Ryan Air low cost :)

Overview

Ryanair is an airline based in Ireland and is Europe’s largest low-fare airline. Led by CEO Michael O’Leary, Ryanair has continuously lowered average fair prices while maintaining profitability and a good balance sheet and while guaranteeing never to add a fuel surcharge to fare prices. Among a few of Ryanair’s notable achievements:

• Ryanair carries the largest amount of international traffic in the world—73.5 million passengers this past year;
• Ryanair has the largest coverage in Europe with 42 bases, 155 airports, 26 countries, over 1,100 routes, and over 1,300 daily departures;
• Ryanair has the most on time flights, fewest lost bags, and fewest cancellations of flights;
• Ryanair has the lowest average fare price in Europe, charging $45 per ticket while the next closest low fare competitor charges an average of $66 and the flag carriers like British Airway and Lufthansa charging an average of $362 and $291 respectively;

How Does Ryanair Do It?

How is Ryanair able to charge so little for air fare and still make money? Good question.

The Fleet

Ryanair has the newest fleet of aircraft in Europe with an average age of 2.9 years. A newer fleet means greater fuel efficiency. Also, the fleet consists of only one type of aircraft: 247 Boeing 737-800s. The purchase of aircraft from a single manufacturer enables Ryanair to limit the costs associated with personnel training, maintenance, and the purchase and storage of spare parts, as well as affording greater flexibility in the scheduling of crews and equipment.
The interior of the planes have also been stripped down to the bare essentials. Seats don’t recline, the better to cram in more passengers. Window shades have been removed, so flight attendants don’t have to spend time resetting them between flights. Seat-back pockets have been ditched—one less place for clutter to accumulate.

Frequent, Point-to-Point Flights on Short-Haul Routes

Ryanair will not fly to airports where they can’t get a turnaround time (the time an aircraft spends at a gate loading and unloading passengers) of less than 25 minutes. With quick turnarounds, Ryanair pilots are able to fly the route a greater number of times per day. As for routes, Ryanair only does short-haul, point-to-point routes, which allows for a greater number of flights per day.

Airports and Fees

Also, Ryanair selects the airports and routes it services on the basis of whether they are economically feasible.  Ryanair will not fly (or is less likely to fly) to airports where they are forced to use expensive, union-member baggage handlers. Ryanair flies primarily to secondary and regional airports, which are generally less congested than major airports, have faster turnaround times, fewer terminal delays, and more competitive fees and costs. Ryanair will sometimes be able to work out a deal with an airport whereby the airport subsidizes some of Ryanair’s costs in exchange for Ryanair bringing passengers to the airport.

Personnel Productivity

Ryanair makes great use of contractors—52% during 2008. Also, about 68% of Ryanair’s payroll is productivity-based.

Web Check-In and Other Incentives

Ryanair passengers must check-in via the web and passengers must pay a fee to check luggage. Ryanair also does not use expensive baggage handling systems—passengers carry their luggage to the foot of the plane where they hand it directly to the baggage handler.

Ancillary Revenues

Ryanair bombards users of its website and its passengers with advertisements. Ryanair sells food and other products to passengers during flights—scratch tickets are quite popular. Ryanair is a firm believer in passengers paying only for the service they require—if a passenger desires food during a flight, they can either buy it from Ryanair or bring it onto the plane. Ryanair also provides accommodation services, travel insurance, and car rentals through its website (Ryanair is one of the largest provider of customers to Hertz in Europe).

Competitors

Other airlines in Europe continue to fail and there is continued consolidation which helps to reduce Ryanair’s competition. Unlike the bankruptcy system in America, most European laws favor creditors at the expense of debtors, so the majority of airlines that fail simply shut down and liquidate. Ryanair does not have to compete with marginal airlines that are on the life support of an American-style bankruptcy system.

Investment Risks

Safety

Despite being Europe’s number one airline with the lowest-average fares, Ryanair does not skimp on safety. Ryanair has not had a single incident involving major injury to passengers or flight crew in its 20 plus year operating history. The fact that Ryanair has only one type of aircraft increases safety as mechanics are very familiar with the planes.
Also, Ryanair’s average pay to employees for their fiscal 2010 was €45,948, which remains higher than most other major European airlines. Ryanair can attract comparably better employees with better compensation. Employees also get substantial time off—pilots and cabin crew have a duty time limit of 900 flight hours per annum, which means they are flying on average for less than 18 hours each week, spread across the 46 weeks of the year when they are not on holidays.

Fuel Costs

Fuel costs are a substantial portion of Ryanair’s operating expenses—approximately 34.6% and 44.1% of such expenses in fiscal years 2010 and 2009, respectively, after taking into account Ryanair’s fuel hedging activities. Management estimates that every $1.00 movement in the price of a metric ton of jet fuel will impact Ryanair’s net income by approximately €2.1 million, taking into account Ryanair’s hedging program for the 2011 fiscal year.

Volcanoes

Regulatory authorities in Europe closed down airspace for an extended period of time during May 2010 due to the eruption of a volcano in Iceland which spewed volcanic ash into the air. There is always the possibility of another volcanic eruption. If this happens, expect the stock price of Ryanair to suffer as a result.

Foreign Currency Risk

Ryanair does business only in Europe. Even if the company does well, an American investor might see little to no gains if the value of the Euro declines.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary

Depending upon your point of view, Michael O’Leary could be an asset or a liability. He is a great asset because he has shown exceptional skill in growing Ryanair to be the best low-fare airline in Europe—he is absolutely relentless with trying to continually lower the average fare. O’Leary is also one of Ryanair’s best marketers.
However, O’Leary is a vocal and incendiary figure and many people love to hate him. Here is a long list of some O’Leary quotes that demonstrates his personality:

• On ordering aircraft from Boeing: “The message to Boeing today is: ‘You keep building them, we’ll keep buying them’, and together both of us will kick the crap out of Airbus in Europe. We love Boeing. **** the French.”
• On not ordering more aircraft from Boeing: “Boeing had their chance. Eventually you lose interest, dealing with a bunch of idiots who can’t make a decision. They are a bunch of numpties out in Seattle.” unsecured loans
• On consultants: “I believe hiring consultants is an abdication by management of their responsibilities. If the consultant is so good at managing change, then why not hire him to run the company and do it himself? Every idiot who gets fired in the industry shows up as a consultant somewhere. I would shoot any consultant who came through my door.”
• On environmentalists: “We want to annoy the ******* whenever we can. The best thing you can do with environmentalists is shoot them. These headbangers want to make air travel the preserve of the rich. They are luddites marching us back to the 18th century. If preserving the environment means stopping poor people flying so the rich can fly, then screw it.”
• On overweight passengers: “Nobody wants to sit beside a really fat ****** on board. We have been frankly astonished at the number of customers who don’t only want to tax fat people but torture them.”
• On the in-flight experience: “Anyone who thinks Ryanair flights are some sort of bastion of sanctity where you can contemplate your navel is wrong. We already bombard you with as many in-flight announcements and trolleys as we can. Anyone who looks like sleeping, we wake them up to sell them things.”
• On low fares: “I don’t see why in 10 years’ time you wouldn’t fly people for free. Why don’t airports pay us for delivering the passengers to their shops?”
• On customer service: “People say the customer is always right, but you know what – they’re not. Sometimes they are wrong and they need to be told so.”
• On apologies: “Are we going to say sorry for our lack of customer service? Absolutely not.”
• On refunds: “We don’t want to hear your sob stories. What part of ‘no refund’ don’t you understand?”
• On Ryanair’s image: “One of the weaknesses of the company now is it is a bit cheap and cheerful and overly nasty, and that reflects my personality.”
• On cost-cutting: “We use our own biros and I tell the staff not to buy them, just pick them up from hotels, legal offices, wherever. That’s what I do. Recently I did an interview and I was sitting there with a hotel pen I’d nicked from somewhere. I was asked why and I said: ‘We at Ryanair have a policy of stealing hotel pens. We won’t pay for Bic biros as part of our obsession with low costs.”
• On employees: “MBA students come out with: “My staff is my most important asset.” Bull****. Staff is usually your biggest cost. We all employ some lazy ******* who needs a kick up the backside, but no one can bring themselves to admit it.” bad credit loans
• On the European Commission: “They are ******* Kim Il-Jungs (sic) in the Commission. You cannot have civil servants trying to design rules that make everything a level playing field. That’s called North ******* Korea, and everybody is starving there. The EU are pursuing some form of communist ******* Valhalla.”

