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The almost total absence of any cars or parts appearing for sale confirms it is not a good excuse, as any income is minimal. I dislike the subtle pressure for members to upgrade to paid membership. The club is unique in charging, as far as I know. It does not look as if the policy will be reconsidered, which is a shame.

Web Hosting is cheap as chips these days. It's not a good excuse. :)

The NiMH cells used in the hybrid battery have a lower usable capacity at low temperatures plus it takes longer for the petrol engine to get to operating temperature both of which decrease mpg in the winter months. You also tend to draw more power through the use of lights, seat heaters, rear demister etc

On a non hybrid car when you use air con the engine is put under more strain because it has to turn a compressor, causing you to use more fuel, on a hybrid car the compressor is powered by electric from you car battery witch is why your air con will still work when your sitting in a traffic jam with the engine not running. Your brakes and power steering work on electric for the same reason. Admittedly this would drain your car battery quicker and therefore the engine will tend to run more to re charge it, but you will only really notice this if you spend a long time in a traffic queue.

I've had my LS400 insured through Adrian Flux for 5 years now as their price was always the lowest. My insurance is due for renewal next week and the premiums have gone up from £320 last year to £355 this year, so I had a look on the comparison websites and found that More Than would insure me for £206-quite a difference!! When I looked at my renewal from Adrian Flux I noticed that my no claims bonus was showing as NIL?? I phoned Adrian Flux to point out their error as showing my no claims bonus as NIL when I had been insured for 5 years with the Lexus and assumed my insurance would decrease significantly but was told that I was insured on a Classic policy and you do not earn ANY bonus on this type of policy!! So had I been on a normal policy for the last 5 years I would now be paying much less for insurance and more annoying is that if/when I sell the Lexus and change to a more modern car I will have ZERO bonus and it will then take me a few years to build up a bonus again. I tried getting quotes from other companies with NIL bonus and was told I am now considered as a much higher risk because I have no earned bonus and even though I have been insured and driving the Lexus for 5 years this is basically ignored!! My quote from More Than was inaccurate because I said I had 5 years bonus whereas I actually have NIL bonus. While I have had cheaper insurance over the last couple of years I will be paying for it when I do change cars. I was totally unaware that I was on a classic policy as it doesn't actually say anywhere that it is not a standard policy. So if you do think about insuring on a classic policy bear in mind you will lose any no claims bonus and will end up out of pocket later on!!

Wow quite a hornets nest blown up here!! I'm afraid I have no sympathy whatsoever with people who get caught for using mobile phones, subsequently get fined and then have their insurance premiums hiked up. As a biker, I dread meeting these idiots when I'm out. They have no true conscious awareness of anything that is going on around them. The result is very often a loud crash, a bike and rider all over the road blood everywhere and a complete pillock saying "where did you come from? I never saw you" Quite frankly if you don't like the insurance company increases, don't be stupid and don't use your phone while driving. It's really not rocket science! At the end of the day you will be doing the world and yourself a favour. Rant over Tc