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According to Matt's VW emissions crisis-inspired cartoon in this morning's Telegraph, the owners of hybrid or electric cars may now be up to 22 times more smug than was originally thought.

I have put together a couple of tips which I hope will prove usefull if you have a hybrid & are off on your Holidays. First of all & most importantly disconnect your 12 Volt accessory battery there then can be no possibility of an excessive drain on your hybrid battery, Some models may not have a manual key so if yours is one of those I would suggest securing the car in a locked garage first. When you come back from Hols reconnect your accessory battery securely remembering to observe correct polarity. Operate each individual electric window by it's own switch on it's own door (make sure to take them all the way down & up this resets the cluster at the drivers door. Once you have started the car turn the steering wheel full lock to each side a couple of times this helps to re centre the steering. As I think of other tips I will post them - happy holidays you lucky people!

From today's Telegraph.

Hi Paul, this sounds like a great deal to me...wish I as paying that little! I guess leaving in London, using mine as a daily business drive and having fewer years no-claims adds a few quid to the price. Of course, if you can get it cheaper then go for it! Good luck fella.

Hi Thought I would add a note to this old thread. My AFS light started flashing recently. Inspection showed that the linkage on the rear sensor switch was in place ,so I removed the switch stripped it and all looked to be in good condition. It is easy to remove 5 mins. I replaced the switch,the AFS light was still flashing. I then started to think that maybe it was another part of the AFS system,which was causing the fault to occur. I took my car in for a essential care service(another story behind this!!!!) and asked them to quote me for repair of the AFS system. I was told that 99% of the time the rear height sensor switch is the cause of the AFS light flashing. It was also the same in my case. I was quoted £560 for the supply and installation of a new rear height sensor switch. Now knowing that it was definitely the rear height sensor which was the cause of the issue. I again removed the switch opened it by removing the 4 screws. Again all looked in good condition. It was very clean with minimal signs of wear or contamination.(80K miles). The electrical contact inside the switch is performed by 3 independent coil springs. I tested the resistance(avo) between the individual springs and the plug connections. I found that although the springs and spring base were in good clean condition. The electrical connection was intermittent. Basically what was happening is that wear must have taken place around the outer circumference of the copper base where the coil spring sits.This was causing an intermittent electrical connection. To cure this I bent the last wire of the coil spring so that it went across the middle of the coil spring. Doing so made a good electrical connection between the coil spring and the base of the copper pin connection. Did this on all 3 springs,replaced cover and 4 screws. Refitted to car (RX 400) and no more flashing AFS light. The whole job took me approx 30 mins. You can access and remove the switch without jacking up the car. But be careful. Handbrake,Keys not in ignition and ideally chock your wheels. So £560 saved to spend elsewhere. Hope this may help others. John

More Than have been good for me for 4 years. No Tracker needed and 9k miles a year. I'm just over £300 including legal cover. A key attraction is that their call centre is staffed by intelligent and intelligible people, who seem to know their stuff and ask good questions. That gives me confidence that if I ever need to make a claim then I would get sense from them. I recall a few years back trying to explain what a Prodrive Performance Pack on an Impreza WRX was to a numpty at Aviva's call centre, which I believe was located somewhere that many would classify as the Developing World. I think he didn't own a car, and certainly showed he didn't have a clue by telling me the PPP counted as 4 modifications.

You could try Lexus Insurance who seem to provide a good level of cover. They were not the cheapest insurer, although not massively different from other quotes I got at the time and they also didn't require a tracker to be fitted. Every other insurer I tried did, which adds a significant chunk of money to the yearly cost of the insurance. Not being a fan of trackers anyway it was a no brainer for me.