Valuation

I currently value Ryanair at about $41.44 per ADR. I arrive at this valuation by estimating Ryanair will have free cash flow of about $877 million for their fiscal 2012, or about $2.96 free cash flow per ADR. Additionally, over the years Ryanair has traded at multiples to estimated free cash flows of about 7.5 to 39—the average multiple being 18 and the median being 14. Applying a multiple of just 14 to $2.96, we get a value of $41.44 per ADR.
Another way to think about Ryanair is the free cash yield. At a current price of $28.35, the free cash flow yield is about 10.4%. There is also a possible special dividend coming up for a shareholder vote: a total of $633.9 million (or 500 million Euros) could be returned to shareholders, giving a one-time dividend yield of 7.5% if approved.

ford b max

Any manufacturer competing in Europe's healthy small minivan market will be inspecting the Ford stand closely at this year's Geneva auto show.

Debuting is Ford's innovative B-Max, which does away with a B-pillar to allow passengers wide access into the small minivan.

A combination of rear sliding doors and conventional front doors gives a 1.5-meter wide access to the cabin without, Ford says, any loss of crash safety or body stiffness. Families in Europe are expected to be big customers for the B-Max, which will not be sold in the United States, and it could be a hit with elderly buyers too.

Door innovation isn't new among minivan makers. The Opel/Vauxhall Meriva was Europe's best-selling small minivan last year, with sales of 127,439 units, according to JATO Dynamics.

Ford designer Erika Tsubaki demonstrates the B-Max. The Meriva has rear-hinged so-called "suicide" doors to aid access but with its B-pillar still intact, the opening is only 700mm wide. If Ford gets the rest of the B-Max package right and the model proves successful, then makers could be rushing to create their own version of a small, pillarless minivan. Ford of Romania told local newspaper Ziarul Financiar last month that B-Max production in Craiova will be 60,000 this year rising to 100,000 in 2013.

The Peugeot 1007 had an innovative sliding door system but failed in the market. But door innovation doesn't always pay off. The Peugeot 1007, launched in 2004, was meant to revolutionize the market with its twin sliding front doors that allowed easy access to the interior, even in the crowded, narrow streets of Paris. Peugeot predicted annual sales of 130,000 a year, unsecured loans but customers didn't take to the innovation, especially as the minivan was priced higher than competitors. By the end of 2005, Peugeot had slashed production targets for the following year to 70,000 and in 2006 that was revised to just 50,000. In 2009, it was killed off altogether and Peugeot still doesn't have a credible competitor in that that sector. Georges Chetochine, an independent marketing consultant, told Automotive News Europe in 2005 that: "People don't buy doors, even sliding ones." The 1007's sliding doors were electric, slow bad credit loans and prone to failing, especially early in its life. They were also the only way to get in the car, which had no conventional hinged doors. Ford will disclose how much the B-Max will sell for in Geneva. If the price is competitive, the minivan won't suffer same fate as the 1007. Who knows, maybe the B-Max could become the new benchmark in this sector and B-pillars will be a thing of the past.

Teenagers in a Twizy

Meet Twizy – Renault’s radical new miniature electric car. It’s fantastic fun, and I can see it having huge appeal for young drivers. But how would you feel about seeing a 16-year-old at the wheel of a Twizy?

A new law comes into effect in January 2013 allowing 16-year-olds to drive ‘micro-cars’ – such as the electric Twizy – unaccompanied.
A new car class is being created by the DVLA for ultra-lightweight cars with a top speed limited to 28mph.
The Renault Twizy could be the first car on sale in the UK to qualify so we could see 16-year-olds driving cars like the Twizy. Solo. On public roads.

Teenagers in a Twizy

The Twizy ‘80’ has a top speed of 50mph and is treated just like a normal car in the eyes of the law. But Renault is also building a low-power ‘45’ version of the Twizy with its top speed limited to 28mph to comply with the rules, and the French firm is currently assessing whether to launch this model in the UK.
Drivers would have to pass Compulsory Basic Training (CBT), driving theory and practical test, but these are much less stringent and in-depth than the tests for a regular car.
This class of car already exists in many other European Union countries. In France teenagers as young as 14 have been able to drive micro-cars for years.

Car, quadricycle or go-kart?

I think the Twizy would be a brilliant car for a young driver. It’s ultra-simple to pilot with its electric motor and press-and-go automatic gearbox. Its RenaultSport chassis makes it feel like a go-kart around corners, while its electric motor was developed with help from Renault’s Formula 1 wing and offers sprightly performance.

It’s clearly much safer than a scooter, too, with a full roll-over cage and an airbag as standard.
It’s not what you’d call practical, though: doors bad credit loans are an optional extra and even then they don’t have windows. The ‘boot’ can barely fit a laptop. And if you want to carry a passenger in the tandem rear seat, they’d have to be part of the gymnastic squad to get in.

The Twizy (a mix of ‘twin’ and ‘easy’, by the way) has funky alien styling that will also get the younger generation excited. As will the price-tag: at £6,690, it’s the cheapest car on sale in the UK. And the lower-power ’45′ Twizy could be as much as £500 cheaper.

Safe and sane?

So what do you think of the idea that, from next year, unsecured loans teenagers could be driving themselves to school or college in a Twizy?

Is it a great way to get younger drivers learning road-craft? Or is it a disaster waiting to happen, as experiences road users share the road with HGVs, motorbikes and much more powerful cars? 

Seafoam, engine saver

Many of you are familiar with seafoam, some have no idea what it is. Well, for all those that are interested, seafoam is multipurpose, 100% petroleum product you can pick up at any local auto store (napa, advance, autozone, etc). It is used to clean carbon buildup from your engine, clean your injectors, clean your oil and a whole lot more. To familiarize you with the products, this is what i am talking about:


Uses of Seafoam
i would first like to state for the record that seafoam is NOT a power adder. all seafoam does is clean out the gunk inside your engine and injectors. this will do nothing more than restore any horsepower/fuel economy you have lost due to years of dirt and grime inside your engine. any power you pick up along the way is because it has just been supressed by the filthy engine and is now free again.
if you are losing power and mpg due to carbon buildup, if you are experiencing pinging and if you’re having trouble passing emissions test, seafoam may be your answer (yes, seafoam will actually reduce your emissions if carbon buildup is causing dirty exhaust fumes!). feeling the pinch at the pump lately? well, seafoam can be used to pick up a few extra mpg you have lost over the years and reduce or elimiate your engine ping by cleaning out your cylinders!

What You Need to Seafoam Your Engine:
in order to maximize your engine’s fuel economy and performance, you should do a full engine treatment. in order to do so, you will need a few things:
- 2 cans of seafoam (1st picture above)
- 1 can of seafoam deep creep (2nd picture above)
- flat head screwdriver
- pliers
- 1 long, skinny funnel
okay, now that you have all the necessary tools to complete the job, let’s talk about how to use seafoam:

