Blog Posts by Cheryl Tay

Last year, the local motor insurance industry achieved an underwriting profit of S$21.2 million. (Yahoo! file photo)



Motor insurers in Singapore finally got themselves out of the red after suffering from five consecutive years of losses. Last year, the local motor insurance industry achieved an underwriting profit of S$21.2 million — the last time a profit was made was back in 2005. Over the past five years of losses, the largest loss of S$214.1 million was reported in 2008.

In its annual briefing last week, the General Insurance Association (GIA) revealed figures from the industry. Motor insurance still forms the single largest segment for general insurance, and the average premium collected from motor insurance rose by 2.5 per cent in 2011 to an all-time high of S$1,274. This average premium has been rising year after year since 2006 when it was S$867.

However, this average premium rise is tapering off and motorists, particularly the accident-free ones, can breathe easier. GIA president Derek Teo predicts motor insurance premiums will stabilise, with the possibility it may decline depending on the

Spending time with Mdm Dara after the event. (Photo credit: Cheryl Tay)




She could not speak a word of English but Dara Binte Singkro managed to relate her life story to us
through her old photos when we sent her home after taking her to lunch and a drive through Singapore city to view iconic landmarks such as the Singapore Flyer and the Esplanade.

Dara was the beneficiary I ferried in my car during Love on Wheels: Zoom Zoom with a Heart, an inaugural charity car rally organised by the People's Association PMET division held on 25 February.

Car rallies are not new to me, but this charity car rally was unique and a first for me, as it integrated community service into the challenge by involving the underprivileged directly. Not a fund-raising initiative, this event allowed us to give back to the society by completing charity-related tasks at the various check points while having driving fun at the same time. Rather than just make monetary contributions, the opportunity served especially well for working professionals to make hands-on contributions amid their

Good photos of your car can help you fetch a higher price for it. (Photo courtesy of Adrian Wong)

At some point in time of your car's ownership you might want to take some photos in remembrance of it — whether it is for your personal reference or to use in advertisements to sell your car.

You can always engage a professional photographer to help you take the photos, of course, but if you are on a shoestring, you can attempt doing the photoshoot yourself.

Kind friends might loan you their DSLRs, along with additional camera equipment, but there are several good digital camers in the market these days — like the Canon Powershot S95 — that produce equally high-quality shots.

Having worked with lots of photographers in my line of automotive journalism work and dabbling in amateur photography myself, I have some tips on how to get good shots of your car.

Specialised automotive photographer Adrian Wong (Vanq Photography) and Jay Joel Ong, founder of drive-in car photography studio Ode to Studio share some advice, too.

1. Proper planning is essential
Taking the camera and driving out to

BY CHERYL TAY

Tyres are a very important part of the car, being the only part of the vehicle that is in contact with the ground. Taking over as sole official tyre for Formula 1 this year is Italian tyre company Pirelli.

Paul Hembery (Photo courtesy of Pirelli)

During the Singapore Grand Prix last week, I had the opportunity to lunch with Paul Hembery, global motorsports director for Pirelli, who shared how challenging the F1 journey has been for the company thus far.

Hembery was based in Singapore during the inaugural Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix in 2008. While watching the world's first and only night race, Hembery sent a text to his Chief Executive Officer saying "This is where we (Pirelli) need to be."

He was supposed to be posted to Russia next, after Singapore, and was undergoing training for his Russia project when the topic of Formula 1 came about. After some serious discussion within the company, a meeting was then set up with Bernie Ecclestone sometime in March. From there, things snowballed quickly and

BY CHERYL TAY

He once said that he would rather remain single so he can focus on his racing career. However, things have since changed and Force India's Adrian Sutil is now "in good hands".

Adrian Sutil with Linkin Park (Photo courtesy of Sutton Images)

The 28-year-old German started in karting at the age of 14, before moving to the Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002 and the Formula Masters Austria Championship. In 2003 he did the Formula BMW ADAC series before progressing to Formula 3 Euroseries in 2004 and 2005. He raced in A1 Grand Prix in 2005 and then did the 2006 All-Japan Formula Three Championship which he won.

His Formula 1 break came in 2006 when he was the third driver for the Midland F1 Racing team and promoted to second driver for 2007 after the team was bought over by Spyker Cars and renamed Spyker MF1. The team was then bought over and renamed to Force India, whom Sutil has driven for since 2008.

During the Singapore Grand Prix last week, Sutil made an appearance at German tuner TECHART's event held at autovox, amongst other sponsor

BY CHERYL TAY

Bruno-Senna at a public appearance at Suntec City. (Photo courtesy of Sutton Images, Eric Chen and Daryl Goh)

Learning to deal with the pressure and expectation of the legendary "Senna" name is something that Bruno Senna has to live with for the rest of his life, as long as he is in motor racing. The 27-year-old Lotus Renault GP driver is the nephew of the late three-time Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, who is a highly respected driver of all time.

It was tough in the beginning for Bruno, when he had to face all the attention even before he got into a car to race. He started in go-karts and was under his uncle's guidance before the unfortunate death. Bruno's racing career was abruptly paused, until Gerhard Berger (Ayrton's team-mate in McLaren in 1990 — 1992) came along to advise Bruno on his driving career.

Senna drove in some Formula BMW UK races in 2004, moved to Formula 3 in 2005 and then to GP2 in 2007. His Formula 1 breakthrough was supposed to be in 2009 paired alongside Jenson Button for the now-defunct Honda Racing team.

However, Honda withdrew from the sport at

BY CHERYL TAY

Mark Webber (Photo courtesy of Red Bull Racing)

This was the man was a strong championship contender last year, with five pole positions and four races, last leading the Drivers' Championship at the 2010 Korean Grand Prix. Mark Webber would have been crowned World Champion if he won the finale at Abu Dhabi and Fernando Alonso finished third or lower.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be and the 35-year-old Australian could only watch as his team-mate Sebastian Vettel went on to win the final race of the 2010 season along with the championship. There was some controversy when it was revealed that Webber was actually driving with a shoulder injury for the last four races of the season — something which he didn't tell the team about.

2011 hasn't been too exciting for Webber as he struggled at the start of the season. He has several podium finishes but has yet to win a race this year, unlike Vettel who is a champion-in-waiting. Acknowledging that last year was probably his last shot at winning the World Championship title, Webber

BY CHERYL TAY

This year's Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix wasn't as dramatic as previous years, but it was still exciting and I felt goosebumps when the cars were lining up on the grid and preparing their start launches.

Hamilton punctures Massa's tyre

A week has gone by — what is it about the Singapore Grand Prix that you remember? Here are the moments that I remembered most about my F1 week, in no particular order:

1. Michael Schumacher made his first public appearance in Singapore.
Part of the pre-race activities off-track included the seven-time World Champion's first public appearance in Singapore. Last year, in his first comeback season, he made no appearance at all. This time, it gave Mercedes-Benz great pleasure to hold a special event at Paragon just for the legend to meet and greet fans. Albeit brief, it meant a lot to many to have him make his presence.

2. Sebastian Vettel won the race but the crowning of his championship title has been delayed.
Talk was all about the possibility of Sebastian