week driving slower you will have one week where you will most likely not have to fill up your car.
Second advantage is that by driving slower there is less wear and tear on your car mainly your tyres, always make sure that your tyres are at the correct pressure, under inflated tyres can cause you mpg to go down costing more fuel as well as not wearing the tyre down evenly you will end up having more wear on the outside of you tyre.
Over inflated tyres is a bigger hazard, depending on how much they are over inflated. A bump or wrong turn could case the tyre to give way and explode causing your car to lose control and in most cases crash. The wear on over inflated tyres is concentrated on the inside of the tyre so when the centre is worn out you will have to get new tyres even if there is plenty on the outside.
Third Advantage is that by driving slower you, passengers and other cars that may be involved in a traffic collision are more likely to sustain less injury in the event of an accident. Like I have said above making sure you tyres are correctly inflated and in good condition can also help prevent accidents.
Another way to increase your mpg is minimise the use of air conditioning as these systems are often powered by belts attached to the engine, which puts additional load on the car’s engine which increases the rpm to achieve the same speed that you are travelling. Make sure that you windows are closed when travelling, having windows open while driving causes more drag on the car and has the same effect of the engine as I just stated about when using Air conditioning.
Brake less!
That’s right, don’t use your brakes allow your car to natural slow down(Not coasting) this save your brake pads and helps them to last longer and is more economical saving you fuel.
All of these steps can help save a lot of fuel and could change your average mpg from 34mpg to 48mpg as I experienced when doing some testing. At times I had reached 50mpg after being at 32mpg which is a considerable amount of fuel saved over time
Learner Driver insurance Help
Provisional Marmalade learner driver insurance provides cover for learner drivers whilst practicing in a car owned by someone else. Any claim arising from the policy does not affect the car owner’s policy or their no claims discount.
New learner drivers are being told all of these when driving with an instructor.
Doing this has many advantages.
The First advantage is that you will save fuel and money if you have a set amount of fuel to put in to your car after a few week driving slower you will have one week where you will most likely not have to fill up your car.
Second advantage is that by driving slower there is less wear and tear on your car mainly your tyres, always make sure that your tyres are at the correct pressure, under inflated tyres can cause you mpg to go down costing more fuel as well as not wearing the tyre down evenly you will end up having more wear on the outside of you tyre.
Over inflated tyres is a bigger hazard, depending on how much they are over inflated. A bump or wrong turn could case the tyre to give way and explode causing your car to lose control and in most cases crash. The wear on over inflated tyres is concentrated on the inside of the tyre so when the centre is worn out you will have to get new tyres even if there is plenty on the outside.
Third Advantage is that by driving slower you, passengers and other cars that may be involved in a traffic collision are more likely to sustain less injury in the event of an accident. Like I have said above making sure you tyres are correctly inflated and in good condition can also help prevent accidents.
Another way to increase your mpg is minimise the use of air conditioning as these systems are often powered by belts attached to the engine, which puts additional load on the car’s engine which increases the rpm to achieve the same speed that you are travelling. Make sure that you windows are closed when travelling, having windows open while driving causes more drag on the car and has the same effect of the engine as I just stated about when using Air conditioning.
Brake less!
That’s right, don’t use your brakes allow your car to natural slow down(Not coasting) this save your brake pads and helps them to last longer and is more economical saving you fuel.
All of these steps can help save a lot of fuel and could change your average mpg from 34mpg to 48mpg as I experienced when doing some testing. At times I had reached 50mpg after being at 32mpg which is a considerable amount of fuel saved over time
Learner Driver insurance Help
Provisional Marmalade learner driver insurance provides cover for learner drivers whilst practicing in a car owned by someone else. Any claim arising from the policy does not affect the car owner’s policy or their no claims discount.
Looking After your First Car
Looking after your first car can be daunting, you probably realise already that owning your first car is expensive, car insurance for new drivers can be very costly but owning your own car doesn’t stop there.
Looking after your car not only makes sense given that you most likely need it for work or family journeys, a well maintained car is generally a more reliable car. Basic checks can help spot something that needs attention before it becomes a major breakdown, these checks should be carried out at regular intervals, an ideal time might be at the same time you clean your car, assuming you do clean it!
The main things to check weekly on your car are listed below.
Engine Oil Level Checking
Engine oil, don’t forget this one, especially on older cars, it will take you all of 2 minutes to check your oil but the cost of not could be huge, if your car runs out of engine oil either through leaks or being burnt as often the case in older high mileage cars the engine will seize up solid, metal inside your engine needs a fine layer or film of oil between the moving metal parts, without it is disastrous and could easily cost £1000’s to repair or replace a seized engine. Refer to your owner’s manual for the correct grade of engine oil for your car and do not over fill.
