The South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) have recently announced the 2018 WesBank South African Car of the Year (COTY) finalists.

We have all the details on the finalists and their current rankings.

Take a look…

Are you going to be buying one of the cars in the finals? Make sure it is covered and get affordable car insurance today.

SA’s Greatest Hits

Last month there was a whopping 51 037 new vehicles sold in South Africa.  This is an improvement from last year’s 48 782 sales. Do you want to know what the top-selling car brands for October were? Well we have you covered.

Here are the most popular vehicles sold in October:

Car Of The Year Finalists 2018

A 26-member jury sit together and deliberate which car will take the title for 2018.

The SAGMJ said, “while all finalist vehicles represent examples of outstanding automotive engineering, there can be only one winner. After careful deliberation by the COTY Jury, the vehicle range that best represents automotive excellence when compared to its segment peers, will be crowned the 2018 South African Car of the Year.”

Vehicles are judged on their quality, appeal, innovation and design. This competition is not judged on the number vehicles sold. If this was the case, a bakkie and a hatchback would be the only two competitors.

Here are the finalists who are competing…

Alfa Romeo Giulia

The Alfa Romeo falls under the Fiat Group and have sold 130 units of new vehicles last month. According to OEM’s September new car sales report, there was only three Guilias sold.

Audi Q5

Last month, Audi , which falls under the Volkswagen group, sold 7 898 units. In September, there were 135 Audi Q5 units sold.

BMW 5 Series

During the month of October, there were 1 341 units sold. According to OEM’s report however, there were 1 664 units sold the previous month.

Kia Picanto

In total, Kia dealership sold a total of 2 219 units during the month of October. The previous month, 970 Kia Picanto models were sold.

 

 

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Land Rover Discovery

In September, there were 96 Land Rover Discovery vehicles sold nationwide. Last month, Land Rover sold 537 different vehicles.

Peugeot 3008

The Peugeot group sold 73 units last month, with a total of 37 Peugeot 3008 units sold in September.

Porsche Panamera

Last month, the OEM reported recorded that the Porsche group sold 90 units.

Suzuki Ignis

Suzuki sold a total of 917 units last month, however in September, there were 118 units sold.

Toyota C-HR

According to last month’s stats, Toyota was the best-selling vehicle manufacturer in the country. There were approximately 80 C-HRs sold in September.

Volvo S90

OEM’s report states that 124 Volvo units were sold last month. In September however, 17 S90 units were sold.

Who is on the top of your list?

The post And The Car Of The Year Finalists Are… appeared first on Insurance Quotes 24.

Chain smash in Japan

Chain crashes tend to be the most costly to society for obvious reasons, and there is nothing worse, financially at least, than a chain crash of expensive vehicles. In December 2011, a convoy of pricey sports cars collapsed like dominoes after the lead ferrari lost control of the vehicle. At the time, it was dubbed the world’s most expensive car crash as it involved a number of Ferraris.

Final Tally: $4 million or plus-minus R59 million in today’s currency.

Other Ferrari mishaps

Local Ferrari smash: On Monday, 10 July, A durban man totalled his Ferrari and was fighting for his life in hospital You Magazine and News 24 reported. Paramedics arrived at the scene to find a yellow Ferrari had overturned according to Crisis Medical spokesperson Neil Powell. He said further investigation revealed a 52-year-old-man trapped inside the vehicle.

An American in Paris: American billionaire Christopher Cox damaged his ‘62 Ferrari GTO at a Ferrari rally in France in 2012. Only 38 of these vehicles were built, making this a rare piece of automotive excellence worth upwards of 30 million dollars (R441 million). Both Cox and his wife were medically treated for minor injuries after another rally vehicle rear-ended them causing the smash.

Football star’s extreme ‘curler’:  Cristiano Ronaldo crashed his Ferrari into a roadside barrier in Manchester in 2009, but then hitched a lift with fellow player and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in order to make it in time for training. The sport’s car was registered in his home country of Portugal and is part of a fleet owned by Ronaldo. No injuries were reported but the car damage amounted to 300 000 dollars or plus-minus R4.58 million.

China’s supercar fail

Another of Asia’s costliest car crashes to date happened just last year when a drunk-driver totalled his Koenigsegg Agera, and then proceeded to hide his head in shame behind his clothing until the tow-truck operator arrived hours later.

