I was thinking of getting a new car, perhaps something that has a lower fuel consumption to try and cut down on the fuel bills. Before I consider the car itself I thought I would check out an auto loan. Looking around I came across this website called up2drive that specialise in auto loans and say they can lower my payment. They finance all makes and models and have no hidden cost or application fees. You simply complete their secure online credit application and submit it online. The website also has a handy payment estimator so you can input the loan type and amount that you require and get an idea of what the rate will be before you even apply.

The Co-Operative Group has become the country's fifth largest food retailer after agreeing a £1.6billion takeover of Somerfield. The takeover will mean that the Co-op will acquire 3,000 outlets across the country and an eight per cent market share.

Santander have brought Alliance and Leicester for £1.26bn, less than half the UK lender's value at the end of last year. The banks had held talks about a possible deal last December when Santander was prepared to pay nearly 700p a share for the bank. Since then Alliance and Leicester's share price has dropped due to recent market turmoil. Santander will combine Alliance and Leicester with Abbey which it purchased in 2004. It also plans to inject £1bn of capital into Alliance and Leicester to cover rising bad debts and further treasury write downs.

Britain's first eco nightclub has opened in London. The night club offers free entry to cyclists and walkers. It also has its own wind turbines and solar energy systems. The venue has air flush waterless urinals and low flush toilets. It sells all of its drinks in polycarbon cups and has a high tech dance floor that generates its own electricity when people dance on it.

If you are looking for a new pair of glasses you might want to check out these incredible stylish new frames from zenni. The company that makes them Zenni Optical was on FOX news a few weeks ago and received a favourable review based on their claim that they can have you seeing 20-20 for only $20. The website has a huge range of prescription glasses online including their Zenni Optical $8 Rx Eyeglasses which are great if you are on a budget. They also have tinted sunglasses, potochromic lenses and progressive lenses and because they sell their own frames directly to the customer with no middle man you can get a really low price.

When booking a holiday you might want to check the small print to see what is says about fuel surcharges. This article highlights a case where a couple were hit with a surcharge of £892 a few months before they were due to set off on a cruise holiday. In their case the extra charge was simply too much to afford and they had no choice but to cancel the holiday. Unfortunately because the charges amounted to £8 less than 10% of the total holiday cost they were not entitled to a refund of the £900 deposit they had paid for the £9,000 holiday.

A hydrogen refuelling station has been unveiled. The refuelling station could be installed in the home as an alternative to visiting the petrol station. You do of course need a hydrogen powered car to go with it. The unit can produce enough gas overnight to power a car for 25 miles but it could soon be possible to have high pressure units that could power a car for 100 miles. At the launch of the refuelling unit ITM also introduced a hybrid Ford Focus that has been converted to run on hydrogen.

Laws banning hidden costs on air fares are likely to be in force by the end of the year. The move would mean that airlines would have to include all airport taxes, fees and charges in the basic ticket price they offer to customers. The laws would mean that all costs must be clearly set out making it very clear the final total that the customer will pay. The new laws are currently waiting the final approval from Euro MEPs.

This article suggests that supermarket price cuts have helped to stem the increase in grocery bills. Although the increase is still running at 17.8% it has fallen from 19.8% and this has been attributed to special offers and reductions on a number of products including broccoli and sausages. Supermarkets have been slashing prices on some products in an effort to become the cheapest store at a time where customers appear to be becoming more price aware.

Sainsbury's has started putting electronic tags on chickens in its Eastbourne store. They have introduced the measures after an increasing amount of people have been stealing chickens. Previously tags were only used on high value goods such as alcohol but with the increasingly high costs of meat it appears that chicken is now much sought after. Anyone who tries to steal a chicken from the Eastbourne store will now set off an alarm.

Boris Johnson has quashed the proposed rise in the London congestion charge. The former mayor Ken Livingston has planned to raise the daily charge from £8 to £25. Boris Johnson has said that the £25 charge would hit small businesses and families the hardest and this is why he is scrapping the rise. He also said that his aim is to achieve a "fairer and more effective congestion charge".

A survey by a rail watchdog has found that only four out of ten passengers feel they get value for money. Its hardly surprisingly when you pay to use a service where you rarely get a seat and in many cases can hardly find standing room on a train. The same report found that people are 5% less satisfied with the service than in 2007 with satisfaction ratings falling for 13 companies since spring 2007. One of the main things that passengers were dissatisfied with was fare increases.

If you are looking for a new pair of prescription glasses you might want to check out zennioptical.com. They have a wide range of frames includes tinted sunglasses, bifocal and progressive frames and even goggles. Personally I quite liked their range of rimless frames. Most of their frames come in a choice of colours and once you have selected one you can also select the lens size and shape, add an anti reflection coating, choose whether you want a lens tint and also add a clip on sunshade. You also need to enter your prescription. They currently ship within the US at a cost of $4.95 per order and most orders are received within two weeks of ordering. 

The AA has scored rather badly in a survey of roadside breakdown firms coming just seventh out of eleven. The poll included 32,000 drivers and rated breakdown firms on value for money, friendliness, helpfulness and overall service. GEM Motoring Assist came out top with Churchill coming bottom. In response the AA has said that 95% of people would recommend the service to family and friends. Personally when I have used the AA I have also found the service to be very good.

The full list, in order of overall rating, was:

1. GEM Motoring Assist;
2. Autonational Rescue;
3. RAC;
4. National Breakdown;
5. More Than;
6. Green Flag;
7. The AA;
8. Norwich Union;
9. Tesco;
10. Direct Line;
11. Churchill

eBay have been ordered to pay 40 million Euros in fines for selling fakes. The company will have to pay the money to LVMH, a French luxury goods group because they have allowed fake versions of their products to be sold on the eBay website. LVMH demanded 50 million Euros in damages after claiming that eBay's French business has not done enough to prevent users selling counterfeit items. LVMH also told the court that in 2006 90% of the LVMH branded goods for sale on eBay were fakes. eBay plans to appeal against the decision and says it quickly removes any goods that are found to be counterfeit.