The Classic Cars Classified website for classic car enthusiasts has just been sold to Bauer Media for an undisclosed sum. The website was established on 2004 and is the number one website for anyone interested in buying or selling classic cars from around the world. The site receives around 1 million visitors per month from the UK, USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and has just been re-built to improve its ease of use.

Bauer Media (who also own Fleet News - one of Comparecontracthire.com’s partners) commented,”The UK’s best website for buying and selling classic cars, parts and automobilia – Classicarsforsale.co.uk – has been redesigned to make both buying and selling a classic car even quicker and easier as well as more secure. It is still completely FREE for private sellers to place adverts and there are great packages available for dealers and traders”.

BMW 3 Series

The UK’s largest vehicle reliability survey has been conducted by Fleet News with the top FN50 vehicle leasing companies (by fleet size), who run in excess of 1.2 million cars and vans. This annual analysis asks the leasing companies to rank the best vehicles and manufacturers for reliability, with tables then created for a top 10 for cars and a top 5 for vans (see below).

German brands have dominated the results this year for both the car and van category, with the BMW 3 Series the most reliable car (and top car brand), the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter knocking the Ford Transit off the top spot for most reliable van, with Volkswagen leaping ahead of Ford overall, in the van reliability league table.

Fleet News Editor, Stephen Briers, said, “BMW has built on its position as most reliable car manufacturer supplying the UK’s largest contract hire companies, adding another attribute to low CO2 emissions, modest overall running costs and rewarding driver behaviour and making its cars more desirable to fleet operators”.

Volkswagen vans

On vans, Stephen said,”Van reliability is arguably more important than car reliability as vital supply chains can be disrupted through unnecessary vehicle downtime. Volkswagen has demonstrated with its leading position as a van manufacturer, and high placing for its models, that fleet operators can choose its vehicles in confidence”

Most reliable cars according to top FN50 leasing companies

1. BMW 3 Series
2. Honda Accord
3. Volkswagen Golf
4. Audi A3
5. Toyota Avensis
6. Nissan Qashqai
7. Volkswagen Passat
8. Audi A4
9. Mazda6
10. BMW 5 Series

Most reliable car manufacturers

1. BMW
2. Audi
3. Honda
4. Volkswagen
5. Toyota
6. Nissan
7. Mercedes-Benz
8. Ford
9. Lexus
10. Skoda

Most reliable vans

1. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
2. Ford Transit
3. Volkswagen Caddy
4. Ford Transit Connect
5. Volkswagen Transporter

Most reliable van manufacturers

1. Volkswagen
2. Ford
3. Mercedes-Benz
4. Fiat
5. Renault 

Fleet News, one of the UK’s leading fleet magazines, has launched a new initiative for business car or van fleets to recommend suppliers they like. Comparecontracthire.com is growing quickly and if you think other businesses might like the site and the live car leasing engines we offer, we would be really grateful if you would spend a few minutes to recommend us. Or category is “contract hire“.

The link to the Fleet News Reader Recommendation site is www.fleetnews.co.uk/recommended/ 

Many thanks.

Robert Wastell.

The winners at the prestigious “Fleet News Awards 2009″ were announced last night at the Grosvenor Hotel, Park Lane, Mayfair, W1. Manufacturers, Contract Hire Leasing companies, Fleet Managers and other motoring related service companies were all recognised for their hard work and commitment throughout 2008.

The full roll call of winners is as follows.

Fleet Manager Awards.

New Fleet Manager of the Year – Alan Tegge, British Standards Institution.

Boardroom Initiative of the Year - Avon Cosmetics.

Fleet Manager of the Year , sub 100 vehicles – Rob Paddock, Commercial Group.

Fleet Manager of the Year, 101 to 400 vehicles – Marie Jarrold, British Car Auctions.

Fleet Manager of the Year, 500+ vehicles – Gerard Finn, Avon Cosmetics.

Service Company Awards

Best Environmental Initiative - Leaseplan.

Best Safety Initiative – Fleet Support Group.

Best Leasing Initiative – Arval UK.

Best Short-term Rental Initiative – Europcar.

Best Customer Services Initiative – Zenith Provecta.

Manufacturer Awards

Best Small Car – Ford Fiesta,

Best Small Family Car – Volkswagen Golf.

Best Large Family Car – Mazda6

Best People Carrier – Ford S-Max.

Best Small SUV – Ford Kuga.

Best Large SUV- BMW X5.

Best RV star – Mini

Best Small Premium Car – BMW 1 Series.

Best Large Premium Car – Audi A4.

Best Executive Car – BMW 5 Series.

Best Luxury Car – BMW 7 Series.

Fleet News Headline Awards

Fleet of the Year – IBM.

Fleet News Hall of Fame Award – John Bradley, MBE, Hampshire constabulary.

Fleet Manufacturer of the Year – Ford.

Fleet Supplier of the Year – Kwik-Fit Fleet.

Company Car of the Year – Audi A4.

Fleet News, the industry respected magazine and website, has appointed Stephen Briers as its new editor. He takes over the reins from Martyn Moore who has left to pursue other interests.

Stephen said “I’m delighted to be joining Fleet News. It has a proud heritage as the leading business title in the fleet industry and I am looking forward to building on this in the future”.

Stephen has most recently worked on the Fleet News sister publication AM, the merged business of Automotive Management and AutoTrade, where he has been editor since 2002.

Fleet News general manager , Ian Richardson, said  ” Stephen Briers has the right credentials to move Fleet News forward and to extend its undisputed position as the market leading media brand in the company car and van sector”.

Fleetnews.co.uk  announced today that they are launching a new SME online service for small to medium sized fleets.  The major part of their new offer is a link up with comparecontracthire.com, the UK’s first business and personal contract hire price comparison site.

However the SME Fleet News site will also show;

- average and national fuel prices

- fuel cost calculator

- running cost database offering pence per miles figures

- residual values on over 6,000 model derivatives updated monthly

- road tests on all the latest cars and vans

- a SME toolkit including advice on vehicle choice, taxation, roads afety, risk management, motoring laws and travel planning.

Ian Richardson the Fleet News general manager said ” Our new online offering is designed to ensure we meet the needs of all SME’s running cars and vans”.

Robert Wastell, founder of comparecontracthire.com said ” I am delighted to be working with Fleet News on this initiative and I believe many SME’s will benefit from this new partnership”.