Final Tally: 3.5 million dollars or plus-minus R51.5 million

Expensive celeb crash in Britain

You wouldn’t suspect Rowan Atkinson of Mr Bean fame to be a petrol head, but that he is with his McLaren F1 supercar making over £7 million in profit from a recent sale.

Final Tally: 1,17 million dollars or plus-minus R17 million rand

In 2011, Atkinson escaped with an injured shoulder after crashing his McLaren into a tree and road sign, before it caught fire in Cambridgeshire, England according to CNBC.

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“Our core purpose is to fulfill our constitutional mandate and, in doing so, have a meaningful impact on the lives of poor and vulnerable persons and ultimately on society. I am satisfied that we have used our resources efficiently and effectively to achieve this,” Legal Aid SA CEO Vidhu Vedalankar said in a statement.

“We are also pleased that we managed to deliver our programmes within our budget.”

The organisation spent 98.1% of its R1.638 billion budget allocated for the past year according to Vedelankar.

So, Just How Many People Has Legal Aid SA Assisted?

According to the organisation, they have assisted almost four million people in the last five years.

In light of a tough economic climate, Legal Aid SA said they recorded high performance within a good governance framework. Ensuring the poor and vulnerable in South African continue to receive access to justice.

Legal Aid SA Stats For 2014/2015

• 769 436 provided with criminal and civil legal aid services.
• 88% for criminal matters.
• 12% for civil legal matters.

What Are The Criminal Matters?

1. Abduction
2. Arson
3. Bigamy
4. Fraud
5. Incest
6. Housebreaking
7. Indecent assault
8. Public Violence
9. Murder
10. Rape
11. Robbery
12. Sedition
13. Treason
14. Administration of justice
15. Animal and nature conservation
16. Children
17. Corruption
18. Counterfeiting currency
19. Dealing in unwrought precious metals and uncut gemstones
20. Escaping from custody and/or obstructing the police
21. Vehicle theft
22. Witchcraft
23. And any attempt to commit the above.
24. Administering poison or other noxious substances
25. Assault (including common assault)
26. Bribery
27. Compounding
28. Defeating and/or obstructing the ends of justice
29. Extortion
30. Forgery and/or uttering
31. Kidnapping
32. Malicious injury to property
33. Receiving stolen property
34. Theft (including shoplifting)
35. Trespass
36. Unnatural sexual offences (including bestiality)
37. Persons with mental disabilities
38. Any attempt to commit any of these listed statutory offences

Legal Aid SA Success

During the year under review, the organisation dealt with a total of 30 criminal appeals in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein and achieved successful outcomes for 23 clients, about 77% in these appeals.

The Impact Litigation Unit of Legal Aid SA handled 52 impact matters and recorded a success rate of 89%. With eight of the nine matters finalised in the year under review.

“The nature of the impact matters ensure that, despite the low volumes, the outcomes impact is more broadl than just the specific clients assisted. These matters ensure that clients’ constitutional rights are enforced or protected and legal precedents, impacting widely on our clients’ rights, have been achieved.”

Legal Aid SA has continued to work within a framework of rigorous financial management and good governance, resulting in its 14th unqualified audit.

“We are very proud of an award from the Office of the Auditor-General of South Africa commending the organisation’s clean audit status,” said Vedalankar.

The post Legal Aid SA Helped 800 000 People in 2014/2015 appeared first on Insurance Quotes 24.

The Department of Energy announced the inland price of 95 octane petrol will fall by 8 cents. While the wholesale price of diesel will go down by 2 cents per litre.

The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will decrease by 8 cents.

CLICK BELOW to read about how you can get cash back when you fill up with fuel.

The main reason for the drop in prices is because of a stronger rand against the US dollar. In fact, the last time the Rand/US Dollar traded at R12.95, was over a year and a half ago on 20 August 2015.

Robert Maake, spokesperson for the Energy Department, said the stronger Rand, “cushioned the [fuel] prices by about 13 cents a litre”.

While any drop in fuel is welcomed, a looming increase in levies, such as the fuel levy (30 cents per litre) and the Road Accident Fund levy (9 cents) means motorists will have to face the good with the bad in the coming months.

CLICK BELOW to read the full summary of the annual South African budget speech 2017.

Fuel Prices For February And March 2017

How To Save On Fuel

With the constant fluctuation of the fuel price, we are all looking at ways to save on fuel. Ryan Ravens, CEO of Accelerate CT spoke on  yesterday morning about alleviating traffic congestion in the morning, as well as reducing pollution by participating in a carpooling group.

