MOTOR AND CYCLE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 April 1928, Page 7

MOTOR AND CYCLE

MOTES FROM ENGLAND

SMALL CAR INSURANCE. BONUS SCHEMES. (By Edwin Campbell.) Although no official announcement has been issued on the matter up to the present, it may be taken for granted .hat from Marell 1 onward the insurance premium rates on all motor ears of 9 n.p. and less will be increased t>y 25 per cent. That decision has been arrived at by tire so-called tariff companies —the leading concerns who are under mutual agreement to maintain a definitely stated tariff—-but it is understood also will be followed by similar increases in all the other motor insur-. anco cotnpanies-rates. In a way the move is not a surprise because it has been under discussion, off and on, for more than a year, but the substantial character of the increase is a disagreeable shock to owners and makers of the class of car affected. It has been stated again and again at the annual meetings of insurance corporations that their motor sections have been unsatisfactory, or frankly unprofitable, and the general expectation was an allround increase of 10 to 15 per cent, over the entire scale. For some reason that has been abandoned in favour of the 25 per cent, increase in the classes which, we are informed, are primarily responsible for the unprofitable condition of the market, but rumours have been current that it is but the beginning of a general uplift, and that the 10-12 h.p. classes also will come in for treatment. A STOP GAP SCHEME. I think that fear may confidently be put aside for a year at least. I understand that the intention is to give this increase a twelve months’ trial, and then to review the entire situation anew. Aly own conclusion is that the increase is in the nature of a stop-gap, and the interval will be utilised thoroughly to investigate the whole problem with a view to recasting motor vehicle insurance on a new basis. The present scheme, founded as it is on a horse power cum value basis, admittedly is illogical and unsatisfactory, and practically has broken clown under the conditions imposed by the post-war developments of motoring. For instance, third party risks now are in no way affected by the horse power, or value of the car. The driver of a seven or eight horse power vehicle ia just as liable to kiil, maim, or injure other road users as drivers of larger cars, while horse power has ceased to be a definite corollary to price. We may, therefore, confidently anticipate that at no distant date our insurances will be calculated on a dual basis, third party risks being a fixed charge for all, while the declared or insured value of the vehicle will be the fluctuating factor. Also we

may anticipate that “no claim” bonuses will be made more attractive, as it is essential to differentiate in some way between “good and bad ’ risks, and the insurance experts prefer to stimulate riskless* driving than to attempt to punish the risky type; there may also be district variations—normal and abnormal —I expect that this wilt find expression when the official terms of the 25 per -cent, increase are disclosed, so that those owners who have qualified for bonus reductions probably will find the situation more agreeable than possibly they had thought. Also I expect that when the whole insurance scheme is recast those who have been complaining of the inequity of exacting insurance premiums calculated on ear values that are not intended to be the actual basis of reparation, will be offered a choice which will show exactly how little the whole complaint has embraced. THE PETROL TAX. Last week the. Automobile Association began its second campaign to secure a reversion to a petrol tax as a substitute for the existing scheme of taxation by an empirical horse power formula. The principle feature of this was circulation through the post to its 350,000 members of copies of a petition to Parliament praying for “motor taxation to be amended in favour of a flat rate duty on petrol, plus a small registration fee.” Each member is invited to obtain twenty signatures, and if the plan is as great a success as it was last time there will be something like 600,000 motorists’ names attaching to the petition, which will be introduced to Parliament when the 1923 Budget comes up for discussion. The arguments in favour of the petrol tax are that it is levied to an extent directly proportional with the use of, and therefore damage to, the road. And it is paid as the vehicle goes along, and therefore is both more convenient and more equitable than the horse power tax, that has to be paid in one sum before taking the vehicle on to the road (or in instalments which afford little relief) and irrespective of any use of, or damage to, the road. The general conception, I think, is a sixpence per gallon.tax with a registration fee varying with the type and °character of the vehicle. From tho private motorist's point of view the advantages are not so much the total amount of money it will save him as the convenience of the method.

