Don McNay reflects on Loan Sharks and their modern incarnation, payday lending.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Five ways to make money from your car
Published 4 August 2010
Rachel Wait
If you need to boost your income, using your car could be the perfect way to earn some extra £££....
Why not use your car to make some extra cash?
Last weekend, as I was driving along, I started to wonder how I ever used to manage without a car. To be honest, it’s not like I really need a car. After all, I live in London so there’s plenty of public transport to hop on and off. But having a car is still pretty useful at times.
Of course, the major drawback to owning a car is that it can be really expensive. By the time you’ve paid for tax, insurance, the MOT, and of course, petrol, your bank account really does start to look a little worse for wear.
But what if I told you your car could also be a source of income? Yes, it’s true. Just take a look at the following five ways to make money from your car!
Rent it out
The number of items you can rent out to others is rapidly increasing. Most of you probably know you can rent out a room under the government’s Rent a Room scheme. And if you have a driveway going spare you can also rent that out using websites such as YourParkingSpace and ParkatmyHouse
But did you know you can also rent out your car?
WhipCar is a website which allows drivers to rent out their car for money whenever they’re not using it. The service matches people who want to borrow a car with those people who have a car to rent out. It’s that simple. So if you only use your car at the weekend, perhaps you could rent it out during the week to someone who needs it for the school run?
Or if you only use your car for the commute to work during the week, why not rent it out to someone who requires a car for a getaway over the weekend?
WhipCar automatically screens all cars joining the service and all drivers booking cars. You can accept or decline each booking and membership is free! You also get to set your own rental price!
Just bear in mind your car cannot be more than eight years old, and it must have a valid MOT and road tax, as well as existing insurance.
Rachel Robson takes a look at which car brands come out best in terms of value for money.
Advertise
If you don’t mind having your car plastered in advertising, you could consider allowing businesses to use your car as advertising space for a set period.
If you agree to this, it’s likely your car will be wrapped in a self-adhesive colour printed film – known as a carwrap. You can usually decide how much of your car you want covered, and how much you earn will depend on this.
For example, at Autocarwraps.com, you’ll receive £200 a month for having your car completely covered (apart from the front windows), or £150 a month for having half of the car covered.
Meanwhile, Comm-motion.com breaks this down even further so that you can earn up to £220 a month for covering the whole car (apart from windscreen), £185 a month for having the doors, side-panels, bonnet and rear of the car covered, or £150 a month for only covering the door panels and part wings, along with an image on the bonnet and/or rear of the car.
However, if you’re going to do this, check with your car insurance company to see whether having advertisements on the car bodywork will increase your premiums. It’s also important to ensure the company you’ve signed up with fits the adverts professionally so that damage to your car is minimised.
You should also read the small print carefully before you sign up. Some companies will require you to sign up to a contract which lasts a couple of years.
Become a courier
Another option you could consider is to become a courier. If you do a lot of driving, why not see whether someone needs a package delivered en-route? A really easy way to do this is to use Stuff2send.com. This nifty little site allows you to register as a courier and get paid to drop off someone’s stuff.
Once you’ve signed up (it’s free to join), you can then search for items in the areas you’ll be travelling to and from. You will also receive an email when a new item is listed on the website. You can then choose the items you want to deliver and bid for them. If the ‘sender’ chooses you, you can then finalise the details of the transaction. You can find out more here.
Car share
Okay, so technically this isn’t making money – it’s more of a way to save money - but you could consider car sharing. If you live near some of your colleagues, why not give them a lift to work and then split the cost of the petrol?
Or if you regularly do the school run, why not offer to pick up some other parents along the way?
If you’re not sure who to ask, you could always look at the website CarShare which helps you to find other people travelling the same way as you – so you can easily share your journeys. According to the website, sharing a daily commute could save members well over £1,000 a year!
Just bear in mind that you can’t make a profit from car sharing – if you do, you are likely to invalidate your insurance and tax. However, all that money you save on petrol bills through car sharing can be put towards other things – such as your savings account, bills and everyday expenditure! What’s more, you’ll be helping the environment!
Sell it!
Finally, of course, you could simply sell your car. If you don’t use it on a regular basis and you know you could easily manage without it, perhaps now is the time to get rid!
