Monday, May 01, 2006
The joy of buying a car
From the moment I got the verdict back on the old Citroen - "alive, but only just", I knew we could put off the inevitable no longer. We would have to bite the bullet. Buy the classifieds. Pore over Parkers Online. Survive the sharks on the car showroom forecourts. Part with our hard-won pennies. All the time with a feeling of dread and worry that we would be taken for a ride. Again.
Round One
Saturday afternoon. Hull West. I would rather be back home baking biscuits and buns. Here we are at Dixons: Dixons Nissan, Dixons Citroen and Dixons Renault. The three sides of a square industrial estate nicely finished of with (hallelujia) Network Q Vauxhall. Battle plan: Start in one corner and finish in the same. Balloons everywhere. Ah yes. Bank Holiday weekend. Trying to pull the family punters in. Car? Finance? Balloon? One or two possibilities, but why do we get the feeling that each salesperson is telling us what they think we want to hear? Does what they say bear any relationship to reality?
Round Two
Later Saturday afternoon. Hull Central. Not much here, but a very nice man tells us he has the full resources of the group - 40 garages!! - to draw from. We have but to let him know what we want, how much for, and he can 'get his hands on one for us to try'. It all sounds as if it is going to take far too long. Old Citroen is going to STOP very soon now. Probably in the middle of the bypass road. We need something now.
Round Three
Even later Saturday afternoon. Hull East. A small forecourt. Cars squished in so much you wonder how they ever move any of them! But no-one bothers us. We open doors and boots and have a good old puggle. Still no-one comes. There are three or four here that are very good possibilities. Shall we? Yes, lets. Hello? Anyone there? We are shown the papers for the two we are most interested in. Both 'one lady owner' cars. In fact half the stock seems to be this. 9000 miles only? Too good to be true? No, all above board. It was her 'second car' - trips to the golf club and hairdressers only!! Looking better by the minute.
By this time, David and the salesman had worked out that they both know the same people from Hull City Police days (30 years or more ago) and are getting along swimmingly. Can we test drive it? Yes - and off we go on our own, with no minder and nothing as 'bail'. Being an ex-policeman has its perks! Do we like it? Yes. Shall we buy it? Yes. He offers us £200 for our old banger, unseen !!!!!! We feel rather guilty at this, they are such nice people. No deposit needed. Deal done. Whew!
Yay. A nearly new, shiny black Polo, 1 careful lady owner, 9200 miles. Pick it up on Friday.
(We don't have to do that again until the Galaxy needs replacing, so 18 months to recover.)
Round One
Saturday afternoon. Hull West. I would rather be back home baking biscuits and buns. Here we are at Dixons: Dixons Nissan, Dixons Citroen and Dixons Renault. The three sides of a square industrial estate nicely finished of with (hallelujia) Network Q Vauxhall. Battle plan: Start in one corner and finish in the same. Balloons everywhere. Ah yes. Bank Holiday weekend. Trying to pull the family punters in. Car? Finance? Balloon? One or two possibilities, but why do we get the feeling that each salesperson is telling us what they think we want to hear? Does what they say bear any relationship to reality?
Round Two
Later Saturday afternoon. Hull Central. Not much here, but a very nice man tells us he has the full resources of the group - 40 garages!! - to draw from. We have but to let him know what we want, how much for, and he can 'get his hands on one for us to try'. It all sounds as if it is going to take far too long. Old Citroen is going to STOP very soon now. Probably in the middle of the bypass road. We need something now.
Round Three
Even later Saturday afternoon. Hull East. A small forecourt. Cars squished in so much you wonder how they ever move any of them! But no-one bothers us. We open doors and boots and have a good old puggle. Still no-one comes. There are three or four here that are very good possibilities. Shall we? Yes, lets. Hello? Anyone there? We are shown the papers for the two we are most interested in. Both 'one lady owner' cars. In fact half the stock seems to be this. 9000 miles only? Too good to be true? No, all above board. It was her 'second car' - trips to the golf club and hairdressers only!! Looking better by the minute.
By this time, David and the salesman had worked out that they both know the same people from Hull City Police days (30 years or more ago) and are getting along swimmingly. Can we test drive it? Yes - and off we go on our own, with no minder and nothing as 'bail'. Being an ex-policeman has its perks! Do we like it? Yes. Shall we buy it? Yes. He offers us £200 for our old banger, unseen !!!!!! We feel rather guilty at this, they are such nice people. No deposit needed. Deal done. Whew!
Yay. A nearly new, shiny black Polo, 1 careful lady owner, 9200 miles. Pick it up on Friday.
(We don't have to do that again until the Galaxy needs replacing, so 18 months to recover.)
