Fraudulent motor insurance claims have soared by more than 70pc in the past four years making the car the number one insurance target, according to the Association of British Insurers.

Dishonest motor claims now involve around £5 million a week with insurance companies and fraud experts saying that the credit crunch has forced families struggling to meet their hire purchase payments to take desperate measures.

According to a new poll by Motorpoint over half of motorists plan to use finance to purchase their next car.

This news comes as newly-published figures from the Finance and Leasing Association reveals that lending from motor dealers now funds 49pc of all new private car sales,up 2pc on 2007. At Motorpoint, demand for its Boomerang PCP scheme has reached record levels with sales up 6pc for the first half of 2008.

The current boom in diesel car sales could slow down, as the average price of diesel fuel at the end of June reached 132.27p per litre - 22.5 per cent higher than it was at the beginning of the year, according to figures from Experian.
Figures show the biggest increase in diesel fuel prices for the first six months of any year in the last decade and the average price of petrol has also increased significantly to 118.9p per litre - 15.4 per cent higher at the end of June compared to the beginning of the year. While diesel and petrol prices have been rising, diesel prices have crept up at a faster rate over the last six months so there is now an 11.2 per cent difference between petrol and diesel prices, compared to a 4.8 per cent difference in January 2008.

The number of employers offering company car schemes has  dramatically fallen, according to a survey by Employment Review, which has been reported by sister publication Personnel Today.

The benefit is now provided by just 24pc of organisations - a significant reduction on last year’s results, when it was provided by 55pc of survey respondents. This continues an ongoing downward trend that has seen the provision of company car schemes decline almost every year since 1999.

Germany is the number one destination when it comes to driving holidays according to a new survey.
The study of 1,100 drivers by Vauxhall reveals that Brits are ditching the French Riviera and the sultry Spanish sun to have fun on the Autobahn.