The price of driving a bargain

I know that I have been AWOL again. For a good  reason. Well goodish. Back in May my mouse and I spent rather too much time surfing the Internet. The result was a problem with my neck and a weary mouse. In an attempt to give my neck a chance to recover I awarded the mouse a well earned rest, but every time that I picked up the mouse my neck complained. The only thing to do was to have a complete break from using the mouse and the computer. Needless to say I have found other things to do with my time and my mouse has got used to being idle. Enough of waffle and excuses.

Since January 2015 I had been looking, on and off, for a replacement car. Like all of us my car, Bluebell was ageing and needed money spent on her. I had decided on the make, model and colour that I was looking for. Now it was just a matter of finding it. With each MOT, tax and insurance anniversary my search intensified.  Then wained, when I could not find what I was looking for. Searching via the Internet allowed me to view all possibilities countrywide and saved what would have been many fruitless trips out to second hand car showrooms. Last year's prang, although repaired to look like new, had left Bluebell with a rattle and the driver's door window did not always shut as tight as it should. If I was going to change the car I realised that I would have to consider an alternative colour. So that decision made, it was not long before I found a car that was a possibility. In addition to being my second choice colour of white silver, it was older than I really wanted and the details supplied by the dealer sparse, by comparison with other cars that were also for sale. Over the course of the next few days e-mails flew between myself and a salesman at the showroom, that had the car 30 odd miles away. Eventually I managed to prize out of him the information that I wanted regarding the car, which appeared to be a middle of the range car without many extras, but it would suit my needs. Now it was decision time. Did I want the car moved to the local dealer so that I could see it? Yes, I thought so, but before I got around to asking for that to be done, I followed home from the supermarket a top of the range model that I had not considered. In fact, you do not see many of them about. It set me thinking. So there are some benefits to doing the supermarket shop. It did not take me long to establish that the local dealer, just two miles up the road, had two or three possibilities, all within my price range and more suitable colours than the car that was 30 odd miles away. OK they were all older. I reasoned that if I bought an older car, that I just would not keep it for so long.

What I have ended up with is a silver grey top of the range car with a lot of extras, which I would never have specified and shall probably never use, but at £10 more than the low specification middle of the range alternative it seemed to be a bargain buy. It has cost more to tax and insure, but it is fun to drive even if I do not need the extra power. More importantly a silver grey car is a more practical colour than white silver for someone who lives up a muddy lane. And those heated seats will come in useful in the winter won't they?