I have had a few cars over the years, I think in total 7 and considering I didn’t actually pass my driving test until I was 23 , that is quite a few in 17 years. My first was an avacado green coloured Polo which I bought before I had even passed my driving test. Unfortunately, by the time I actually passed my driving test (which took a few attempts – 4 to be exact!), my car had been stood around for too long and I ended up selling it on.
The next car I owned was a blue Ford Escort Mark 3 which had belonged to the neighbour of my grandparents, and for its age (it was an A reg from the first time around) it had not done very many miles on the clock and it was an amazing little car. This turned out to be the first car I drove when I passed my test, and it was a reliable car for its age and it only really broke down once when my ex didn’t check its water content, and the head gasket blew! My third car was a white Ford Fiesta , a much newer car than I had ever had before, and it was great until I had a crash in it on my way to work one Monday morning and I wrote it off! I cried over that car because I had not had it for very long, and it was my first decent car I had ever been able to afford. Still, thankfully, I did get insurance compensation from the crash and I was able to replace my litte car and this time I bought a Renault Clio (J reg) from a garage near my Mum’s house in the village. That car lasted me a little while, until it broke down one night when I was driving home with a severe damaged part, and the garage I bought it from would not responsibility for the breakdown, even though a couple of days before they had serviced the car for me and should have detected the problem.
Anyway, by this time I had a reasonably good job, not great money, but it was a job which required me to travel a bit so I needed a reliable vehicle which was not going to break down. This was the point when I felt very grown up as I bought my first almost new car, a Peugeot 205, a car I had wanted for many years before and I took out on HP on it, and the car was only 6 years old. Then as my 3 years lease came up on that car, allowing me to pay of the outstanding balance or trade it in for a newer model, I chose to to do latter and this was the car I still had when Burton was a baby cause I remember checking new models at Elite Car Seats for his convertible car seat . It was not easy to get him out though, as being a hatchback I had to lift him in and out via the front door!
Sadly, though I lost that car to debt collectors after I had to declare myself bankrupt 4 years ago – still a little peeved abiout that, but c’est la vie.
So for the next few years I shared my partner’s car until last February I was given my own car again. This time it was a blue Citreon ZX which had belonged to my Na, which my Nanny and Mum decided I could have after his passing because I needed my own car again, with a school run in another village and the day to day things a busy mum of two requires a car for! My car still has a low mileage for its age, because despite being almost 20 years old it still has not done 100,00 miles on the clock! My Na really looked after that car, he had it serviced regularly and kept every single piece of paperwork he had on it. He even has books full showing all his workings out of how many miles to the gallon the car did after each trip to refuel it! When I took the car to have its MOT earlier this year, the mechanic could tell how well it had been looked after, even the spare tyre was released easily because Na would test it often!!
I know that the key to looking after a car is to have it serviced often by experts who know what they are doing, and have you and your car’s best interests at heart. Afterall, not many of us are as dedicated as my Na was with his cars!
collaborative post