How To Seafoam Your Car:
Part One: Injector Cleaning
this is the easiest part of the process. simply drive to the gas station and completely fill up your tank with 91+ octane gasoline as usual. take 1 of the 2 cans of seafoam in the requirements above. this can of seafoam will be poured directly into your gas tank. now, seafoam makes a great product but they didn’t think too hard when they designed their can. you need a funnel in order to dump it into your gas tank. do not try to be cool and try and beat gravity by jamming the can into your gas tank. i tried that. all i got was a car that smelled like gas and wasted seafoam on the ground. take the long skinny funnel, put it in your gas tank, shake the can of seafoam up and pour the entire can of seafoam into the tank. then, take your car for a nice ride so the seafoam swishes and mixes in your gas tank. the seafoam will clean out your injectors nicely. try and run this tank pretty low before filling up so you don’t dilute the mixture with more gasoline. this way, you get the maximum cleaning power of seafoam.
Part Two: Cleaning Your Oil System
as you all should know, f-bodies require 5.5 quarts of oil. seafoam is to be added directly into your crankcase in order to cleanse the oil. yes, you heard me, you’re pouring a foreign mixture directly into your engine oil. this can be scary for newbies. never fear, seafoam is 100% petroleum. it is as harmful to your engine as water is to your skin – not harmful at all. the correct measurement for seafoam is 1.5 ounces per quart of oil in your crankcrase. simple math tells us:
(1.5) X (5.5) = 8.25 ounces
a can of seafoam is 16 ounces, so for simplicity’s sake, we’ll add half a can directly into the ENGINE OIL spout. NOTE: i recommend pouring the seafoam into your oil when the car is cold. i would not recommend pouring a room temperature liquid into 200+ degree oil after the car is hot. last thing you wanna do is shock your valve springs.
run the seafoam in your oil for NO MORE THAN 250 miles! seafoam is very agressive. your next oil change will be black as satan’s heart and likely thicker than usual. i would not recommend running this oil very long in the car as your oil filter is going to have quite the time on its hands and the oil won’t be in the best of shape afterwards. i’ll say it again. change your oil less than 250 miles after you put seafoam in your crankcase! i personally recommend running it 100 miles, then changing your oil. that should be plenty for the seafoam to get most of the gunk out.
Part Three: Top End Cleaning
here comes the fun part: cleaning the engine internals! NOTE unsecured loans: park your car in a VERY WELL VENTILATED area for this step as high amounts of toxic fumes will be pouring out of your car.
as you recall, we have half a can of seafoam left. this half a can will be used to clean out your cylinder banks. in order to do this, we need to locate a vacuum line to directly feed the seafoam into the engine. the favorite vacuum line is the brake booster line. for those unfamiliar with the brake booster, here is what it looks like:

the brake booster is the big, black saucer shaped object behind the brake fluid holder against the driver’s side firewall in case you can’t tell by the picture.
we will be sucking the seafoam into the brake booster hose marked by the red arrow. (note: some people prefer to suck the seafoam in through the PCV line. this is also acceptable, although i have never done it.)
first thing you wanna do is start the car and let it warm up until the engine reaches closed loop. basically, start your car and wait for the engine to warm up to normal operating temperatures (5 – 10 minutes depending on outside temperature). after the engine is nice and warm, turn the car off. now we’re going to disengage the brake booster line.
for this, you may need a pair of pliers and a flat head screwdriver. there is a little metal clip holding the brake booster hose to the brake booster. you want to take a pair of pliers, compress the clip and slide it down the hose a few inches. now that the clip is out of the way, you need to disengage the brake booster hose. this can be a bear if you’ve never done this before. my car had 80,000 miles on it when i seafoamed it and that sucker was stuck on there tight (it’s a vacuum line, it’s glued by high pressure). you may need to take the flat head screwdriver and jam it into the vacuum line and wiggle it off the brake booster. this may take a while. it took me a lot of pressure to get the hose off the booster. you may have to pull pretty hard.
once the hose is off, you’re gonna want to find a small funnel that will fit into the brake booster hose. i do not recommend simply jamming the hose into the seafoam and letting the engine suck it up. this makes it very hard to control the amount being sucked up and could flood the engine far too fast causing it to prematurely stall out.
now that you have a funnel jammed into the brake booster hose, start the car. you’ll notice your rpm’s are very high, likely around 2000-3000rpms. this is because your brake booster hose being disconnected is causing a massive vacuum leak. you’ll be able to feel the engine sucking air down the funnel.
at this point, you have half a can of seafoam left (8 ounces). you should, in your head, divide that into three equal parts. you’re going to want to SLOWLY pour the first two thirds of the seafoam left in the can into the engine via the funnel. the engine will start bad credit loans to sputter and choke as you pour in the seafoam. you DO NOT want your engine to stall out. go as slowly as possible pouring the seafoam into the engine as necessary so the engine does not die. do this for the first two thirds of the mixture. with the final third of the seafoam, quickly dump it down into the funnel. the idea here is to stall out the motor, suspending the remaining gulp of seafoam in the cylinder banks (don’t be alarmed if your engine bay is smoking the entire time this is happening). if your car does not stall, quickly run and turn off the key.
do not start the car for at least 15-20 minutes. we want the seafoam to soak in the motor good and hard to get all that nasty carbon out of the engine.
while the engine is sitting and soaking, with the key out of the ignition of course, get that bottle of seafoam deep creep i told you to buy.
seafoam deep creep is to be sprayed inside your throttle body. disconnect your hose running to the throttle body so your throttle body blade is showing. get a friend to push down on your gas pedal so the throttle blade opens. if you don’t have a friend at your disposal, a brick or something will do just fine to hold the gas pedal down, anything to keep the throttle blade open. again, your engine is to be OFF during all this.
once you can see inside your throttle body opening, spray seafoam deep creep into throttle body, fully soaking the blades, the bottom, top, and up and down into the intake manifold behind the throttle body. use a good amount of seafoam. don’t be too conservative, but the whole can is far from necessary. use your judgement. get it in there nice and deep but there’s no need to flood anything!
reconnect the throttle body hose, the brake booster hose, the clip back on the brake booster line and anything else you may have disturbed during the seafoaming of your car.
now we will just wait for the remaining time to pass before you can start your car back up.
okay, now that 15-20 minutes have passed, it’s time to start your baby back up. this may be a challenge. the engine is flooded with liquid so it may be a lot harder to start that usual. this is completely normal. once your car is started, let it idle for a good 10-15 minutes. your car is likely to smoke profusely. if it does not, lightly tap your gas pedal. do NOT rev the engine like a madman. when i say lightly tap, i mean gently tap the rpm’s up to no more than 1500. a blip is all that is necessary. if it doesn’t smoke too badly, it’s because your engine just wasn’t that dirty.

after the car has been sitting idling for 10-15 minutes, take the car out for a spirited drive. the key word here is spirited. you want to rev your car nice and high and get all that seafoam into all the valleys of the engine. this is the perfect excuse to completely run the balls off your car. if you look behind you, you will likely see a long trail of blue smoke dusting out the entire highway. say good-bye to the culprit carbon buildup killing your power, gas mileage and causing your engine to ping.
congratulations! you have successfully seafoamed your car. be amazed as your car revs faster, your gas needle moves slower, your idle is smoother and yes, even your exhaust smells less noxious
NOTE: seafoam is O2 sensor safe and will not damage your spark plugs or catalytic converters with responsible use. this means as long as you’re not seafoaming your car constantly and using far above the recommended dosages, you should be fine. it’s probably good to do this process every 10,000 miles to keep your car in tip-top shape.

Blog Camp via Cross Country Trains

In return for writing this post I'm being sent complimentary train tickets to Blog Camp UK in Birmingham this April. How cool is that?

I'm a frequent train traveller as I don't drive and I often make use of phone apps in planning my journey. The new Train Tickets mobile app from Cross Country trains aims to improve the travelling experiences of passengers on all train routes and with any rail provider in Britain.



It provides real time train information so travellers can clearly see live train times and the expected arrival time at each station along the line.

The result is you can foresee any delays and check connections and you’re able to book your rail tickets based on the most up-to-date information. 

 

You can also purchase train tickets for certain routes directly through the mobile app, and the m-ticket (mobile ticket) will be saved in the handy ticket unsecured loan wallet within the app making it easy to access and almost impossible to lose.

The Train Tickets app supports iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Nokia smartphones as well as most everyday handsets and can be downloaded from major app stores. Just search for Train Tickets.
I’m yet to try the app out but I have downloaded it and I think the idea of live train times is an excellent one. The reviews in the iTunes App store are generally good but I’m keen to try it out for myself and I’ll update this post when do. bad credit loans 

If you're going to Blog Camp, I'll see you there!

Driving In Austria

 This page provides the basic rules of the road for driving in Austria.


Telephone Numbers
Emergency Services:

Police	133
Fire	122
Ambulance	144

You can also use the European standard emergency services number 112.

Speed Limits
Speed limits in Austria are measured in KPH (Kilometres per Hour).  Speed limits are likely to fluctuate from place to place so ensure you check signs when driving.

Motorways	130kph/80mph*
Open roads	100kph/62mph
Urban areas	50kph/31mph

* A speed limit of 110kph (68mph) applies on some motorways at night.

