Two more nights of sleep and then it's New Year's Eve. But which municipality is best to avoid during New Year's Eve if you love your car?
The fireworks sales have started and the first firecrackers can already be heard around us. Of course, New Year's Eve is when things really get going, but where is your car most likely to get into trouble due to flying fireworks? On purpose or not?
Fortunately, there are statistics and lists for everything to keep track of which municipalities you are in not should be with old and new. So if your mother-in-law lives in one of these places, you have an extra reason not to celebrate New Year's Eve there. Comparison site Independer has the numbers and the tips.
Hofstad is a risk city
If you are planning to celebrate New Year's Eve in The Hague, we would recommend public transport. One in ten cars that goes up in flames during the night of December 31 to January 1 is in The Hague. Ten percent of car fires on New Year's Eve therefore take place in the royal city. Utrecht follows in second place with 8.5 percent. But then again, they hate the motorist there.
Including the other two major urban cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, this amounts to a total of 26.5 percent of all New Year's car fires. Not surprising in itself, because this is where most of the cars are of course.
Smaller municipalities
Unfortunately, you are not safe in the smaller municipalities. You should also avoid Maasdriel in Gelderland. Last New Year's Eve, 2023 was welcomed with no fewer than five car fires.
In Maasdriel, just like in Zaltbommel and the picturesque Veen, it is a tradition to set scrap cars on fire instead of just shooting flares or carbide. These scrap cars total only 2.6 percent of the registered fires during New Year's Eve.
Safe places
Where should you celebrate New Year's Eve? Well you can park your car safely in 260 municipalities where not a single car went up in flames during the festivities on the last day of the year.
Large cities such as Nijmegen, Maastricht, Deventer, Alkmaar and Leeuwarden are also included. So you don't necessarily have to languish on a remote farm for New Year's Eve. By the way, past results offer no guarantee for the future, so don't go here in the comments and shout on New Year's Day that we said it was safe, but your car was burned down anyway…
Oh well, luckily we are insured
That's right, but not. If your car only has third party insurance, you will be out of luck in the event of a fire. Fire damage is reimbursed if you have third-party liability+ or limited comprehensive insurance or all-risk or full comprehensive insurance. Shouldn't it be intentional, by the way? If those firecrackers do it on purpose, then it is vandalism and you can only recover damage with all-risk insurance.
Tips for preserving your car
It is of course better to prevent fireworks damage. Then you can avoid the places mentioned like the plague, but you can also park your car inside. If you have your own garage, that makes sense, but those big cities also have covered parking garages. Costs a penny, but that's cheaper than a burnt down car.
If there is no parking garage nearby, you can of course also park at a gas station, for example. Even the biggest die-hard firecrackers often stay away from there.
Another tip is to wash your car before New Year's Eve. Use some extra wax so that gunpowder residue is less likely to penetrate the paint. Fireworks residue will then slide off the car more easily and if you wash it again after January 1, you will enter the new year shiny and shiny.
Photo credit: Autoblog spots by maskedmuchacho
This article Do not park in The Hague or Utrecht at New Year's Eve! first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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