Tag: car

The Great Car Hunt The Finale

Imagine the scene.
Its 10am on a Sunday morning.
There is a knock on your bedroom door.
“I’m getting dressed” You shout
“Hurry up! We’ve got somewhere to go” The person on the other side of the door says

Ok, thats more or less what happened this morning. We had another car to see.
Just before 11 o’clock, we pulled up outside the house in Downend.
A friendly neighbour came up to us and said that the owners had left, but he was to show us around the car.

First impressions. Not bad. Its a tidy car, clean, a sort of dark red in colour.
Its got an immobiliser, central locking, five doors.
The engine is clean, no signs of oil leaks. The car was parked in the owners back garden, and there wasn’t much room to get underneath it.

The left rear light has got a crack in it, and the bumper is scratched.
With a thumbs up from dad, we agree to buy it 😀

We leave our name, and phone number with the neighbour, and drive off.
Just got down the road, and we get a phone call saying that the owners will be back for 12noon. We turn around, and then with three cashpoint cards draw out £650.

We arrive back at the house, the owner appears, and we get to take it for a test drive.
Dad drove it, parked back outside the house, and the owner says that he has to go and pick his wife up. Off he goes…
Dad checks the car out more thoroughly, there is an oil leak coming from some where in the engine, but that is all.

When the owner gets back, we discover that it is actually his sons car.
An offer of £600 is made, it is accepted.
Money changes hands, documents get signed.
I’ve got myself a new car.

Dad drives it back home.
I haven’t yet driven it!
Ive insured it with Direct Line, for £970

Thats it, after something like 6/7 weeks of searching for a car, I’ve got one.

Woohoo!

The Great Car Hunt Part 4

Well, I worked Monday so i got Friday off, and so did dad. So we got up early, got the Trade It and searched for some cars.

There wasn’t many.

The only Saxo that was in my price range had already been sold, it was only eleven o’clock in the morning!

The other cars that we found were all answer phones, they must have been at work!

So me and dad jumped in the car and then drove along the A38, Gloucester Road, to, errm, Gloucester.

We stopped at several places on the way back, but most of the cars were too expensive, or they didn’t have anything that I was looking for.
Ok, I could go up a bit past £1000, but not too much, and only if it is something I definitely want.

In the evening, we went to see a car that was placed on the Trade Its website that morning.
The body work didn’t look that bad, it was black, there was a strange whine coming from the engine, possibly the alternator about to pack-in. There was also some water or oil in the boot, and the passenger door lock was broken.
It was un-taxed so for £700 pounds before adding tax it was a bit expensive. taxing it would of added an extra £100 or so.

Dads going off to look at cars while I’m at work, so there might be hope after all!

The Great Car Hunt Part 3

What a disappointing weekend.

Saturday I took the day off, so that we could go and look at cars all day.
In reality, we only found four or five cars in the paper, and on the Internet.
One of the cars that we saw in the paper was the one that we saw last week, the tatty P reg Clio. It said immaculate condition in the advert, and it wasn’t until we got the address that we realised it was the same car. Immaculate! HA!
Two of the cars had already been sold, and the others were answer phones, or they didn’t answer.

Sunday was/is no better!
We managed to get through to one of the adverts we saw on the Internet Saturday, and arranged to go and see the car.
We turned up, and we couldn’t get any one to answer the door. We tried phoning them, but it went straight to Orange answer phone.
So, while we were in Yate, we decided to try the other advert that we saw on the Internet.
Surprise! We managed to get through to him, and the address he gave us was the address that we had for the other car.
We told him we were outside. He hung up. Or the line went dead.
We saw both cars parked in the little car park next to his neighbour, and his neighbour confirmed that the cars belong to that house.

We believe that the two cars, and the other cars in that car park all belonged to him, because all of them wasn’t taxed, and all of the tyres was shiny black.
He was some sort of trader, and he had set up multiple phone numbers to point to the same phone so that he doesn’t get caught out.

Here are the links to the adverts in the Trade-It
www.trade-it.co.uk
www.trade-it.co.uk
I am now suspicious of any adverts coming from Yate now.

We have seen no other cars Sunday afternoon.

Will I ever get a car?

The Great Car Hunt Part 2

What a frustrating day!

We only looked at two cars! Two other cars had already been sold, and three others didn’t answer the phone.

Car one, a white N reg 1.2 petrol Renault Clio. It looked alright. The engine had a slight rattle, and the rear window wiper was missing. 5/10.

The second car was a M reg 1.5 Vauxhall Corsa diesel. The engine was in sound condition, and was clean and tidy inside and out. But it did have a spot of rust on the rear off-side door, and the milage was high, about 90,000 miles. 7/10, it would of been higher if it didn’t have the rust, and the milage was lower.

So, no car this week. I will have next Saturday off, and hope that we get to see more cars.

The Great Car Hunt Part 1

The hunt for my first car properly started off today with me and dad going around looking at three cars.

The first one was an M reg red Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 petrol. It wasn’t in that bad a condition, but the inside could of done with a clean, there was an oil leak from somewhere, and the exhaust rattled. 7/10 possible, if there is no other cars.

The next car we went to see was a P reg Renault Clio 1.9 diesel. The body work looked tatty, and had paint flaking off of the rear bumper, it had been painted. The engine needed some major work doing to it, for example, the radiator needs replacement, the sump was thick with oil, part of the frame underneath was bent. And to top that off you could see the wires in the spare tyre. Nope.

The third car, was a R reg red Renault Clio 1.2 petrol. The body work looked fine, the engine was in working order and clean. But what has put us off is the fact that it looks like it has been in an accident. The boot was a little crooked, with a gap between the rear right lights that you could put your fingers between, and no such gap on the other side. Also, the rear offside (left) wing was dented in above the wheel. 2/10. It would of been a 9/10 if it didn’t have the body work problems.

More tomorrow

Long over due update

Oh, um! No updates for a couple of weeks, naughty, naughty!

My instructor got his new car on the 27th March, and I was one of the first to drive it!
For me, that was one of the worst weeks, I know it was a new car, but that was no excuse.
A car is a car, and the rules of the road still apply no matter what car you drive.
Just to clarify, I was stalling, going up to junctions too fast, oh the mistakes I made!

-Time To Move On-
During that same week when I came home from work, dad told me that he had put me on his insurance, so that I can get some practice in a car without dual-control.
The insurance runs out in the last week of April, so it was only £65 to add me.
The papers to confirm it arrived on April the first (no jokes please!)

That same day I went out with dad and the L plates, and got in three hours of driving.
It was before I went to work, so I took my uniform, so that we didn’t have to go back home.
Left house about 10:15am, arrived at Asda about 1:00pm.

-The Next Driving Lesson-
I was much better!
I was use to the car, and only stalled a couple of times, I can’t remember why now – it was a week ago!
We also drove further along the Portway past Sylvan Way and turned off onto Bridge Valley Road (just before the suspension bridge). Its a really sharp turn, and quite a steep hill.

-Since Then…-
Ive had a bit more practice driving dads car, so I should be much better tomorrow

Till then
See ya