“80% of cars coming into Cape Town are single occupant vehicles, and half of the people coming into the City are using private cars. If the App gets two people per car, we will halve the number of people coming into the City.”

UGoMyWay App

Accelerate CT tested a few carpooling apps and found that UGoMyWay, in their opinion, worked the best.

The app is free to download on IOS and Android.

The payment method, which can either be daily, weekly, or monthly, is incorporated into the app.

Ravens says people will save on fuel costs by using this app. It is helpful for students travelling to school and university, as well as office-bound people.

“If you are the only person in your car, you are the one at fault,” said Ravens.

CLICK BELOW to have our independent broker compare car insurance quotes across a variety of trusted providers and stand to save up to 30% on your monthly premium!

The post Pay Less For Fuel In March appeared first on Insurance Quotes 24.

Insurance premiums are calculated on various factors, including your personal risk profile, as well as the car you are driving. Various considerations are made about the car when working out the premium. The age of the car, the engine size, what extras are added to the car, as well as whether there is a tracking system installed are all considered. There are, however, standard cars that you will simply pay less insurance for.

Reasons For Lower Premiums

Why would some cars have a lower premium than others? If you are taking the drivers profile out of the risk assessment completely, this is what would affect your premium:

• Some cars are considered “sensible”. The cars in lower insurance ranges are those with low to mid speed engines, whose fuel consumption is average, and which is averagely priced. High-performance cars will never be considered for low insurance premiums.
• The car is assembled locally. This drops the value of the car significantly and is seen as less of a risk.
• Parts are cheaper and easier to find. Vehicles whose parts need to be sourced overseas, and which cost an arm and a leg, will face higher insurance premiums.

Which Cars Fall Into This Category?

Which cars are deemed sensible and considered for the lower premium? Interestingly, they are all standard makes like Toyota, VW, Honda, and Opels. All have low maintenance, are easily available, and are in the average price range. These cars include:

• Volkswagen Polo
• Volkswagen Golf
• Toyota Yaris
• Toyota Corolla
• Opel Corsa
• Toyota Tazz
• Opel Cora Lite
• Toyota Auris
• Hyundai 110
• Ford Figo
• Ford Focus

Others in the low to mid range include the Honda Brio, Honda Jazz, Nissan Almera, and the Kia Rio. These can, however, be slightly more than the previous models, based on the driver profile.

What Are The Most Stolen Cars?

There are, however, certain models from the standard manufacturers that do not fall into the low premium category. These have higher premiums due to the fact that they are at a higher risk of being stolen or hijacked. This, therefore, increases the risk profile of the car and, in turn, increases the premium. These cars include:

• Toyota Hilux
• Toyota Venture
• Isuzu KB280
• Mitsubishi Colt
• Nissan Hardbody
• Nissan 1400 bakkie
• Isuzu KB250
• Toyota Quantum
• Volkswagen CitiGolf

The post What Are The Cheapest Cars To Insure In South Africa? appeared first on Insurance Quotes 24.

This comes into full effect from February, if approved by the National Treasury. In addition to this, from January 1, 2018, the government will be implementing level six water restrictions.

So what will this drought levy mean for you? We find out…

With everything going up, why don’t you pay LESS for car insurance?

What Is A Drought Levy? 

The City is currently facing a serious problem with the possibility of Day Zero being imminent. Businesses and residents have been rationed to a quota of water per month.

Since the implementation of Level 5 water restrictions, the City’s water consumption has decreased, however not enough.

This has called for the possible implementation of a drought levy. According to Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Cllr Johan van der Merwe, the City isn’t making enough money. The money that the City normally gets for water usage has declined- this decreasing the City’s income to finance infrastructure.

“This is income we need to fund projects to make additional water available, and to carry out maintenance on our infrastructure. Please remember that the cost of maintaining infrastructure to supply water remains the same no matter how much water is consumed. As such the City is introducing a drought charge to make up the revenue shortfall during these unusual times.”

How Does The Drought Levy Work? 

The levy is currently in the process of being approved, however once the Minister of Finance and Council approves it, it will come into effect from February 1.

The levy is expected to remain in place until 2021 in order to assist the funding of new water projects.

The City is expecting to raise R1 billion per year in funds for their projects through drought levies. Each home owner will be expected to pay a levy each month that is dependent on their property value.