Toll Information
The word for toll is Mautstelle. To use expressways other than unsecured loans the A13 Brenner, A9 Pyhrn, A10 Tauren, and S16 Arlberg Tunnel you must purchase and display a tax disc (vignette) on your vehicle. To use those expressways listed you simply pay a toll, although the disc entitles you to a 15 percent discount. Choose from 10-day, 2-month and annual tax discs.
The penalty for not displaying a disc is €120 for cars and €65 for motorcycles. They are sold at border crossings, fuel stations and post offices.

General Tips and Road Information
Driving through mountainous areas in Austria can be spectacular but be careful in the winter months as roads can be icy and/or blocked with snow.  Traffic is usually fairly mild but can be heavy if crossing the border towards Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic.  Car use is sometimes restricted when air pollution is high.
Passing on the right is allowed only on one-way streets or when passing trams or when passing a vehicle that is indicating a left turn. You are not allowed to bad credit loans  cross a solid yellow centre line. Give warning of your approach by flashing your lights.
Police are empowered to collect fines of up to €36 on the spot. The officer must issue an official receipt. You'll have two weeks to pay. You can request to bring the case before a court instead, but you may be asked to make a security deposit.
Unfortunately we currently have no information available on Austrian road signs.  Road signs within Europe follow similar patterns and we advise you refer to the road signs used in Germany as a rough guide.

Requirements

Minimum driver age:
The minimum driving age in Austria is 18.

Licences:
Non Europeans must carry an International Driving Permit.

Required equipment for your car:
You must carry a warning triangle in your vehicle though this does not apply to motorcyclists. All drivers must carry a first aid kit in or on their vehicle. Snow chains must be used in mountainous areas during winter.

Headlights:
Headlights must be on at all times in built-up areas. Parking lights are not necessary if your vehicle is visible from at least 50 metres away.

Seatbelts:
Seatbelts are compulsory in both the front and rear seats.

Car Horns:
Horns cannot be used in Vienna and are prohibited elsewhere as indicated by signs.

Children in the front seat:
Children must be at least 12 years old to sit in the front passenger seat unless you use a child seat or they are over 1.5 metres tall.

Motorcycles:
Motorcycles must be operated with headlights on-night and day and helmets are compulsory for the motorcyclist and any passengers.

Useful Links and Further Information
If you are renting a car in Austria we recommend booking in advance with Hertz Car Hire.

john bishop rides

 
John Bishop and Chris Boardman (picture credit - Sport Relief)

Scouse stand-up comic John Bishop has reportedly enjoyed a good night’s sleep after cycling 185 miles from Paris to Calais followed, almost immediately, by rowing across the English Channel and so far raising more than £400,000 for the charity Sport Relief. The comedian now faces the prospect of running the equivalent of three marathons in three days to complete what has been billed as ‘John Bishop’s Week of Hell.’
Bishop, who had never ridden a road bike before agreeing to undertake the challenge, set off at 8.22am on Monday morning from the Trocadero in the heart of Paris, accompanied for the first part of his ride by Olympic gold medallist and former Tour de France maillot jaune, Chris Boardman.


Just an hour into the ride, the 45-year-old unsecured loans experienced a clipless moment familiar to all cyclists inexperienced in riding with cleats as he fell to the ground after failing to unclip in time at a set of traffic lights.
Speaking as he broke off for lunch on that opening day, Bishop told the Sport Relief website: “It’s lunchtime and I’ve done 55 miles - which on any other day in my life would be amazing, but today there's still 130 odd miles left to do. I’m trying not to think about the row tomorrow - and as for the Marathons, it’s probably best not to worry about them at all at this stage.”



The Sport Relief website also revealed that even at that early point in the challenge, Bishop, who is being coached by Professor Greg Whyte of Liverpool John Moores University, was struggling with issues such as a sore shoulder and neck as well as bad credit loans pains in his left hamstring.
After arriving in Calais in the early hours of yesterday morning, Bishop was only able to grab a couple of hours sleep before setting off on the rowing leg in which he was joined by Davina McCall, Denise Lewis and Freddie Flintoff.
Earlier in the week, however, it had appeared that the row would have to be cancelled after French authorities refused to grant permission for the crossing.
However, that decision was reversed by the Admiral of Cherbourg, reportedly after comedian James Corden, who helped organise the challenge, spoke to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who took up the issue with President Sarkozy.
Today, Bishop is running from Dover to Faversham, the first of three marathon-distance runs that will end in London on Friday.
Full details of the challenge including how to sponsor Bishop’s efforts can be found on the Sport Relief website.

Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren, the subculture hacker who created the Sex Pistols, discovers the new underground sound. It's called chip music. Can you play lead Game Boy?
We live in a karaoke culture. The Japanese word means "empty orchestra" - a lifeless musical form unencumbered by creativity and free of responsibility. Simple, clean fun for the millennial nuclear family. You can't fail in a karaoke world. It's life by proxy, liberated by hindsight.
Authenticity, on the other hand, believes in the messy process of creativity. It's unpopular and out of fashion. It worships failure, regarding it as a romantic and noble pursuit - better to be a flamboyant failure than any kind of benign success.
Karaoke and authenticity can sit well together, but it takes artistry to make that happen. When it does, the results can be explosive. Like when punk rock reclaimed rock and roll, blowing the doors off the recording industry in the process. Or when hip hop transformed turntables and records into the instruments of a revolution. unsecured loans Now it's happening again. In dance clubs across Europe and America, young people are seizing the automated stuff of their world - handheld game machines, obsolete computers, anything with a sound chip - and forging a new kind of folk music for the digital age.
Until recently, I was feeling stifled by the tyranny of the new. New corporate lifestyles for doing everything well. Too well. iPod this. PowerBook that. Listening to albums, like Madonna's latest, that were made using Pro Tools - software that reduces virtually every mixdown effect to a mouse click - left me with a depressing sense of sameness, like everything on TV. I had decided to make an album about the "look" of music: the visual gestalt of youth culture. For me, music has always been a bridge between art and fashion, the two realms I care about most. It's one of the most natural expressions of the youthful need for confrontation and rebellion. Now it was lost in the hearts and minds of a karaoke world. I couldn't find my place in it.
Then I discovered chip music.
It all began on a freezing winter evening in snow-capped Zurich, Switzerland. Some friends of mine had a vague relationship with a small-label dude who caught my attention at a party rattling on about lo-fi. He soon had me playing phone tag with a clique of "reversible engineers" working illegally in Stockholm. I didn't know what that meant, but I was eager to find out.
The quest led me to the outskirts of Paris: Ivry sur Seine, to be exact, dead south of Chinatown. In that desolate industrial district, I had a 10 pm appointment with two guys named Thierry and Jacques.
The address turned out to be a forbidding, semi-abandoned factory. I couldn't open the gate, so I waited nervously in the darkness. After a while, a suspicious, balding youth came out of the building - Jacques. He seemed to have trouble finding the keys to undo the heavy chains that secured the premises. Finally, the doors swung open. After a terse greeting, he led me up a concrete stairway and through dark, labyrinthine corridors of peeling plaster.
"What's that smell?" I asked, my nostrils assaulted by what seemed like a hot pot of hairy horse and curry powder. "It's the Cameroon embassy," he answered, smirking. Jacques, a shy young man whose teeth were nearly black because of his fear of dentists, explained that wood carvers, graphic artists, photographers, and hip hop kids from North Africa worked here. Only half the factory had electricity or heat.
Two flights up, Thierry welcomed us into a dim, tiny room at the far end of the building. To my surprise, I found myself in an Ali Baba's cave of outdated studio equipment. The chamber was stuffed floor to ceiling with hardware from the dawn of the 1980s: dinosaurian Amigas and Ataris once prized for their sound chips and arcane applications, giant echo plates, and knob-studded analog synthesizers. In the center was a pair of dusty turntables, one with a 45-rpm single on its platter. Thierry put the needle to the groove. I reeled as the record player emitted a din like screaming dog whistles. It sounded like a video arcade gone mad.
The low light revealed the Frenchman's T-shirt. Emblazoned across his chest were the words FUCK PRO TOOLS. The phrase described perfectly what I'd been feeling for months. Like any fashion victim who comes across a new and stylish idea, I was smitten. Fashion is most easily used as a disguise - it allows you to be something you're not. It's much more difficult to use it to express who you are. I understood immediately that this was no facile fashion statement.
"Who made this record?" I asked. In stark contrast to the silent Jacques, Thierry - once he started talking - could hardly stop. "Mark DeNardo from Chicago," he said. This twentysomething Puerto Rican artist, he told me, is the Velvet Underground of the 21st century, the next step in the evolution of rock and roll. "This is chip music," Thierry continued, "made on an old Game Boy. I don't like hi-fi. I can't afford hi-fi. To make this music costs only 15 euros. You can pick up an old Game Boy from the march aux puces," the Paris flea market. He presented an outdated Game Boy and, maneuvering his thumbs on the keys, showed me how to create musical sequences.
Thierry spun another record. "This is Puss," he explained. "He's from Stockholm. He sings with a girl: 'I'm the master, you are the slave.' They're the new ABBA!" The album cover featured a simple photo of a Game Boy, nothing more. I loved it.
The next record was an EP - an extended-play 7-inch - by a Stockholm artist called Role Model. The last time I had come across this format was in the 1960s, when I bought my first Rolling Stones record. Role Model sounded like a videogame fashion show, as though Twiggy were somehow stuck inside Space Invaders. It was intelligent dance music made using analog approaches, distinctly human and more individual than simply switching on a drum machine. The more I listened, the more contagious it became. The names of emerging artists rolled off Thierry's tongue: Adlib Sinner Forks, Bit Shifter, Nullsleep, Glomag, The Hardliner, Lo-Bat, 8-bit Construction Set - an entire lost tribe of Game Boy musicians., the subculture hacker who created the Sex Pistols, discovers the new underground sound. It's called chip music. Can you play lead Game Boy?