There are several options for doing this. You could simply sell it privately by advertising in the local newspaper, or by putting an advertisement on your car window. Alternatively, you could sell it to a local car dealer garage. Or if you're feeling brave, you could try to sell it through an online auction. However, this can be risky and you could end up losing a lot of money!
Good luck!
Monday, 2 August 2010
Elizabeth Warren's Enemies List
One of Elizabeth's books is mentioned in this article, you can preview it here
Be careful what you sign for......
MacRoberts Commercial Dispute Resolution e-update 21/07/10
CAVEAT EMPTOR? [Latin for ‘Buyer Beware]
Case Facts
In 1998 Mr Durkin bought a laptop from DSG Retail Ltd, trading as PC World. The laptop was in a sealed box
and he could not establish if it had an internal modem. He proceeded to purchase it, however, on the
understanding that he could return it if it did not have such a modem. He paid £50 as a deposit and signed a
credit agreement offered by HFC Bank plc for the remaining balance of the laptop, being £1,449.
Surprise surprise…the laptop did not have the modem. Mr Durkin tried to return the laptop, but PC World
refused to accept it. Worse still, they refused to refund him his deposit or cancel his credit agreement.
Understandably, Mr Durkin was not amused. He rejected the laptop, leaving it in the store and did not make
payments in terms of his credit agreement. Later, he successfully raised a Small Claims Action for recovery of
his deposit.
All's well that ends well, you might think…well, not so. Because Mr Durkin failed to make payments, HFC placed
him on a credit blacklist. As a result, Mr Durkin could no longer open new credit accounts, enjoy zero rated
interest rates and most importantly, could not purchase a house in Spain…
Once again, Mr Durkin was not amused. He complained repeatedly to HFC, advising he had rejected the laptop
and that he was not going to honour his credit agreement. HFC did not budge and so Mr Durkin raised an action
against both PC World and HFC for declarator that he was entitled to cancel the contract with PC World which,
in turn, cancelled the credit agreement with HFC. He also sought damages in the sum of £250,000 from HFC for
the misrepresentations they had made as to his credit rating.
Sheriff Court
The Sheriff decided that it was an express term of the contract that the laptop had an inbuilt modem and its
absence placed PC World in breach of contract, entitling Mr Durkin to cancel. He also ruled that the contract
between Mr Durkin and HFC was a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement in terms of s.12 of the Consumer Credit
Act 1974. As such, given the material breach, the Sheriff decided that Mr Durkin was also entitled to cancel his
contract with HFC in terms of s.75(1) of the Act. Furthermore, given HFC's actions in negligently placing Mr
Durkin on a credit blacklist without first ascertaining the correct facts, the Court awarded damages of £116,674.
Court of Session Appeal
This time, PC World and HFC were not amused. The decision was appealed by Mr Durkin and cross-appealed
by both defenders to the Inner House of the Court of Session who looked carefully at connected lender liability
in terms of s.75 of the Act. After hearing the facts, the Court ruled that Mr Durkin's cancellation of his consumer
contract with PC World did not automatically cancel the credit agreement contract with HFC. The Court stated
that previous interpretations of the Act were incorrect. Two key statutory expressions in the Act, "linked
transaction" and "a like claim" ultimately decided Mr Durkin's fate. "Linked transaction" refers to, for example, a
sale agreement linked to a credit agreement which is the principal agreement. If the latter falls, the sale
agreement falls too, but not vice versa. Moreover, in terms of s.75(1), in the event of a breach of contract, the
debtor shall have "a like claim" against the creditor who, with the supplier, shall be joint and severally liable. Mr
Durkin's claim relating to the cancellation of a credit agreement was not the same as any claim he would have
made against PC World. Therefore, the Sheriff had erred in deciding that the contract between Mr Durkin and
HFC was the same as the contract with PC World. Had Parliament intended that accompanying credit
agreements would automatically be ended alongside a consumer contract, then it would have drafted the Act
accordingly. It did not. Whilst he had other remedies available to him, Mr Durkin remained bound by his contract
with HFC.
Comment
What does all of this mean? It seems a somewhat paradoxical situation where a consumer has to continue to
pay for something that he has rejected. In poor Mr Durkin's case, he is liable for interest since he signed the
credit agreement in 1998. A bit of advice to consumers…buyer beware! Be clear on what you are signing and
don't be afraid to ask about the implications of exercising your rights. If in doubt – don't sign!
Sunday, 1 August 2010
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