“The drought charge is based on property value and is estimated at about 10% of the current municipal rates portion of residents’ municipal accounts. Residential properties valued under R400 000 and commercial properties valued under R50 000 will be exempt from the charge. All other property owners will be expected to pay the charge,” explains Van Der Merwe.

This levy will be included in the monthly rate accounts of residents and depending on the owner, if the place is rented, the tenant may be required to pay.

How Much Is It?

This table shows the expected maximum charge against the valuation reflected. These are not bands of charges, but indicative examples.

According to Van Der Merwe, the City will keep their financial reports open and available for public scrutiny. This is to ensure that citizens know where their drought levies are going to.

What Does Level 6 Restrictions Entail?

The City has announced that Level 6 water restrictions will be implemented from January 1, 2018. This means that households using more than 10 500 litres per month could face fines. Water restriction metres will also be installed in households that exceed the limit.

Non-residential properties are expected to reduce their water consumption by 45% compared to the corresponding period in 2015. While agricultural users are required to reduce water consumption by 60%.

The City has discouraged residents from using borehole water for outdoor purposes. This ensures that these resources are conserved.

*For more information on Level 6 water restrictions and drought levies, click here.

The post Government Set To Drain More Money For Drought Levies appeared first on Insurance Quotes 24.

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How To Decide What Car To Buy

Consider Your Lifestyle

• Will you be driving the car daily into work in the city and back home?
• Are you part of the daily stop-start traffic of the city?
• Will you regularly only be transporting yourself or do you have a family?
• Will the car need to be doing any heavy transport of goods?
• Where will you regularly be parking the car?
• Can you get away with buying a small, fuel-efficient car that you can park basically anywhere, or are you more interested in speed?
• Also, take into consideration your personality. This car will be in your life for the next five or so years and you need to look forward to driving it every single day.

Budget

• What is really important to consider here is knowing what long-term financial obligations you can meet. A lot can happen in five years, and you will need to honour these payments.
• Should you become unemployed over the period, you will need to be covering the installments in order to keep the car and not be blacklisted.
• You will also need to consider other monthly expenses that come with a car. Costs like: insurance, maintenance, petrol, and unforeseen expenses.
• Work out your budget beforehand to know how much you can easily cover per month.

Do Your Research

Do not just walk into a dealership hoping for the perfect car to leap out at you. Spend some time on the internet familiarising yourself with the average costs of the car you are looking at.

• Use online calculators to work out the average instalments of the vehicle you are interested in.
• Make a list of the makes and models that most appeal to you and use comparative tools to see the pros and cons of each.
• Make sure you know what the maintenance costs would be of each car. French cars are notoriously more expensive to maintain compared to others.
• Know what extras you are looking for and what each car has. Are you looking for power steering, electric windows, automatic, sport, EBC brakes, etc?
• Know what years you would be looking for in a car. If you are going for a second-hand car, keep in mind that the older the car, the more expensive the maintenance will be.

Next up: Viewing The Car.

NEW to CompareGuru? CLICK BELOW To Compare Car Insurance In 60 Seconds

Compare SA’s Leading Insurance Brands Side-by-Side Here. 

The post The Comprehensive Guide To Buying a Car: Part One appeared first on Insurance Quotes 24.

Nothing has revolutionised the word of computers and communications like the invention of the internet.  A large percentage of the world’s entire population uses the internet every single day, without realising the sheer magnitude of its networking structure, or the amount of data that gets processed every second. To put it into perspective, here are some mind blowing facts about the internet today.

•   40% of the world’s population, that is almost 3 billion people, are internet users.

•   Google estimates the internet at about 5 million terabytes of data.

•   247 billion emails are sent every day.

•   There are 234 million websites, and 126 million blogs.

•    An internet surfing session lasts, on average, just under an hour for most people – 51 minutes to be exact.

•   Every second, 28 258 internet users are watching pornography.

•   Facebook has more than 400 million active users. Twitter has 105 million.

•   20 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and 12.2 billion videos are viewed each month.

•   50 million tweets are sent every day. That’s about 600 tweets per second.

•   People who use social networks will spend 10% of their entire life time on these sites.

•   Over 8.7 billion machines are currently connected to the internet.

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Take a look at the list below and see if any of these options resonant with your past failed business ventures;

Lack of capital

Probably the number one reason why companies go under is due to a lack of funds. There can be many reasons for this including expanding your company too soon, no business plan and heavy reliance on debt funding.