We live in a karaoke culture. The Japanese word means "empty orchestra" - a lifeless musical form unencumbered by creativity and free of responsibility. Simple, clean fun for the millennial nuclear family. You can't fail in a karaoke world. It's life by proxy, liberated by hindsight.
Authenticity, on the other hand, bad credit loans  believes in the messy process of creativity. It's unpopular and out of fashion. It worships failure, regarding it as a romantic and noble pursuit - better to be a flamboyant failure than any kind of benign success.


Karaoke and authenticity can sit well together, but it takes artistry to make that happen. When it does, the results can be explosive. Like when punk rock reclaimed rock and roll, blowing the doors off the recording industry in the process. Or when hip hop transformed turntables and records into the instruments of a revolution. Now it's happening again. In dance clubs across Europe and America, young people are seizing the automated stuff of their world - handheld game machines, obsolete computers, anything with a sound chip - and forging a new kind of folk music for the digital age.


Until recently, I was feeling stifled by the tyranny of the new. New corporate lifestyles for doing everything well. Too well. iPod this. PowerBook that. Listening to albums, like Madonna's latest, that were made using Pro Tools - software that reduces virtually every mixdown effect to a mouse click - left me with a depressing sense of sameness, like everything on TV. I had decided to make an album about the "look" of music: the visual gestalt of youth culture. For me, music has always been a bridge between art and fashion, the two realms I care about most. It's one of the most natural expressions of the youthful need for confrontation and rebellion. Now it was lost in the hearts and minds of a karaoke world. I couldn't find my place in it.
Then I discovered chip music.


It all began on a freezing winter evening in snow-capped Zurich, Switzerland. Some friends of mine had a vague relationship with a small-label dude who caught my attention at a party rattling on about lo-fi. He soon had me playing phone tag with a clique of "reversible engineers" working illegally in Stockholm. I didn't know what that meant, but I was eager to find out.
The quest led me to the outskirts of Paris: Ivry sur Seine, to be exact, dead south of Chinatown. In that desolate industrial district, I had a 10 pm appointment with two guys named Thierry and Jacques.


The address turned out to be a forbidding, semi-abandoned factory. I couldn't open the gate, so I waited nervously in the darkness. After a while, a suspicious, balding youth came out of the building - Jacques. He seemed to have trouble finding the keys to undo the heavy chains that secured the premises. Finally, the doors swung open. After a terse greeting, he led me up a concrete stairway and through dark, labyrinthine corridors of peeling plaster.
"What's that smell?" I asked, my nostrils assaulted by what seemed like a hot pot of hairy horse and curry powder. "It's the Cameroon embassy," he answered, smirking. Jacques, a shy young man whose teeth were nearly black because of his fear of dentists, explained that wood carvers, graphic artists, photographers, and hip hop kids from North Africa worked here. Only half the factory had electricity or heat.


Two flights up, Thierry welcomed us into a dim, tiny room at the far end of the building. To my surprise, I found myself in an Ali Baba's cave of outdated studio equipment. The chamber was stuffed floor to ceiling with hardware from the dawn of the 1980s: dinosaurian Amigas and Ataris once prized for their sound chips and arcane applications, giant echo plates, and knob-studded analog synthesizers. In the center was a pair of dusty turntables, one with a 45-rpm single on its platter. Thierry put the needle to the groove. I reeled as the record player emitted a din like screaming dog whistles. It sounded like a video arcade gone mad.


The low light revealed the Frenchman's T-shirt. Emblazoned across his chest were the words FUCK PRO TOOLS. The phrase described perfectly what I'd been feeling for months. Like any fashion victim who comes across a new and stylish idea, I was smitten. Fashion is most easily used as a disguise - it allows you to be something you're not. It's much more difficult to use it to express who you are. I understood immediately that this was no facile fashion statement.
"Who made this record?" I asked. In stark contrast to the silent Jacques, Thierry - once he started talking - could hardly stop. "Mark DeNardo from Chicago," he said. This twentysomething Puerto Rican artist, he told me, is the Velvet Underground of the 21st century, the next step in the evolution of rock and roll. "This is chip music," Thierry continued, "made on an old Game Boy. I don't like hi-fi. I can't afford hi-fi. To make this music costs only 15 euros. You can pick up an old Game Boy from the march aux puces," the Paris flea market. He presented an outdated Game Boy and, maneuvering his thumbs on the keys, showed me how to create musical sequences.
Thierry spun another record. "This is Puss," he explained. "He's from Stockholm. He sings with a girl: 'I'm the master, you are the slave.' They're the new ABBA!" The album cover featured a simple photo of a Game Boy, nothing more. I loved it.


The next record was an EP - an extended-play 7-inch - by a Stockholm artist called Role Model. The last time I had come across this format was in the 1960s, when I bought my first Rolling Stones record. Role Model sounded like a videogame fashion show, as though Twiggy were somehow stuck inside Space Invaders. It was intelligent dance music made using analog approaches, distinctly human and more individual than simply switching on a drum machine. The more I listened, the more contagious it became. The names of emerging artists rolled off Thierry's tongue: Adlib Sinner Forks, Bit Shifter, Nullsleep, Glomag, The Hardliner, Lo-Bat, 8-bit Construction Set - an entire lost tribe of Game Boy musicians.

Audi R8

What is it?
Audi R8 Spyder 5.2 FSI Quattro; Audi’s mid-engine supercar with a fabric roof (no folding hard-tops in Audi’s vast range, remember).

Power comes from the same direct-injection 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 engine that’s fitted to the coupe. A V8 version is not available from launch, but is expected to follow.

Drive goes to all four wheels (with a rear bias) and Audi will charge you £111,995 for the manual or £117,700 for the R-tronic automated manual.

Technical highlights?
Lightweight materials are used throughout. The body is a combination of aluminium and composite materials while the chassis is predominantly aluminium, as are the suspension wishbones. There’s even magnesium in the roof structure.

However, this isn’t a flyweight supercar – the light materials peg the weight rather than reduce it – meaning at 1720kg (100kg more than the coupe) the unsecured loan car is class competitive, rather than class leading.

Fortunately, the extraordinarily punchy motor compensates. un The stats say 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds but this car accelerates with a rare ferocity that makes it feel way quicker. You’ll love the zingy, inertia-free nature of the rev delivery too – more like a MotoGP bike than a car.