Screen Wash Level
Water, and no we don’t mean carrying a bottle of spring water in the glove box. Keeping your screen wash topped up. You will easily tell if the screen wash reservoir runs dry, bear in mind though that screen wash additives serve two functions, cleaning and raising the freezing point of the water it is mixed with.
Cooling System Check
Get into the habit of checking your cars cooling system levels, modern cars are usually good and need only infrequent checks but older cars can and do use / loose water especially if they are allowed to run hot in traffic jams during the summer.
Tyre Pressures and Wear Checking
Check your tyres, they are expensive to replace, under inflated tyres will not only wear unevenly and need replacing sooner but will impact again on your mpg, don’t over inflate them as this leads to poor handling and a harsh ride, always check in your handbook for the correct air pressure needed in your tyres.
Brakes
Okay so seems obvious but allowing brakes pads to wear down past their friction material and allow metal to run against the brake disc itself will either wear groove into the discs or warp them due to overheating, either way replacement of the discs is only a matter of time as worn discs will wear out new brake pads quickly. Brake fluid, again a two second visual check but spotting a low level early could save more than just money, low brake fluid is almost always attributed to a leak, which will affect your braking distance, locate the leak quickly and if you can’t fix then top up the brake reservoir and drive your car slowly to the garage to have it checked out. There are different types or grades of brake fluid (DOT 4, 5 etc.).
Power Steering Level
Again another quick check, usual signs though of a low power steering fluid level are noise or whining when the steering wheel is being turned. Check your owner’s manual for recommended type of power steering fluid or automatic transmission fluid that is often used (Dexron 4, 5 etc.).
Provisional Marmalade learner driver insurance provides cover forlearner drivers whilst practicing in a car owned by someone else. Any claim arising from the policy does not affect the car owner’s policy or their no claims discount.
Looking after your car not only makes sense given that you most likely need it for work or family journeys, a well maintained car is generally a more reliable car. Basic checks can help spot something that needs attention before it becomes a major breakdown, these checks should be carried out at regular intervals, an ideal time might be at the same time you clean your car, assuming you do clean it!
The main things to check weekly on your car are listed below.
Engine Oil Level Checking
Engine oil, don’t forget this one, especially on older cars, it will take you all of 2 minutes to check your oil but the cost of not could be huge, if your car runs out of engine oil either through leaks or being burnt as often the case in older high mileage cars the engine will seize up solid, metal inside your engine needs a fine layer or film of oil between the moving metal parts, without it is disastrous and could easily cost £1000’s to repair or replace a seized engine. Refer to your owner’s manual for the correct grade of engine oil for your car and do not over fill.
Screen Wash Level
Water, and no we don’t mean carrying a bottle of spring water in the glove box. Keeping your screen wash topped up. You will easily tell if the screen wash reservoir runs dry, bear in mind though that screen wash additives serve two functions, cleaning and raising the freezing point of the water it is mixed with.
Cooling System Check
Get into the habit of checking your cars cooling system levels, modern cars are usually good and need only infrequent checks but older cars can and do use / loose water especially if they are allowed to run hot in traffic jams during the summer.
Tyre Pressures and Wear Checking
Check your tyres, they are expensive to replace, under inflated tyres will not only wear unevenly and need replacing sooner but will impact again on your mpg, don’t over inflate them as this leads to poor handling and a harsh ride, always check in your handbook for the correct air pressure needed in your tyres.
Brakes
Okay so seems obvious but allowing brakes pads to wear down past their friction material and allow metal to run against the brake disc itself will either wear groove into the discs or warp them due to overheating, either way replacement of the discs is only a matter of time as worn discs will wear out new brake pads quickly. Brake fluid, again a two second visual check but spotting a low level early could save more than just money, low brake fluid is almost always attributed to a leak, which will affect your braking distance, locate the leak quickly and if you can’t fix then top up the brake reservoir and drive your car slowly to the garage to have it checked out. There are different types or grades of brake fluid (DOT 4, 5 etc.).
Power Steering Level
Again another quick check, usual signs though of a low power steering fluid level are noise or whining when the steering wheel is being turned. Check your owner’s manual for recommended type of power steering fluid or automatic transmission fluid that is often used (Dexron 4, 5 etc.).
Provisional Marmalade learner driver insurance provides cover forlearner drivers whilst practicing in a car owned by someone else. Any claim arising from the policy does not affect the car owner’s policy or their no claims discount.
Checking the water level in your car's cooling system is the second most important maintenance task any car owner should carry out.