As we will mention in detail in, “Why You Should Be Crowd-Funding” the benefits of crowdfunding platforms are tremendous as not only do you accumulate capital without the pressure of having to deliver, you are also privy to a large crowd from which to bounce ideas off before you go into production.

No market need

If the market is simply not biting, there is little you can do except perhaps store the idea for another time or shelve it altogether.

Keep in mind, the market trend fluctuate as often as the weather, so if you truly believe in your idea, perhaps store it for a time “when the market is ready for it”.  Try to find out why no one is biting by listing your product or service on a crowdfunding site. Many online users are usually only too happy to let you know why they do not like what you are offering.

Not the right team

In “The Things You Didn’t Know About Being An Entrepreneur“ we mentioned how most entrepreneurs starting out will think that they are their own boss and we discussed how this is not necessarily true.  Your staff and the people who make your product or service ‘work’ are indeed the actual bosses of your corporation.

It is important to have a diversity of skill sets in your company from day one to ensure you are never left flat-footed.

If your business is failing, it be an internal issue you are unaware of so look inward to find the chink in the armour.

Outcompeted

Despite all best efforts to maintain a great work culture, cash flow and interest, you may find yourself outcompeted to another company selling the same product or service.

It is necessary to assess just how they are achieving this to further keep up in the playing field.  While the wise old advice of, “focusing on your thing and how you plan to succeed” is good advice, it is not necessarily something you should take on exclusivity in business.

If you have no idea what is happening with other companies, you may believe that your ‘great idea’ is the only one of its kind which can severally detriment your drive to be the best.

Serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and billionaire, Peter Thiel, suggests asking yourself if you are doing what no one else is doing. And if you are, how are you doing it differently to win the market?

Not all failed start-ups need to be a bad thing. The worst thing you can do is not learn from your mistakes as this is in the holy grail of entrepreneurship.

Compare SA’s Leading Insurance Brands Side-by-Side Here. 

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The South Korean giant instead unveiled new tablets – the Galaxy Tab S3, Galaxy Book 10.6” and Galaxy Book 12”.

The Galaxy Book series is focused on productivity, while the Tab S3 is a media consumption device.

The new Galaxy Books unveiled at Mobile World Congress have a variety of features including:

• HDR (High Dynamic Range) Video Content: Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Book 12-inch support videos in HDR (10bit coloured)
• Samsung Flow: Samsung Flow makes working-on-the-go seamless. For a safe and secure login, Samsung Flow uses biometric authentication to log-in.; It can wirelessly tether compatible devices to transfer documents from a mobile device to a tablet. It also syncs message notifications so users never miss an important text message, whether they’re using a smartphone or their tablet.
• Refined S Pen:For a natural writing experience, the S Pen has a smaller 0.7mm tip and increased pressure sensitivity. The S Pen also includes convenient features such as “Screen Off Memo” to quickly jot down notes. It is also enabled with PDF Annotation for easy editing and professional-level drawing with Advanced Drawing Tools.

The tablets include a 13MP rear camera, with auto focus – and a 5MP front camera. The tablets also include expandable storage and fast-charge capabilities. It supports up to 12 hours of video playback on the Galaxy Tab S3 and up to 10.5 hours of video playback on the Samsung Book (12-inch). Both devices also support Pogo keyboards with no separate charging or pairing required.

“At Samsung, we are committed to expanding the boundaries of the mobile and computing experience by providing best-in-class products that satisfy mobile users’ diverse needs and demands,” said DJ Koh, President of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. “Our new tablet portfolio is built with premium technology that delivers a productive and versatile experience to consumers, designed for users at home, work or on the go.”

The Samsung Galaxy Book runs on the Windows 10 operating system. This means that it offers the full desktop Microsoft Office experience for maximum productivity.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

The Galaxy Tab S3 supports 4K video playback and has a Super AMOLED display. The Tab S3 is also the first Samsung tablet with quad-stereo speakers tuned by AKG by Harman.

Samsung says that the Tab S3 is optimised for gaming. It, therefore includes a Vulkan API and Game Launcher for an enhanced user interface and personalized gaming experience. It also has modes like “Do Not Disturb”, for uninterrupted game-play.

The Galaxy Tab S3 also has an enhanced S Pen. According to Samsung, this allows you to be more productive and lets you do multiple things at once.

The Tab S3 has 9.7-inch Super AMOLED display, a 13MP rear facing camera as well as a 5Mp front facing camera and a 6000mAh battery.

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