Special edition C-Class

Mercedes-Benz has brought out a special edition Mercedes-Benz C-Class Executive SE offering added value with an exterior styling pack and interior upgrades. The car is available now and is powered by the manual C180 KOMPRESSOR BlueEFFICIENCY engine in saloon or estate.

New look 16-inch “Pristix” alloy wheels will be available and the boot lid and exhaust also get chrome finishes. Inside the superb multimedia system is all controlled via the upgraded multi-function steering wheel.

The car offers 44.8mpg on the combined fuel cycle and CO2 emissions of 154g/km making it an ideal choice for a company car driver. Like all Mercedes-Benz cars the vehicle is packed with loads of safety features with Pre-Safe, Adaptive brake lights and of course a five star EuroNCAP rating. Mercedes car leasing prices are coming onto the site soon.

Apprentices at Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz UK has announced a record total of 575 apprentices on a three-year block release programme in order to continue creating a highly skilled workforce for the future.

Wilfried Steffen, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz UK said,”Professional and motivated people are key to our plans for the future. Our investment in these schemes is an essential part of our plans, even in such challenging times for our business and the motor industry as a whole”.

Green Motion

Green Motion, is the UK’s first green vehicle Hire Company and has opened for business in the centre of Leicester. This new green daily rental company gives corporate and retail customers the opportunity to drive the latest green car models.

If you are local to Leicester and want to try out the Bluemotion range from Volkswagen, Blue Efficiency from Mercedes, Eco Drive from Fiat, Eco2 from Renault and green and other low CO2 emission ”eco-friendly” models from Citroen and Hyundai then visit their site at www.greenmotion.com

Hiring a low CO2 car for a time is an excellent way of test driving a vehicle before you perhaps take the plunge into a longer term arrangement, like contract hire.

Fiat 500

Fiat has demonstrated its commitment to low CO2 emission cars by reducing its average CO2 emissions figure on cars sold in Europe, during the first half of 2009, to 129.1g/km.

The figure has been corroborated by leading automotive adviser, JATO and shows Fiat is the only mainstream car manufacturer to achieve the European average goal of sub 130g/km by 2015 -five years early.

Of the top brands Fiat is ahead of the following;

- Toyota 132.9g/km

- Peugeot 134.5g/km

- Citroen 138.1g/km

- Renault 138.9g/km

- Ford 140.4g/km

- Opel (GM) 149.5g/km

- Volkswagen 152.5g/km

- Audi 162.6g/km

- Mercedes 178.8g/km

Fiat has led the way on green technology with MultiAir technology on petrol engines, MultiJet diesel engines eco:Drive and Start&Stop which has helped them to the top spot in low CO2 cars.

smart eco car

On Saturday the 12th of September, the biggest ever gathering of smart car drivers will be occuring at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey for 2009 smart festival.

There will be live entertainment on hand with Steve Appleton and dance group Flava plus other smart-related attractions and competions.

The event which is expected to attract over 1,400 smart car drivers will also celebrate the smart-BRABUS tailormade range, with various models on show.

smart fans can find out more about the festival at the smart club festival website @ www.thesmartfestival.com 

The smart range is available from the Mercedes-Benz network and more details are available off the smart website @ www.smart.com/uk

Inchcape, one of the UK’s largest automotive retailers, has provided Comparecontracthire.com with their latest car and van vehicle availability guide.

The two options you have is to take a stock vehicle (located at a dealer) or if you want a bespoke car or van to your own vehicle specification, then you will have to place a factory order. The guide below is just that, a guide, however it should provide you with an update on which models are hard to get hold of at the moment.

Once you have chosen your car or van, if you decide you want to contract hire the vehicle, the relevant contract hire partner on the site will advise you on your vehicle delivery options. 

Alfa Romeo MiTo

Contract hire is basically a form of renting a car or van for a fixed period. You agree the contract period, at the annual mileage you will perform at. Then just order your new car or van with the leasing company and take delivery of your new vehicle.

However in order to get the best out of contract hire, rather than choosing the exact model you want (as you would normally do when you buy a vehicle with cash, PCP, HP or finance lease), try selecting the rental you want to pay instead and choose your favourite manufacturer brands.

The biggest factor in how a contract hire rental is calculated is the resale value that the leasing company has forecasted when setting their price.

