Welcome to GWA Cars and Finance, GWA Cars & Finance is an independent company specialising in the sale and financing of new and used cars and vans in Chichester, West Sussex and the UK.

Well, the GWA Cars & Finance news desk may be stretching the truth a little bit with this headline, but it’s very important information nevertheless – information you should know regarding new insurance regulations and VAT recovery rates for company cars.

The big news on the insurance front is that it will soon be an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle. Currently, we’re only penalised for driving an uninsured car or van. Now, the penalty for failing to insure a car will start at a £100 fine and get progressively harsher.

As you might expect, this new legislation has attracted some criticism, with particularly loud mutterings coming from classic car owners’ clubs. While there will be some special cases and some extra paperwork, on the whole I am pleased to see something being done to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on the road (1.4 million according to the government).

I was slightly shocked to discover recently that the UK has the highest number of uninsured drivers in Western Europe. While our vehicle taxation/insurance system is far from perfect, I am aware of the misery caused by uninsured drivers.

My other interesting news concerns VAT recovery on company cars. The VAT recovery rate looks set to stay at 50% for the next three years, so businesses can recover 50% of the VAT on the purchase price or lease rental payments for a company car if there is some private use. I think the rate should be higher, but we’ll have to wait until 2014 for another review.

All this talk of VAT leads me nicely on to some GWA Cars & Finance special offers. VAT may have gone up a little, but we still have great deals available on new vans and cars, including a two-litre VW Transporter Van (from £247 a month) and the smart Renault Megane Coupe (from £199 a month).

To have a chat about buying or leasing a new or used car or van, contact Gary at GWA Cars & Finance on 01243 510 650 or sales@gwacars.com.