docrobin

I have a silver 2007 model, bought from Lexus when it was a 6 months old demo car. They gave me a new-car warranty and do all the servicing. I'm pretty disabled, and although I drive every day it's only got just over 16,000 on the clock. This is my ideal car -- wouldn't swap it for anything on the road. This from a previous owner of Mercedes SL series for over 20 years. I've been a gold member of the club for 3 or 4 years. docrobin Herts

Age is a factor, of course, so is accident record and postcode. I paid just over £600 this year for owner only driving, clean record and licence, age 70, approx 7000 miles per year. I guess my postcode is classified as oter London. I guess shopping around could get a better deal. All motor insurance is going to take a major rise according to the papers. It's due to the cost of insurance scams: a bunch of yobs contriving to have an accident and then all claiming for whiplash against you. There have been many tens of thousands of such scams during the last year. Robin

I recently drove to France and back. About 600 miles, of which all but 30 was on motorways/ferry/autoroutes, maximum legal speed, cruise control most of the time. The computer told me I averaged 32.5 mpg, which is better than my previous Mercedes 2.3 Kompressor Coupe. Robin

Thanks, Saracen. I'm off to France next month to see the family. Apart from a mile or two at each (and the ferry) end it's motorway and autoroute all the way, so it'll be interesting to see how many mpg I get.

On the list of items that should be carried in France is a fire extinguisher (that's been the law since the 1970s) and, since last year, flourescent bolero-type things so that you can be seen easily if you break down. I don't know how hot the police are in stopping foreign (to them) cars, but my family lives in France and warn me not to take any chances. docrobin