What’s it like to drive?
The R8’s true supercar credentials remain (that acceleration, precise steering, huge grip) with barely any of the usual soft-top compromises (handling imprecision, scuttle shake). On excessively broken surfaces a few tiny tremors filter to your palms and during absolute ten-tenths, tyre-ripping, on-the-edge driving you can detect the extra mass shifting fore and aft – but the effect is negligible.

We’ll have to test a coupe and a Spyder back-to-back in the UK to confirm a suspicion that the coupe feels a tad more agile in fast left/right/left transitions, but again, on first impressions it’s borderline incredible that the R8 Spyder remains 99 per cent uncorrupted by the additional weight and the removal of the solid roof. Then again, Audi always intended to build a Spyder version of the R8 and undoubtedly future-proofed the engineering from the get-go.

Of course, the open-air configuration means you’re introduced to a whole new level of aural histrionics – you find yourself utterly distracted by the yowls and fizzes and burbles and pops of that mighty engine. It’s a truly multi-layered voice and utterly beguiling.

How does it compare?
Exceptionally well, both in terms of pricing and performance. If you are considering anything from a Jaguar XKR Convertible (£80,995) to a Porsche 911 Turbo bad credit loans cabriolet (£109,048) or even a Ferrari California (£143,325) then you must arrange a test drive. Sure, it doesn’t offer the storage of its front-engined rivals, but if you desire driving thrills over boot space (this is evo, after all) then little can touch it at any price.

Anything else I need to know?
Magnetic dampers (standard fit) provide a ride that Rolls-Royce would be proud to call its own, while LED headlamps, sat-nav and a superb Bang & Olufsen stereo are standard too. There’s a neat seatbelt-mounted mic for the hands-free kit available as an option and the fabric roof completes its action in 19 seconds at speeds of up to 31mph.

Tank Bag

I first took Homemec in 7th grade and it was there that I learned to sew. I remember I made the race car pillow. It was red and blue. Fast forward 21 years to 2006 and you find me buying my first sewing machine. Since then I have made stuff sacks, bug pants and gloves, a bug tent, tote bags, a tarp, small storage sacks and now my first few Gas Tanks for bike packing!

I hope to perfect the Gas Tank then move on to a rear one, then to a bar sleeve, and finally to a frame bag. If I can manage that I will attempt a seat bag. The first two bags below are made from Cordura and Hydrolite. The two camo bags are made from 2 layer Goretex. I work in the outdoor industry and have access to the extra materials so I use what I have. We’ll see if they how up to the X-pack material most people use.




Gas Tank v1.0



As you can see I made the corners on this one way to sharp. Sewing was a real pain.




Gas Tank V2.0



As you can see I rounded my corners and added a bit of flare bad credit loans to this one.

Gas Tank v3.0



This was made special by request for my good friend Jill. Not just anyone gets a My Little Pony gas tank.




Gas Tank V4.0





As you can see my last two bags are in production. I have tweaked the shape unsecured loans a bit more and added double foam to these ones. In the picture above you might notice I’m missing one piece, the Velcro for the top tube straps. I have even added a key clip to the design.

Helpful suggestions are welcome.

Selling a car online

Before you get you put your car on the market it is worth trying the Internet to get a good idea of how you wish to sell it. There are services out there that will offer you a fair price for your car and come and collect it. Selling a car has never been easier! Gone are the days of trudging around to dealers or waiting for someone who wants the exact model you are selling and then dealing with their queries. Now it is just a matter of forwarding a few details to the right site and sitting back while you wait for them to answer you. It is even easier than waiting for a consignment deal, you get the money up front with a minimum of hassle.

I have had some terrible experiences while selling a car. I have had to do it on multiple occasions when I have upgraded or purchased a new vehicle and needed to get rid of the old one. To me, any form of advertising based approach can be painful. There is a reason they call people tyre kickers. Fielding queries can become a full time job for the duration of the sale and you have to put up with them at all hours. That is where services who do all of the leg work for you become worth their weight in gold. It works both ways. There are services out there that will find the car you like for you and get it at the right price too.
When you complete a hassle free transaction both the buyer and seller come away from the whole thing feeling relieved that it has been such an easy going transaction. People are more unsecured loans likely to feel satisfied with the transaction and there is a greater possibility of repeat business. Companies that connect buyers with those selling a car are doing a great service. Alternatively having companies who just take some details, send you back an offer then come and pick it up are even better. You are dealing with the buyer directly in this instance and can be assured that nobody is going to be knocking on your complaining about being sold a lemon.
There is the other end of the spectrum as well; that is people who actually enjoy the thrill of selling something privately, as I was when i wanted to sell my car. In fact many people make a career out of it. Online auction houses are full of people who buy low and sell high. It is also the back bone of the whole share trading system. For most people however, the hassle far outweighs the advantages. It is also a competitive world where you are reliant on your product selling. Having a service in place that actually wants your product before you are even contemplating selling it makes the whole process so much smoother. It is nice to know that when the day comes you are able to sell what you want to sell and bad credit loans continue on your merry way without having to rely on random strangers coming across your advertisement.

Remploy in trouble

Remploy is proposing to close 36 of its 54 factories, with potential compulsory redundancies of more than 1,700 disabled workers.

Minister for disabled people Maria Miller said the Remploy board was proposing to close the sites by the end of the year because they were unlikely to achieve independent financial viability.

She said the £320 million budget for disability employment has been protected, adding that the money will be spent more effectively.

In a written ministerial statement responding to unsecured loans a Government-commissioned review into disability employment, Ms Miller said savings from policy changes being announced will be used on "proven employment programmes" to benefit "many more" disabled people. 

The minister said she had assessed "very carefully" the needs of Remploy workers, as well as the 6.9 million disabled people of working age who could benefit from greater specialist employment support.

She said: "The Government will reduce its current subsidy to Remploy from the beginning of the new financial year so that we cease funding bad credit loans  factories which make significant losses year after year and restrict funding to those factories which might have a prospect of a viable future without Government subsidy."

Remploy will shortly begin consulting with unions on the proposed closure of the 36 factories and on the potential compulsory redundancy of 1,752 people at the sites, most of them disabled workers, she said.

Kendon Dual Stand-Up Trailer Review

Ownership of a trailer requires that you have some place where you can store that auto appendage when it is not in use. Home ownership was once on the increase in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, but the recent trend has been towards condominiums and apartments as long-term living solutions; for them, space is a premium. Even home owners, though, are in situations now where saving unsecured loans space is a welcome thing in the household. Efficiency is exceedingly important to all of us as our collective resources become significantly less available. For the ultimate in quality, space-saving utility and flexibility, you are presented here with the Kendon Dual Stand-Up Trailer: a top of the line carrier for just about anything you need to tow.

 The Kendon Dual Stand-Up Trailer is actually part of a series of trailer configurations. There are several different platforms upon essentially the same chassis; Kendon even makes an automotive carrier. The key difference between it and your normal trailer would be that, when not in use, the Stand-Up will stand up. It will fold up into a shape which only takes up a space 24 inches deep by 84 inches wide and 77 inches high – not bad, and well within a parking space at most complexes provided the sharing auto is not overly long. And, when folded, it has heavy-duty casters with which to roll the trailer into and out of storage position.

Kendon manufactures the Dual Stand-Up using a triangulated, round-tube steel frame – go ahead, think ‘trellis’ – which they powder coat for rust-resistant durability. The numerous configurations do differ somewhat from one another, but the Dual Stand-Up used here has two removable rails with moveable, integrated front wheel chocks. Setting the Kendon apart in the market are the independent torsion bar axles which ride on rubber cushioning and are connected to 13 inch wheels wearing radial buns.

The Dual Stand-Up’s adjustable and removable rails allow for several configuration adjustments. In fact, this carrier can handle two cruisers, or two sportbikes, or one large, full-dress ultra-tourer or even an ATV. Kendon’s diamond-plate platform is low for easy loading, but it also allows you to use it as a basic utility hauler. Loading is a snap with the included ramps, the front wheel chocks are adjustable and locking, and it has several strategically placed tie-down points.

A simple four-pronged plug which runs right next to the standard two-inch ball hitch provides for all the necessary lighting, so make sure your tow vehicle is properly equipped. The Dual Stand-Up unit can carry 2000 pounds, and only weighs 400 pounds. And, the entire package feels very solid and well constructed; it will probably last longer than you if properly maintained.

