Consumer sentiment remains opposed to the notion of adding artificial noise to green cars, new research suggests.

A poll conducted by the TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk revealed 63 per cent of those who voted felt artificial noise should not be a compulsory feature on electric and hybrid cars.

The figure was up on the 55 per cent who felt this to be the case in 2008, with the idea of quiet roads and vehicles appealing to the public.

However, the website’s editor Faye Sunderland is among those warning that such an idea is unrealistic given plans in the EU and the US to introduce legislation requiring manufacturers to equip cars with minimum noise levels.

"It might sound nice to think that instead of listening to the roar of traffic on a busy street, we will be able to hear the birds sing but the truth is it won’t be like that," she argued.

A 2008 Transport and Environment report claimed that rail and road traffic noise was responsible for a staggering 50,000 fatal heart attacks every year in Europe.

Cars that are five years old are typically the vehicles which draw most insurance claims, new research has revealed.

A study by Virgin Money Car Insurance showed that nearly ten per cent of all motor claims came from drivers with five-year-old cars, with a relatively narrow band of ages accounting for a large proportion of all claims made.

Those cars which were aged between three and six years old accounted for around four in ten of all claims, even though they represent less than a quarter of all the cars on the road.

Grant Bather, Virgin Money Car Insurance spokesman, said the figures correlated with the average length of time motorists run their cars for.

"Drivers tend to change their car every three-to-five years and on this evidence they have some justification," he commented.

"This is not to say that cars five years old are the most dangerous, but that they are more likely to be involved in an incident that leads to a claim being made. This may be a traffic accident, breakdown or theft."

Statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders indicate that 7.4 million of the 31 million cars in the UK are between three and six years old.

Motorists are risking accidents by adopting a blasé approach to driving in winter weather conditions, according to Sainsbury’s Car Insurance.

Wintry conditions are set to continue into spring, according to the MET office, yet motorists are not paying attention to severe weather warnings.

The bank, run by Sainsbury’s, which is celebrating its 140 year anniversary this May, found that a third of drivers do not check the weather forecast before setting off on a journey.

More than a quarter of motorists (27 per cent), the equivalent of around 9.5 million drivers, fail to fully clear their front and back windscreens.

An estimated 800,000 of motorists claim to have had an accident after ignoring advice not to drive unnecessarily, according to the information obtained from 2,053 online interviewees aged between 16 and 64.

Sainsbury’s Car Insurance is warning motorists to be alert against ‘frosting’ crime in these cold conditions too, where thieves steal cars whilst the owners are warming up the engine.

It estimates 15,000 households this year could become victims of this type of crime.

Three British dealers received recognition at the second Peugeot European quality awards.

Fussell Wadman of Devizes, Simon Bailes of Northallerton and Dale Garage in Hexham, received awards for exceptional service standard in both new car sales and after-sales.

Only 15 dealers out of the 1,200-strong European dealership network received quality awards.

At the ceremony, dealers heard from Peugeot that it hopes to become one of the top three performing brands for service quality.

If it achieves this goal, it should move up in the world vehicle manufacturer rankings.

Jean-Marc Gales, the director general of Automobiles Peugeot, presented the 2010 awards. He underlined Peugeot’s commitment to the highest standards in customer care.

Peugeot, which is celebrating its 200-year anniversary, won What Car? Car of the Year 2010 with its 3008 at the prestigious annual awards.

The 3008, a combination of a hatch, MPV and SUV, was also named the Best Crossover car at the ceremony.

The worldwide debut of the Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition will take place at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

Based on the Quattroporte Sport GT S, the new model aims to combine all the best features in one car.

The unique styling, driving enjoyment and craftsmanship of the hand-finished details of the car, have all made the Quattroporte Sport GT S a flagship benchmark.

There is an exterior colour available exclusively with the Awards Edition too, which will be the fourth car in the Quattroporte range.

Quarzo Fuso colour is a pearlescent metallic grey. It aims to make the exterior immediately recognisable as an Awards Edition and also highlights the lines on the body of the car.

The Awards Edition also boasts hand-polished callipers, which enhance the dual-cast technology braking system.

They are treated with high-precision mechanical processes and are designed to make the car look sportier.