So try the contract hire £ shopper and choose the brands that you like for example Audi, BMW, Honda and Mercedes, by ticking the manufacturers you like. Select how much you want to pay and then whether it is for business or personal contract hire.

You will be really surprised at the differences in rental prices, for cars that cost different amounts. When you contract hire a vehicle the purchase price doesn’t matter as much, as it is the total cost of the car over the contract life that affects the rental.

Not only that but you will see prices compared from some of the top car finance companies in the UK.

Scirocco R

You know you want a new car or van but you need to do your research before you make your mind up. Things like fuel consumption, CO2, images, standard accessories and what are the different cost options?. The trouble is where do you look to get this information at one source? You can search on all the manufacturer websites but this can be very time consuming.

Audi A3 Sportback

If you want to compare different manufacturer specifications on different models, whether it’s a car or van, the Vehicle Information Shopper is the answer. All the data, on any make and model of vehicle, is supplied to us by CAP , the UK’s number one vehicle information provider. Data is updated to the site weekly and the Shopper allows you to compare information on any make and model of car or van.  Once you have narrowed down your choices you can always double check the information on the manufacturer website, just to be on the safe side.

So if you are looking at different BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen options, or any other manufacturer, you now have one source to do this.

Audi TT RS

The best way to find out if your monthly budget will stretch to the manufacturer you want, is to try the Contract Hire £ Shopper. 

You may not be sure which model you want but you may know that you want an Audi, BMW or Mercedes vehicle for example. The £ shopper is the easiest way to find the best value, cars or vans, sorted by their monthly contract hire rental.

Here is a useful guide on how to use the £ Shopper.

1) Just choose Cars or Vans.

2) Then either select “All manufacturers” if you are not bothered what the make is -you may just want to see the best prices. But if you know you only want to see results showing Audi, Ford, Honda and Hyundai for example just tick those boxes and only these makes will show up.

3) Then choose how much you want to spend per month.

4) Finally are you looking for business contract hire or personal contract hire?

Then click on the Proceed button.

The £ Shopper then searches all the pricing submitted by our partners to show you the best results. It will always display the cheapest rental for each individual car or van shown.

If you want to see the other results, just click on the “Orange Button” on the right hand side to see the results of all the other partners.

Contract hire rental terms displayed will be on the following parameters:

- Business or personal contract hire depending on your selected choice. Business contract hire rentals are shown without VAT and personal contract hire rentals are shown with the VAT added.

- Results based on a three year contract, non maintenance contract hire leasing rentals at an annual mileage of 10,000 miles per annum.

- Payments terms in the first instance will always be three rentals in advance, followed by 35 subsequent payments i.e. 38 payments in total. Important to know when you are comparing quotes elsewhere.

Ford Transit Connect

Once you get to the results pages you have the option to change the terms, using the modifying buttons on the left hand side of the page. Also click on the model name displayed if you want to see a picture (where supplied) and technical information on each model.

All the technical data is supplied by CAP, the UK’s leading automotive information supplier.

Now all you have to do is look through the results and see if you can spot a super rental and get the car or van you want.

The beauty of the contract hire £ Shopper is that just because a vehicle costs more to buy doesn’t mean that the contract hire rental is going to be high as well. That is because each contract hire partner sets a different resale value and they do vary.

This unique quote engine will help you narrow down your choices and if you find the right car or van at the right price for you just fill out the contact form, press send and you will be contacted by the relevant contract hire partner. 

By the close of 2008, TRACKER , the UK leader in stolen vehicle recovery, has helped the police recover assets to a value of over £400 million.  Prestige models like Aston Martin, BMW, Mercedes and Audi were still top of the car thief’s list, however TRACKER warns that there was also a sharp increase in non-prestige brands being stolen. In 2008 alone TRACKER helped recover £26 million worth of stolen cars.

TRACKER systems work like an electronic homing device with a transmitter hidden in one of several dozen places around the car. There is no visible aerial so the thief will not know it is fitted. It uses VHF and GPS technology and is in use in 30 countries throughout the world. Since 1993, TRACKER has recovered more than 18,000 vehicles.

Bill Raynal, managing director of TRACKER, warns “ We advise people to reassess their security measures. The first line of defence should be to look after car keys at all times, but also to look at installing a tracking device, which should result in the speedy recovery of their vehicle in the event of it being stolen”.

Many insurance companies will also offer lower insurance premiums if you have a TRACKER system installed.