Radiator Water level Checking
Checking the water level in your cars radiator is possibly the second most important maintenance check, only engine oil is more critical to reliability and seizure prevention. With modern cars checking your radiator fluid level is quick and easy although never attempt this when the engine is hot as the cars radiator system is pressurized and the escaping water vapour can scald. To check the water level you will need to locate the header tank or expansion tank, these can be made from metal or plastic and will have a three small pipes running from it, one pipe will go to the radiator, another will be a return pipe from the engine and a final one is an overflow pipe which will be smaller in diameter to the other two. The expansion tank will be located slightly higher than the top of the radiator, sitting on top of this small tank will be a cap, press down slightly and unscrew this cap and release your downward pressure and lift off. Peer inside and you will notice, or should rather, a coloured liquid, now there will be usually two marks that relate to the upper and lower levels, these marks will either be on the outside or inside of the expansion tank. If the level is slightly down simply add clean water to bring the level up, if the level is very low or the tank is dry then you will need to add a mixture of antifreeze and water, antifreeze raises the waters freezing point for winter use but also acts as a summer coolant and all year round rust inhibitor to protect the engines internal waterways from rusting and clogging.
Adding Antifreeze
A word of caution before adding antifreeze to your cars radiator, not all antifreeze or cars are the same. Basically there are two types of antifreeze available Organic (OAT) and inorganic (IAT) IAT should be drained completely and changed every two years. OAT which is often referred to as long life or advanced antifreeze should be replaced every five years. NEVER MIX different types of antifreeze, the results can have serious effects on your engine as the mixture turns to gel within your engines waterways. As a general rule most cars manufactured after 2001 should be using long life antifreeze (OAT) but if you are unsure then drain the system completely and replace the lot. Many manufacturers add their own dye to antifreeze which often adds to the confusion further.
If your replacing the entire contents of your cars cooling system then refill with a mix of 50/50 water/antifreeze this will give maximum protection down to -36c don’t be tempted to mix any stronger than this as the freezing point starts to rise again if more than 50% antifreeze is added.
Remember if in any doubt as the exact type of antifreeze currently in your cars cooling system then drain and replace with all an all new mixture, after all unless you have anything recorded within the cars service history you will have little chance of knowing how old the current antifreeze is anyway.
Source:
Provisional Marmalade learner driver insurance provides cover for learner drivers whilst practicing in a car owned by someone else. Any claim arising from the policy does not affect the car owner’s policy or their no claims discount.
Learner driver insurance
Learner Driver Insurance Quote
How Learner Driver Insurance Works
Checking the water level in your cars radiator is possibly the second most important maintenance check, only engine oil is more critical to reliability and seizure prevention. With modern cars checking your radiator fluid level is quick and easy although never attempt this when the engine is hot as the cars radiator system is pressurized and the escaping water vapour can scald. To check the water level you will need to locate the header tank or expansion tank, these can be made from metal or plastic and will have a three small pipes running from it, one pipe will go to the radiator, another will be a return pipe from the engine and a final one is an overflow pipe which will be smaller in diameter to the other two. The expansion tank will be located slightly higher than the top of the radiator, sitting on top of this small tank will be a cap, press down slightly and unscrew this cap and release your downward pressure and lift off. Peer inside and you will notice, or should rather, a coloured liquid, now there will be usually two marks that relate to the upper and lower levels, these marks will either be on the outside or inside of the expansion tank. If the level is slightly down simply add clean water to bring the level up, if the level is very low or the tank is dry then you will need to add a mixture of antifreeze and water, antifreeze raises the waters freezing point for winter use but also acts as a summer coolant and all year round rust inhibitor to protect the engines internal waterways from rusting and clogging.
Adding Antifreeze
A word of caution before adding antifreeze to your cars radiator, not all antifreeze or cars are the same. Basically there are two types of antifreeze available Organic (OAT) and inorganic (IAT) IAT should be drained completely and changed every two years. OAT which is often referred to as long life or advanced antifreeze should be replaced every five years. NEVER MIX different types of antifreeze, the results can have serious effects on your engine as the mixture turns to gel within your engines waterways. As a general rule most cars manufactured after 2001 should be using long life antifreeze (OAT) but if you are unsure then drain the system completely and replace the lot. Many manufacturers add their own dye to antifreeze which often adds to the confusion further.
If your replacing the entire contents of your cars cooling system then refill with a mix of 50/50 water/antifreeze this will give maximum protection down to -36c don’t be tempted to mix any stronger than this as the freezing point starts to rise again if more than 50% antifreeze is added.
Remember if in any doubt as the exact type of antifreeze currently in your cars cooling system then drain and replace with all an all new mixture, after all unless you have anything recorded within the cars service history you will have little chance of knowing how old the current antifreeze is anyway.
Source:
Provisional Marmalade learner driver insurance provides cover for learner drivers whilst practicing in a car owned by someone else. Any claim arising from the policy does not affect the car owner’s policy or their no claims discount.
Learner driver insurance
Learner Driver Insurance Quote
How Learner Driver Insurance Works
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