Older-car cover; BMW Brexit fears; More 8 Series; Hybrid parking; EV sets ‘Peak’ record

YOU can almost hear the exasperation in Ray Brennan’s words.

As a dealer who specialises in older cars, he’s seriously annoyed with so many insurance companies refusing to quote for cover on older vehicles.

He asks a simple question: “Why are a lot of insurers refusing to quote for insurance on a 10 to 20-year-old old car with a new NCT test and in perfect condition? ”

He has been selling older cars for 44 years, and insists he is fastidious about preparing them.

But the insurance companies’ reluctance to cover them is, in Ray’s estimation, forcing motorists to drive uninsured, enter into a PCP or loan agreement they cannot afford, or buy a car that’s unsuitable for their needs.

Mr Brennan runs C.A.G. Cars at The Green, Lusk, Co Dublin.

How much insurance are you currently paying on your older car? Let me know ecunningham@independent. ie.

BMW is saying something about Brexit each week.

This week it was in a Financial Times report, with the automaker saying it would have to close British factories where MINI and Rolls-Royce cars are made if leaving the EU results in serious supply chain disruption.

BMW customs manager Stephan Freismuth was quoted as saying: “We always said we can do our best and prepare everything, but if at the end of the day the supply chain will have a stop at the border, we cannot produce our products in the UK.”

As I said last week, chilling.

Still on BMW, it has been reported that the company will make other variants of its recently unveiled 8 Series, including a convertible and a gran coupe.

Toyota and Q-Park have teamed up so drivers of selfcharging hybrids can avail of priority parking in four Q-Parks around the country. The partnership, already up and running, provides for two parking bays in four locations to be exclusively for self-charging hybrid cars.

The spaces are near exits and alongside priority spaces for mothers and babies, for example.

You don’t even need to be driving a Toyota to park in one, but you do have to be in a hybrid.

The parking bays are in the following car parks: St Stephen’s Green and Clery’s, Dublin; Grand Parade, Cork; and Harvey’s Quay, Limerick.

I just hope that non-hybrid owners respect them and do not park, as they so often do, in areas designated for electric cars.

Following the arrest of its chief executive, Rupert Stadler, Audi has delayed the launch of its e-tron EV and switched the event to the US from Brussels.

Great to see that Romain Dumas has smashed the outright record at Pike’s Peak in an electric Volkswagen racer.

Developed by the marque’s motorsport division, the 671bhp I.D. R Pikes Peak electric prototype was, as I reported here in the spring, made to tackle Colorado’s famous international Hill Climb.

It’s 12.42 miles (20km approx), has 156 turns and represents a brutal surge to a 4,300-metre summit.

But Le Mans 24 Hours race winner Dumas (he took overall Pikes Peak victories in 2014/16/17 in a Norma M20D), drove the ID R into the record books with a time of 7 mins 57.148 sec, beating the existing 8mins 13.878 secs.