cars - freedom or financial ruin?
a combination of having a toddler plus distributed family mostly on the other side of the country, some well away from viable public transport means that my wife and I need a car. we have a little beauty of a 1995 nissan micra - one of the cheapest and most economical cars we could possibly have, great in the city, if a little twitchy and noisy on the motorway. It is also jade green with turquoise interior so no-one can accuse me of posing in it.
we are also looking after a 1999 left hand drive new beetle, which is considerably more stylish and, yes, you could concievably accuse me of posing in it. but first you would have to catch me driving it, which is hardly ever, because being left hand drive on uk roads is a pain (especially in the city), plus it is a bit thirsty, plus i’m paranoid about scratching it, cos it’s not mine.
so.. money. the beetle needs insuring because the owner now lives abroad and he can’t insure it, so i’ve been trying to get some quotes, including starting a fresh policy for one of the cars. I’ve wasted nearly a whole days holiday on it. you see although I have 7 years no claims I can only use it one policy - the quotes for either car without no-claims bonus are sky high, even the cheap and cheerful nissan micra - roughly 300% what they are with the no-claims. on top of this my current insurer won’t touch the beetle because it is left hand drive, so I would have to cancel a policy I only took out in June, and those thieving insurers don’t give you much money back on a cancelled policy..
so where am I going with this.. nowhere, i’m just moaning about how cars bleed you dry….