THE WEEK-END MOTORIST. Ho will pay on his use of the road, not on liis possession of the car, and do will not need to put- it out of commission at any time on order to lessen the amount of his taxation should that be a consideration. The man who can. only use his car on fine week-ends, or to a limited extent, will not be mulcted to the same extent as the more fortunate owner who drives every day or who can enjoy week-end tours. From tho business ‘man’s point of view it. is equally attractive. At the present time he has to pay out on the first day of use of van, or taxi, or lorry, the tax for the whole year, and hero again the equity of taxing for the use made of the road is unquestionable. The effect of a petrol tax on the motor industry could not fait to ba stimulating, not merely by inviting a greater, because more continuous, use of the road by its customers, but because it would solve to a considerable extent the seoond,-

hand car problem. Old and high jpbwered but otherwise sound cars that are now unusable and unsaleable, because their annual taxation represents almost their sale value, would find purchasers for commercial and other purposes.

THE CHANCELLOR’S VIEW. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is known to be favourable to the tax, and it was only the difficulties and dislocations implied in the change-over a year since, which deterred him from incorporating it Lt his Budget. The consistent rise in the consumption of petrol doubtless has strengthened his view that it would yield all the revenue now obtained by the horse power tax, and would greatly assist trade and industry in a general way by automatically adjusting the cost of road repair to the shoulders of those who are the causes of road damage. There is a section of doubters who fear that, with his well known slimness, the Chancellor would take advantage of the change actually to increase motor taxation, but I think that can be easily dismissed because admittedly the economic peak in that direction has been 'attained, and the effect of any further load woitld react so quickly on the motor industry and motoring movement at large as to bring not only an outcry, but also a reduction in the yield of motor taxation. Also there is a section of manufacturers who, believing that the present system of taxation favours their type of engine as compared with the American, are now unwilling to support what they had demanded only a year since. That fact has only to be stated to place a proper value on their opposition. At the same time I may say that I believe that the American engine is not so economical in fuel as the smaller engined British car. NUMBER 07 MOTOR. VEHICLES. The Ministry of Transport’s return of motor taxation for 1927 and the numbers of motor vehicles licensed on November 30 last, is interesting in that it reveals that the total increase in the number of motor cars, as compared with a similar return made for 1928, amounts to 96,460, or an increase equivalent to 15 per cent. According to the statistic?.! records compiled by the Society, tf Motor Manufacturers and Traders the ratios of increase for previous years wore 18.2 in 1924, 22.3 in 1925 and 23,5 in 1926. It will thus be seen that the expansion of motoring in Great Britain is slowing down, but as we had on the last day of November something like 740,000 motor cans on the road, or, counting every type of motor vehicle, no fewer than 1,688,000 motors, we cannot be said to be ill-equipped in the matter of road transport. At the same time it is difficult to reconcile the statements of the outputs of individual manufacturers with the increase indicated, especially as it includes a not inconsiderable number of imported cars which are not entirely counterbalanced by the export of British made vehicles. The total amount of revenue raised by motor taxation was . £23,456,378, but before that can be considered in re--1 lation to the Budget there have to be ' deducted rebates, cost of collection, and of administration (not to mention the : percentage annexed by the Treasury for - general revenue purposes).’ As it stands ' it indicates an increase of nearly £3,- ’ 425,000 on the figures for 1926. ! NO MORE ROAD HOGS. > SPEED CHECKING'DEVICE. 1 Motorists in general and local bodies 3 and firms owning motor-vehicles will > be interested in a speed-regulating in--1 vention which has been patented by 1 Mr. IL D. .Chatfield, of Auckland (says - the Sun). t Unfortunately for the New Zealand 8 motorist the condition and width of - the Dominion’s roads are making - speed restrictions necessary, though r the tendency in many other countries, J and particularly in America, where the • roads are -wide and good, is to place v as few restrictions on speed as pos- - si Me. Mr. Chatfield has invented an attachment by which the maximum road speed of a motor-vehicle may be lima I ited to anything from five miles an hour a to the limit of which the vehicle is capa--3 bio. The attachment is worked from Y the speedometer. 3 The effect is that at the maximum ■' speed fixed—say 30 miles an hour — 0 the magneto is automatically discon--0 nected and it does not matter how ■' much petrol is given the engine the t speed cannot be increased. L On the maximum speed being reached, d and the cut-out operating, the driver is ® warned both by the checking of the ■ 3 engine, as is usual in the case of mis--3 firing plugs, and by the familiar sound 0 of back-firing caused by the car immediately decreasing pace and allowing the magneto to function again and explode ; 9 the accumulated petrol vapour.