Available from the latter part of this year, the Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition can be purchased in the UK as a special order.

The government scrappage scheme and strong recovery in used car margins have contributed to the UK’s largest car dealership’s profitability last year, it has been reported.

Pendragon, the automotive group that owns Stratstone for luxury cars and Evans Halshaw, reported pre-tax profits of £10.1 million, according to the Press Association.

The company, the largest independent operator of motor retail franchises, suffered a loss of £33.6 million in 2008.

It is now facing the end of the scrappage scheme, which has been funded by the government to provide a short-term boost to new car sales.

The firm predicts new car sales for 2010 will be below the pre-recession average levels but that the market will begin to show signs of improvement.

Pendragon owns 276 franchises nationwide after being forced to shut down 26 of its outlets last year due to the economic downturn.

It has also identified another nine closures that may have to take place this year.

A specialist network of Renaultsport dealerships is to be launched in the UK to provide support to customers of the performance range cars.

Although Renault dealers will continue to sell the Renaultsport models, the specialist dealers will become the range’s ambassadors from the beginning of March.

There will be a Renaultsport sales and after-sales expert at each specialist dealership.

They will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the cars in the range, having undergone knowledge testing on current and past Renaultsport cars, to obtain the role.

Dealerships had to exceed set levels for sales and after-sales customer satisfaction in order to become one of the 11 specialist dealerships in the country.

Renault UK marketing director, Phil York, said he wanted customers to be able to access all the cars in the range as well as talk to staff who were passionate and knowledgeable about the cars.

The Renaultsport 133 was voted Best Buy under £15,000 in the What Car? Hot Hatch 2009 category, and the range was given the award Manufacturer of the Year by BBC Top Gear magazine.

The UK is learning lessons from other countries at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) conference.

More than 200 road safety professionals from the UK are at the society’s 75th conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.

They are there to learn from the experience of people who work to reduce the number of road deaths and injuries in other countries.

Amy Aeron Thomas, executive director of RoadPeace, the UK charity for road crash victims, will put forward a recommendation that the UK adopts a ’stricter liability’ system, as already exists in the Netherlands, Germany and France.

This would mean the victim of a road accident is automatically entitled to compensation for the accident unless the driver can prove otherwise.

Road Safety minister Paul Clark said that although the UK had achieved a lot over the past ten years in terms of road safety, there would always be lessons that could be learnt from other countries.

Current statistics show that more than 2,500 people are killed a year in road accident, which equates to seven deaths a day.

Mr Clark said this was an "unacceptably high figure and one we are determined to bring down".

A series of events aimed at showing off the Vauxhall VXR’s performance power is set to launch in April.

Running through to August, the 2010 VXR Power Events series will comprise six activities, culminating in the VXR Power Festival over the August bank holiday weekend.

The events are being billed as an opportunity for VXR enthusiasts and owners to show off their driving skills in the series of activities, which will also demonstrate the VXR product range.

VXR is the branding for the high-performance trim specification used on models in the range.

The brand is closely linked to VX Racing and Vauxhall’s BTCC team, and the VXR versions of existing models such as the Corsa and Astra, have high performance capabilities.

Andy Gilson, marketing director for Vauxhall, said the events were important to reinforce the success and excellence of its VXR models.

He added that the events were a good opportunity to "engage both existing and prospective customers".

Some 50 per cent of drivers have had a crash or near-miss whilst swerving to avoid a pothole, a survey conducted by GEM Motoring Assist (GEM) has shown.

The results of the survey, from the UK’s leading driving-based road safety association, also showed that almost 70 per cent of those questioned had not reported the pothole to the local council.

Despite the majority of people not reporting dangerous potholes to the local council, nine out of ten motorists believe councils are not doing enough to repair damage to the roads.

Reports show that widespread cold and frost have exacerbated the existing problem of potholes and road repairs.

Some estimates put the total cost of road repairs needed at £100 million.

More than half of UK drivers have suffered damage to their cars due to potholes, yet only five per cent have made claims against their local council for the damage caused.

This is, in part, due to ignorance as 88 per cent admitted to not knowing the procedure to follow to claim for damage, according to the GEM.