The hot topic of news for today seemed to be the budget with every man and his dog having something to say about it and how it will affect them. Personally I don't feel much better or worse off and to be honest I see this as being perfectly ok. As an 18-25 male in full time work who doesn't smoke, rarely drinks and has a reasonably sized car everything will remain as it was before after the latest round of tax hikes and cuts. The main stories however seemed to be circulating around taxes on the most polluting cars and the value of used cars.
Now seeing as this is a subject particularly close to my heart it would be entirely wrong of me to just gloss over the subject and talk about puppies and cushions, and today is no different but I'll try and be brief just so I don't bore you all to death.
First up is a new showroom tax for the most polluting cars, a one off payment of £950. Now, as I understand it this will simply be added onto the purchase price of a new car. Seeing as the most polluting cars are likely to have a price tag in excess of £30,000, I don't now if it's just me that can see the wood for the trees here but this is unlikely to be noticed by those in a position to be able to afford this, and it almost certain that manufacturers will find a way around this by incentives to lower the price of the car or by adding value through extras and as a result is unlikely to impinge on the buyer in any meaningful way.
Now a big deal was made on the news this morning about the value of used cars, a market that often has it peaks and troughs and fluctuations dependent on contemporary fashions. Seeing as being ecologically conscious is in fashion and being seen in the latest ostentatious 4x4 is so 2007 it is only right that BMW X5's and Range Rovers will take a dip in value and the new eco/bluemotion/blutec ranges are all tipped to hold their value better than their predecessors. What made me chuckle though was the used car salesman pointing to the Saab on his forecourt ad saying it had lost £20,000 of its value in a year. So?! What's new? When have Saab's ever held their value? I have to say that I normally really like BBC Breakfast news but this morning's was quite frankly one the most uninformed piece of tripe. I wait with baited breath to see if tomorrow's is any better. I do hope so.
On a brighter note I found out today that I will be joining Autocar for a weeks work at the end of April. I'm really excited about this opportunity and I can't wait to be able to work alongside some of the people whose writing I enjoy so much week in, week out.
