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A recent survey by car insurers More Than has revealed that thousands of drivers may have bought cars that are unsafe. As many as one in three second hand cars which are bought privately in the UK could have adverse histories that render them worthless. At present there are roughly 2.9m cars traded each year, making the number affected in the region of 1m.

The most common problem is outstanding finance agreements which means that the buyer is not actually purchasing the legal title to the car so it can be repossessed at any time, leaving the buyer with no way to get their money back.

Other problems include stolen cars, ‘cut and shuts’ - where two damaged vehicles are welded together to make an apparently undamaged car - or vehicles which have been declared unfit for repair following previous accidents.

Here at GalsCarGuide we really don’t want you to buy one of these cars! The ’shady past’ and ‘is the car safe’ sections of the site are crammed with information about how to avoid this.

Most importantly is buying from a seller which carries out independent inspections, by someone like the RAC and also HPI history checks on all their cars. If a car is HPI history cleared then you can guarantee that it has never been stolen, tampered with or has any outstanding finance. All of the cars listed on GalsCarGuide are HPI history cleared so there is no reason to worry.

And that means there is no reason to hold back..go on..get shopping!
Have you ever had any car buying nightmares? If so let us know and share your story here.

A recent survey by women’s car insurance providers Diamond found that the majority of females (90%) though male driving habits were irritating. However, half also believed themselves to have annoying motoring tendencies.

The survey shows that it is definately women who get more irriated by men, rather than vice versa; turning the old stereotype of men criticising female drivers, on its head. However, although this myth has been dispelled “the results do tell us something which isn’t a surprise”, says Sian Lewis, managing director of Diamond, “men think they have less irritating habits than women”
The majority of women felt that the most annoying habit of male drivers was speeding, with almost one third or respondants selecting this tendency. In comparison, most male drivers who beleived women had bad tendencies said their most common complaint was that women were not courteous to other drivers.

35% of women were driven mad by men criticising thier driving and altough less than half the men questioned found female passengers irritating, it was having their driving criticised which annoyed this minority the most.

So it seems that women are simply just angrier drivers than men. Being both more irritated at themselves and at men than the men are themselves. But although they may be irritated, it seems that men actually don’t find them that irritating after all. Perhaps the anger shown by female drivers is a symptom of insecurity about how they wil be judged by their male couterparts. Perhaps women shoud embrace the results of this survey and have more self confidence in their ability to drive. Who knows, maybe this would decrease road rage. Although, of course, if all those ‘blasted men’ stopped speeding too it wouldn’t go amiss!

Gals Car Guide is dedicated to ensuring motorists are fully protected and fully informed. Therefore, we were shocked to hear about the recent petrol scare hitting the South East and wanted to take this opportunity to ensure that drivers are fully protected against incidents such as this.

The recent batch of contaminated petrol has left many motorists stranded and out of pocket. It is probable that the petrol contains silicone and this is what has been causing cars to judder, backfire and lose power. Fuel supplier Harvest Energy, which supplies Tesco and Morrisons said unusually high levels of silicon had been traced to four storage tanks at a depot in Essex. The AA told the BBC traces of silicon have been found in petrol taken from the cars.

However, this had not been detected before sale at retailers including supermarkets Tesco and Morrisons because routine tests did not look for the substance. More than 5,000 people have contacted the BBC to say they have been affected.

Morrisons has stopped selling unleaded fuel at 41 outlets supplied by the depot until tests are completed.

Tesco said it was emptying its unleaded tanks at 150 outlets in South East England and refilling them with uncontaminated fuel, but continuing sales.

Asda, which buys fuel from Harvest Energy, said it was replacing unleaded petrol at 30 forecourts in the South East supplied from the affected depot as a “precautionary measure”.

Harvest Energy said it could guarantee no further contaminated petrol would be distributed

Ray Holloway, from the Petrol Retailers Association, told BBC News 24 that the issue could affect fuel prices. One industry group said the incident could force prices up by 2p a litre.

Susanna, who posted on the Radio 1 Newsbeat website, shares her story. She says that she filled up her car and when she tried to restart it later it refused to get going. She took it to a garage where they emptied the tank and refilled it then the car was fine. But she was ££175 out of pocket. She sent a sample of the fuel to the supermarket she bought it from but says that she has been informed to take legal action as they have not got back to her within 14 days. She also says that the RAC were convinced that the problems with her car were caused by faulty fuel. She finishes by saying “Thankfully it was paid for on credit card so we have full records!” whereas another site user Donna writes that “I bought petrol from Morrisons within a day my car started juddering and it ended up costing me £280 to fix it. Unfortunately I paid for my petrol in cash so there for have no record of filling up at Morrisons”.

From this it is clear to see that if you wish to stay protected it is important that you keep your receipts from any petrol purchases. Keep them at least until the fuel runs out.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said motorists affected by contaminated petrol may be able to claim for accidental damage if they have comprehensive cover. A spokesman urged all motorists to keep any evidence that they have purchased the allegedly contaminated petrol, such as receipts or other paperwork.

He said: “At the moment, it is still not clear where liability for this problem lies.

“Nevertheless, the insurance industry can provide this important reassurance to customers in the meantime that, provided they have comprehensive insurance, they need not lose out.”

The mishap can be seen in a positive light in as far as it has reminded us to keep important documentation and ensure we are fully covered. Information about this, and more, can be found on Gals Car Guide.

Every day car drivers across the UK do stupid things whilst in their cars. More often than not, they are not just embarrassing, but more importantly, dangerous. The UK Used Car experts are running an awards ceremony to reward the most brilliant and bizarre stories. The entrants will not only be rewarded with a prize but will have the chance to share their tales on television.

The initiative behind the scheme is to promote awareness of ensuring there has been a full check before buying a used car. If you’ve done a few silly things to your own car can you even begin to imagine what the previous owner may have done, and left unreported.

Used Car Expert spokesman Matt Tumbridge says: “Most of us have let our heart rule our head and bought a used car without checking it as thoroughly as we might and some of us have been stung with a big bill because we missed a common fault”.

Some early contenders include a driver who claims his car hit a wall when no one was driving and another who reversed into trees that had not been planted when he last parked there a few days previously.

One woman says she accelerated hard when she meant to brake as she entered her garage. She went through the garage, through two freezers, the rear wall, across an alley, through a fence and finally parked in the side of two trees.

Matt encourages people to “Tell us your story, whether it is serious, funny or just weird and we will enter you into our awards.”

But more importantly be on guard when buying a used car. Ensure that the car is RAC inspected and HPI history cleared. On www.carsite.co.uk all cars come with these as standard.

If you have any stories about either driving or car buying share them here with our gals guide community.