Today I met the shadiest car dealer of my life. Not that I've had all that much experience with car dealers- I personally have never been to a dealership to look at cars that I might potentially be purchasing. But I've gone with other people. Well since we were looking at buying another car, G found a place in Peterborough which is about 45 minutes away. It seemed like they had a good number of cars of the type we were looking for. So we drove all the way out there, and G took a few hours off from work so we could go during the day and avoid the bad traffic on the A14. Little did we know we were going to a place that had only been open for 4 weeks...and basically takes cars in trade in addition to money for cars they have on the "lot." Well we looked at the car we'd driven out there to see, and discovered that it is way too big. I know that sounds weird- in the US I know exactly how big the cars are, even if I've never driven a particular model. But here they have all brands I've never heard of: Vauxhall, Opel, Alfa Romeo, Vorsa, Peugeot...and there are some Fords around. The car we thought we would buy was about the size of a Ford Taurus. You may laugh, but when the lanes are only 5 feet wide, in addition to the obstacles to swerve around, you realize that smaller is better here. :)
We took a Megane for a drive, and this thing not only didn't have a radio or one of the plastic trim pieces, it didn't shift right and the clutch was like lead. No on that one. We drove another one, but not very far, before I was whispering to G "Umm, this place is shady." The "office" was just typically shady. There was one super posh leather arm chair, and a corresponding massive mahogany desk. Which no one sat at- I think it was just for looks. The people had computers in random places in the office, and no one really knew much about the cars on the lot- they had to look them up in their book to see if they had any info. The owners and other sales guys knew we were American (thanks to the accent) and laughed/snickered at us and spoke in a middle eastern language to each other. Not a good sign. And the salesman we spoke with kept wanting to tell us his plan to get American girls drunk in Cancun so he could take advantage of them. Which of course we had to listen to during a test drive. Turns out he's a UK soldier. Go figure.
Despite the fact that we'd driven an hour out there we decided to bail and head back to Cambridge. And you know what? G found a guy at work who does a lot of his own car repair and that got him to investigating...how much is a new catalytic converter? 50 pounds. What about brakes and discs? 30 pounds per side. We'd already researched a product which you put into the car to seal head gasket leaks- 70 pounds.
The verdict is still out on whether we'll buy another car. But Megan will run fine after a rough start up, and if we're sure to put coolant and oil in whenever it needs it. In fact G reminded me he'd driven all the way down to the airport before with it and it was fine. She'll get us by at least until we can do the repairs this week. Also our MOT isn't due till October, which buys us some time. Stay tuned for the ongoing saga of K and G learn to repair brakes and replace a catalyic converter. :) Since G's friend hooked us up with a place to buy car parts we're going to give it a go.
We did hear back from the realtor, so in addition to the car crazyness we had to go down to the bank and get a banker's draft, which is a bit like a cashier's check. But hand written and very old school. :) Tomorrow we sign the lease, give them the check (or cheque as they spell it) and Saturday we can move in! Yay! We're excited to get our stuff out there and get Nelly and start settling in. Then the car repair can start. At least Megan can take 6 or 7 suitcases in one trip. :)
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