The Kendon Dual will easily ride behind everything from a sport-wagon to a full-sized, heavy-duty pickup truck with ease. It does get loud when it is empty, so try to counter-weight it if you have to take it out unloaded. When the trailer is either half or fully loaded, it rides very smoothly and proves its brilliant design and quality build – rock solid stable.

The only negatives with the Kendon Dual would have to be the weight when you must stand it up alone; it can be a beast and even moving it around can challenging on a rough surface. The biggest complaint has to be the cost, though – it retails for US$2650! There are some used examples but not as many as you bad credit loans might think – Kendon builds them to last.

If you can afford the cost, it is very tough to find a trailer this versatile, this durable and this easy to store anywhere from anyone else. The Kendon Dual Stand-Up Trailer is a luxury ride for any, maybe all, of your motorcycles – present and future.

Check the HPI of a vehicle when buying

Vehicle data experts HPI are warning used car buyers about the rising number of Category B insurance write-offs being dangerously repaired and returned to UK roads for sale. These are vehicles that have been recommended by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to be scrapped.

"The Government's Scrappage scheme gave the UK new car market a fantastic boost, but the continuing lack of good quality second hand cars for sale, means unscrupulous sellers are using a variety of ways of conning used car buyers out of their money," says Nicola Johnson, Consumer Services Manager at HPI. "Criminals have been capitalising on this shortage by disguising Category B write-offs as a good buy. An HPI Check will give a used car buyer the complete picture of a vehicle's history, including revealing if the car has been an insurance write off and if so, which category. This offers protection from paying good money for a vehicle that is not fit for purpose and a possible safety risk."

All vehicles that are written off are put in to one of five categories, depending on the condition level. The categories include unsecured loans cars that can be repaired and returned to the road, or ones that are recommended to be totally scrapped and never allowed back on the road again.

It is not illegal to repair and return 'written off for salvage' vehicles back to the road, however all classifications excluding Category D must pass a Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).
Insurers notify the DVLA of all cars 'written off' within salvage categories A, B, C and D. This notification will set a 'VIC marker' against the DVLA vehicle record for Category A, B and C write-off.
While a VIC marker remains set, DVLA won’t issue a V5C registration certificate, or V11 vehicle license reminder.
VOSA carries out the VIC which is designed to confirm the car's identity, not its road worthiness. This helps to ensure that the genuine car is returned to the road in a bid to reduce the problem of ringing - when stolen cars are given the identity of a written-off vehicle. The VIC marker will only be removed when the car passes a VIC test by VOSA.

However stresses Nicola Johnson from HPI, the VIC test should not be mistaken as a safety test. "Anyone looking to buy a car that has passed a VIC should seek to have it independently checked to ensure that it is in fact road worthy.

"One in twenty five vehicles checked by HPI are recorded as insurance write-offs and we currently hold 650,000 write-offs on the HPI database, which confirms the scale of the risk to buyers. However, a check against HPI's registers will tell you if the car has ever been written off, giving you the information you need before parting with your cash.

"It’s easy to be taken in by shiny paintwork and a low price, but it could be hiding a multitude of faults that haven't been fixed. bad credit loans Unscrupulous vendors will sell a write-off to make a quick profit but if the vehicle is not properly repaired any price is too high."

Spada Gear

Ellie wanted to try out one of Spada's latest helmets and decided on the Evolution Empire model, aimed at entry level prices it surprised her on how much bang you can actually get for your buck

Initial Thoughts

Spada Clothing have been manufacturing clothing for motorcyclist’s for a quite a few years now, the brand of late has become more popular and is making an appearance in more local motorcycle clothing stores and dealerships courtesy of it's good, solid quality at an affordable price bracket. With high performance helmet reviews dominating in the media, I was keen to get a hold of some clothing so that I could try it for myself and see how an entry level helmet TRULY stacks up, pound for pound, against what many consider to be the best brands around. With a suggested retail price of £59.95, I was expecting very little other than a very basic lid, but in fact it’s jam packed with good quality features and provides excellent value for money.

Construction

First things first, the helmet has unusual empirical themed graphics which can be aimed at either ladies or men, and it comes in three colours, unsecured loans empire blue, red or gold. The Evolution helmet from Spada is a good comfortable fit and is reasonably lightweight at 1450g, you obviously do not get the very pinnacle of high tech materials for such a price point but the weight is kept neatly in check.

The removable cheek and skull padding seemed to retain its shape, and after riding with this for just over a month it seemed to only give a little,  nothing really too noticeable which I have had with other cheaper branded helmets aimed at the same price point. When out on the road I found this helmet to be fairly quiet, however the top vents do cause a whistle at higher speeds, something which wasn’t too bad and nothing that a quality pair of ear plugs wouldn’t fix, it is not the quietest helmet overall.

This full faced helmet is equipped with an internal tinted drop down visor which proved handy on a bright day for reducing glare. The mechanism for sliding and locking the internal visor started off slightly stiff but did become better with use and it is situated at the side of the visor in an easy to reach location, something a few higher priced helmets could learn from with their concealed mechanisms. There are two upper and one lower adjustable vents situated just above the visor or below, which keeps your head nice and cool in warmer temperatures, in the colder temperatures however, I did find that the visor had a tendency to fog up and the breath guard didn’t seem to do the job at all but it did keep my nose warm!

It took me a little while to figure the “Quick release visor system” but once mastered with a quick pinch and pull method, the visor is nice and simple to remove without any problems, I found changing the position of the visor was a little “clunky” and sometimes it failed to close with one sweep. Not mentioned on most resellers of the helmet is that this does come Pinlock ready which is another  nice feature Spada have graced us with, this is something that often comes at an additional premium or faffing on other brands who do not offer it as standardElli. Safety-wise this helmet is EC2205 approved and has the double D ring fastening strap which does inspire more confidence than a seat belt strap. Unfortunately there is no SHARP test rating as yet.

Riding a scooter in italy

Ah, Rome. The Eternal City is full of romance, history and plenty of traffic, so  unsecured loans   if you're a motorcyclist, you might think it would make a lot of sense to see the city by scooter or motorcycle, avoiding legendary Roman traffic jams as well as maybe fulfilling some kind of Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn fantasy.

But where do you rent a scooter? Do you need to get an Italian license? How much will it cost? Is it dangerous? Do I need to speak Italian?

Relax; MO sent your trusty Senior bad credit loans Editor to Italy this summer to answer just these questions, taking a generous tax write-off to sweeten the deal. But before I went, I did a little research on our good friend Mr. Internet to see if I could glean some useful data. Is the Information Superhighway good for anything besides porn? And do I care?

Scooters. You're either with us or against us.

A quick Google search of "Scooter Rental Rome" gives you a litany of choices, and most of them have prices and descriptions of their services on their websites. Having a scooter shop operator speak English is a plus, unless you speak Italian (note: learning Italian will save you a tremendous amount of trouble. I know it's not practical to learn a new language just for a short vacation, but you've been warned. In fact, you might want to even apply for Italian citizenship.), and it's easy to figure out who speaks English, as they have a web site in English.

I decided to go with Bici & Baci, a small rental shop near Rome's massive central train station. Owner Claudio Sarra not only speaks English that is far superior to my Italian (actually, there is a trained gorilla named "Guiseppe" in the Naples zoo that speaks better Italian than I do), he also answered the phone when I called him. This attention to detail and superior customer service made his shop an easy choice, so I made the reservations weeks before my trip.

Apparently there is something called an "International Driver's License", and it's very easy to get one. It's basically just a card that has a translation of your entire driver license's information on it in several languages, and not an official government document. I didn't bother getting one, and it was never an issue in Italy, although other countries might not be so laissez-faire . I hear the Germans tend to get pretty worked up over proper documentation.

Oh God it's that same monument again!

Although Rome is a beautiful city drenched in history, culture, art and wonderful food, it is also hot and incredibly crowded in the summer. The Wife and I arrived late in June, when temperatures were over 100 degrees with high humidity, and the crowds and pollution were Pink Floyd-concert thick. It was so mobbed with tourists that some areas of the ancient city looked like refugee camps for people with cameras. Next time, we'll go in the winter or spring, or just kill ourselves in the train station rest room.

