Michael McAleer answers your queries
From L.Cameron:
As a creature of habit. I intended trading in my 03 Skoda Fabia in mid-2006. It appears, however, that this is the time when dealers will be besieged with people clutching the results of their SSIA investments. In such a sellers market, prices will presumably remain high. Would you advise buying earlier (say, Feb 06) or hanging on - if so for how long?
I wouldn't wait around. Already, some of the recent growth in car sales has been attributed to people already making purchasing decisions on the back of future SSIA windfalls. So buying in early next year may not entirely avoid the SSIA rush.
However, February 2006 may just avoid the real rush, which is due in 2007, when 65 per cent of SSIA accounts will mature - over 42 per cent are due for release in April 2007 alone. While trade-in values may be influenced slightly by early arrivals, I would opt for 2006 rather than 2007 to change.
A tns MRBI opinion poll survey taken in October 2003 suggested that only 37 per cent of the €14 billion SSIA fund will be spent with the rest re-invested. Holidays and car sales are forecast to be the key beneficiaries.
However, given that the Revenue Commissioners estimate that 45 per cent of the accounts are held by individuals earning less than €20,000 a year, the likelihood is that the small car market is probably going to be the main beneficiary. It's also worth considering that many of these may decide to use the extra cash to move up a class or buy a quality used car rather than opt for new. That should cushion the blow to the used car market from a flood of trade-ins.
Hopefully, with some predicting car sales in 2007 will exceed 200,000, we will not see a return to the poor levels of service many customers received in the last boom in 2000, when sales staff turned from helpful advisers to grumpy order takers.
From Sean MacCaisin:
Can you advise what sanctions, if any, are available to management and security staff in shopping centres regarding customers who ignore one-way systems and/or parking restrictions in their car-parks.
My query relates less to behaviour which is positively dangerous but to that which is selfish and annoying (parking which blocks sight-lines for other drivers or driving against one-way systems which puts unwary pedestrians at risk).
We hate to make this knowledge public, but car park staff and management have no real sanctions bar resorting to clamping or calling the Garda. According to Dave Cullen, chief executive of Euro Car Parks in Ireland, the only real method of policing car parks is the clamp.
"We normally give people a chance if they offend," he says. "We take a record of their registration and issue a written notice. If they show up on the computer as having offended previously then we will normally clamp the vehicle.
"In fairness, we manage over 100 car parks in shopping centres and towns around Ireland and we have to use the clamp only on the rarest of occasions.
"In the case of dangerous offences a call to the Garda may be needed. They have always been very helpful - I can recall at least one instance where a careless driving summons has been issued."
In relation to the more minor offences you highlight, it would seem that financial punishment through the use of a clamp is the only real sanction available.
From H Mooney, Dublin:
I'm changing my car this spring and among optional extras on offer is cruise control and automatic transmission.
I could probably stretch to both, but I wonder whether cruise control is actually any use, or is it just another gimmick. I've also never had an automatic before.
If you do a lot of city driving, automatic is probably worthwhile. Most people find it a little strange for the first time, feeling a loss of control in power output. Old systems allowed you to kick down on the accelerator to get them to change down - something that was not always the most responsive and delayed matters by some seconds. These few seconds were vital if you were overtaking someone and misjudged the pace.
Thankfully automatic systems have improved dramatically of late. Many now have a steptronic or semi-automatic function that allows you to change down, within reason.
Gear changes are also a lot smoother these days. We recently spoke with someone who drove his first automatic in a big US rental car and found the whole experience unnerving.
However, when we finally persuaded him to try a modern automatic over here he was pleasantly surprised. The biggest benefit you will find is in city traffic, where you don't spend your time exercising your left foot.
Cruise control is also increasingly useful in Ireland, given our ever-expanding motorway network. It's particularly useful for keeping a check on your speed, protecting you from unwittingly building up those dreaded penalty points.
Admittedly on country roads it is much less useful, but the best way to judge it is to look at the sort of driving you do and decide if motorway cruising is a regular part of your journeys.
Send your queries to Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie