Genuine Mercedes-benz Bracket 211-500-03-31 on 2040-parts.com

'Ambulance chasers' face new controls

THE CULTURE of "ambulance-chasing" lawyers and bogus whiplash claims could come to an end following new measures set out by the Government to crack down on insurance fraud. Lawyers will be banned from offering accident victims incentives such as money or free iPad computers to encourage them to make a claim and courts will be given powers to throw out compensation actions where claimants have been dishonest. The reforms by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) aim to tackle the rise of the compensation culture and reduce the amount being paid out unnecessarily by insurance companies - which can lead to higher premiums for honest customers.

Ram introduces CNG-powered pickup

Aside from the Honda Civic Natural Gas, compressed-natural-gas-powered vehicles have usually been converted after the fact, generally for fleet use. Chrysler is hoping to carve out a niche in the corporate-pickup segment by selling a factory-built CNG Ram 2500 that can seamlessly switch over to gasoline operation when the natural-gas tanks run dry. The twin 4.6-cubic-foot CNG tanks (which store the equivalent of 18.2 gallons of gas) take up a section of the bed, while an eight-gallon gasoline tank provides fuel during start-up and then reserve capacity when the compressed tanks are tapped out, allowing the bruiser a measure of operational flexibility.

2013 VW Beetle Convertible: Price from £18,150

After a reveal in October, the New Volkswagen Beetle Convertible has debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will cost from £18,150 in the UK. In fact, not only does the Beetle refuse to go away, it’s selling better than the ‘old’ Beetle ever did, with 230,000 Beetles built since the Beetle was revived eight years ago, only 100,000 fewer than the old Beetle sold in its 31 year history. And the new VW Beetle promises to be more appealing than the first iterations of VW’s revival of the Beetle, with their strapline for the latest model setting out its intentions clearly: ‘Less Flower – More Power’.