We navigated the surprisingly good (and unofficially free) Roman bus system (the subway is good too, but it mostly connects the business center of the city to the outlying suburbs) to the train station and found Claudio's tiny shop, which is located on a confusing side street that somehow manages to be one way in both directions (this is something you will understand only once you have been to Rome). It's crammed with scooters of all descriptions, along with tchotchkes, books and other scooter memorabilia.

That didn't keep them from outfitting us in matching helmets and getting us out on the street in a very short time. The mount was a Kymco Movie 125, although I had fantasies of getting a buzzy little high-performance two-stroker to zip around on. No dice: according to Claudio, the days of the two-stroke small-displacement scooter is quickly coming to an end in Rome, and the four-stroke 50 and 100cc scooters are too underpowered to carry passengers safely on the ancient, yet mean streets.

We make a left, a right, go down a block, make another right, and then it's a left, and then we can't go the direction we wanted to because of the bus lane, and then it's a one way the wrong direction, and then we go left, and then right, and then we're back at the giant hideous monument to King Emmanuelle for the third time in ten minutes.

Waiting on the grid to qualify...

The Movie 125 is a very functional, solid scooter that isn't available in the USA. It uses an air-cooled 125cc four-stroke single to chug around town, providing ample power to get two adults through traffic and up the fabled seven hills of Rome. Top speed is probably around 50 mph, although this particular machine seemed happiest cruising around 30 or 40 mph. Comfort two-up was passable, and storage space was good; in addition to an underseat compartment big enough for one of our helmets, there was a locking storage box on the back to hold another one.

As versatile as this bike was, for two large adults I'd have preferred a bigger bike with better suspension. Rome has bumpy pavement, potholes big enough to roast a suckling pig in, and its cobblestones look picturesque, but will have you begging for mercy if you attack them at high speeds on a small-wheeled, overloaded scooter. A machine with bigger wheels, like the Kymco People or Piaggio Beverly (which Claudio also stocks), would be a better choice if your companion won't pilot two wheels of their own.

Surprisingly, I see more vintage Italian scooters in the USA than I did in Italy. I did spot this tasty old Lambretta.

So we saddle up, strap on our open-face helmets (Claudio doesn't have any full-face helmets, so bring your own if you desire more protection or comfort than the inexpensive helmets he provides) and head down the alleyway to find our first stop, the Piaggio dealer on the north end of town where I need to pick up a Vespa test bike for another story. We make a left, a right, go down a block, make another right, and then it's a left, and then we can't go the direction we wanted to because of the bus lane, and then it's a one way the wrong direction, and then we go left, and then right, and then we're back at the giant hideous monument to King Emmanuelle for the third time in ten minutes.

Rome is confusing. Like many old cities, it was laid out by people building their houses wherever they wanted to, which would prompt other people to build onto their walls. As the city grew, various prelates, emperors and popes knocked streets and boulevards through various neighborhoods, clearing areas and building on top of others to build their palaces, churches and monuments. The result is a confusing array of alleys, squares and long boulevards that veer off in random directions and change names every other block. Knowing the names doesn't really help, as they are long and unpronounceable and the street signs are tastefully inscribed in small marble tablets attached 20 feet in the air on the side of buildings. It makes me wonder why American mailmen go berserk, when their Italian counterparts don't. They must drink a lot. It's expensive to buy European GPS maps, but if you have a portable GPS I heartily recommend getting one, unless you enjoy being lost somewhere where you don't speak the language.

Scooters make up about 20-30% of Rome's total traffic numbers, if not volume.

Don't think your high school Spanish is going to help, even if you did manage a C+. It sure didn't help me. Using Spanish to communicate in Italy gets two responses. The first is a blank or puzzled look, and the second is a torrent of rapid Italian accompanied by even more rapid hand gesturing. A request for directions will usually draw several Romans over to join in the discussion, which will result in even more confusion. The best thing to do in this situation is to quietly slip away. Have a good map, have a GPS, and by all means, get yourself a working cell phone with the phone number of somebody who can speak English to talk you down.

Communication settled, let's discuss driving or riding in Rome. To the untrained eye, Roman traffic seems like some kind of full-sized flea circus, a chaotic mass of daredevils, stunt drivers and lunatics disguised as nuns, cab drivers and spike-heeled, scooter-riding fashion models. People ignore speed limits, stop signs, one-way street signs, curbs, and sometimes even the laws of physics themselves; how else can a pair of nuns on a 50cc Vespa pass a seasoned roadracer and motojournalist in a corner while carrying shopping bags?

Here's your sweaty, frustrated author trying to figure out where he is.

Seriously, riding or driving is one of the few activities (I think shopping, cooking and eating are the others) that Italians take seriously. 
When you are operating a motor vehicle, you wring every calorie of performance potential out of it, be it a Ferrari or a cement mixer. If you choose not to participate in the Grand Prixthat is Italian traffic, you will be passed like the roadrace backmarker that you are. You have been warned. Therefore, if you do not feel extremely confident driving in high-speed urban commute traffic on a motorcycle or scooter, you might want to stop reading now and consider a trip to Bermuda. But if you do enjoy lane-splitting at 60mph, or weaving through traffic at high speeds in the rain, or just drink a lot of coffee, you will actually enjoy the experience. Here are some tips:

- Lane Splitting is good. 

I think lane-splitting is much safer for motorcyclists than following the fat asses of cars in traffic jams is (California, the only state where it is legal, has the same number of crashes per registered motorcycle, but the mis-guided hysteria-crats and public in our fair nation have banned it outside my enlightened home state.) In Italy, if you don't do it you are looked at like a vegetarian in Texas. To "lane split" in Italy means to just go to the front of the traffic queue, as long as there is     any room, anywhere. Ride on the double yellow line, ride in between traffic and parked cars, get an inch from the bus or street cars, hell, ride on the sidewalk or through the park. Nobody seems to care. Whee!

- Traffic laws are just words on paper somewhere, and lines on the road are just paint. 

I know I saw police in Rome, and they have very stylish uniforms, but they don't seem to do much traffic enforcement. Perhaps their institutional will has been worn down after eons of utter disregard for traffic laws, so like a battered spouse, they serve as enablers for miscreant motorists. Whatever the reason, go with it! One-way street? I recommend only going one way at a time. When a sign says "No Motor Vehicles" (although it could also read "No Pizza after 11:30", or "No Neo-Cubism in Green Zones" for all I know), just pretend you didn't see it and hum something from Quadropheniaif anybody tries to stop you.

- Being passed by anybody in or on anything is a direct affront to your man or womanhood. 

"Get off the bus, Gus!"

Go for it, brothers and sisters! Scooters are good for reckless driving, as they are light, unlikely to break the tire loose under acceleration, and are less likely to accelerate to tourist-killing speeds on city streets. They are also slim and maneuverable, which means you can zip in and out of tight spots that cars and larger two-wheeled vehicles can't. So haul ass!

Scooters, as silly and effeminate as they may appear to some of our less-enlightened readers, are supremely evolved urban transportation tools, which means they are not just fun but incredibly practical as well. With a scooter, a determined couple of tourists can see much of Rome while avoiding the inconvenience of parking or waiting for a tour group. With a scooter, you can discover the tiny, picturesque neighborhoods, markets and restaurants that are off the beaten path in addition to seeing the more popular destinations.

Having your own cheap, dependable transportation in Italy will help you get out and about, and off the beaten path.

It is very satisfying to be treated like a local when you are on vacation, and riding a scooter is perfect urban camouflage. Imagine sitting at a sidewalk café enjoying an espresso while you watch the sun set behind an ancient Roman ruin, a stylish motorscooter cooling on the sidewalk behind you. Did I mention you can park on the sidewalk? You can also park in alleys, public parks, or anywhere there's a sliver of room. Be smart about it and you will never have a problem parking your scooter, no matter how crowded your destination.

Just be sure you bring a map, a sense of adventure and plenty of courage. However, despite the initial intimidation, riding a scooter in Rome (or any large Italian city) will be memorable and a fun glimpse at how a different culture tackles urban transportation problems.