.June has been a fairly quiet month on the blog front, not because there hasn’t been plenty to write about, but rather that life has just been too hectic and stressful and there hasn’t been much time to indulge in writing.
At the very top of my June challenges list has been car trouble. Having bought my first car in about a decade, it has proved beyond doubt that company cars are worth their weight in benefit-in-kind tax.
At the end of May, I bought a 2007 Vauxhall Zafira 1.9CDTi SRi. Not exactly a dream car for me but practical, sensible and well suited to family life. No mid-life crisis sports car for me!
As an aside, if I ever get a tattoo, the word ‘sensible’, in some kind of script etched across some part of my physique, could be appropriate. Clearly ‘exciting’, ’adventurous’ or even ‘courageous’ would be more inspiring but ‘sensible’ is the adjective for me! If I ever have a headstone marking the place of my final interment, it will read “Here lies Adrian, he was sensible”.
Buying cars is a stressful experience and I’d rather face the prospect of colonic irrigation than do it again in the near future (both shitty you understand?). Concerns range from “am I paying too much”, “is this car what it purports to be”, “is this car in good order” and “can I trust the vendor” – the answers inevitably “yes”, “maybe”, “who knows?” and “no”.
Having trawled through Autotrader over a few weeks and trundled around various places to inspect various vehicles, been thoroughly disappointed that descriptions weren’t accurate, seeing overpriced vehicles and finding cars sold by their owners whilst I was still en-route to view; I finally decided on this Zafira and I bought it from a non-franchised dealer in Northampton. At least the purchase was close to home.
I thought hard about the car before I made the decision to buy it – I even made a list of good points and bad points (seriously, I even created a spreadsheet and I can’t tell you how unlike me that is!) and then weighed up my decision – good things included low mileage, full service history and all vehicle paperwork/handbooks/codes, HPI checked/cleared, better specification than I was looking for, a full size spare wheel, a tow bar already fitted, full MOT (no advisories) and a nice/clean interior. Bad things – some scuffs/minor damage on the bumpers, no road tax (immediate need to pay for that too) and underwhelming CO2 performance and therefore high road tax costs.
Erring on the positives, I duly haggled on the price and got a service and a warranty thrown in.
My dream of hassle free driving was erased within a week when the first problem manifested itself. The car was whining in sixth gear and the gearstick had this twitching habit; bearing in mind I’d paid for a warranty (thank God), I just decided it was in my best interests to get it investigated. The problem turned out to be a combination of a planet gear and the bearing on sixth and the gearbox was duly removed and sent away for repair.
Whilst the car was off the road, I thought that I might as well get the cam belt replaced. Then the repairer, that had taken the gearbox out, raised the issue of whether or not I wanted to replace the clutch and dual mass flywheel instead of putting the old items back in. Mr Sensible here thought about it and decided that the ‘sensible’ option would be to replace the clutch and dual mass (without attracting any additional labour charges) whilst reducing the likelihood that the car would have to come off the road again for a clutch in the years that I’d own it.
To be fair, I talked to my dad about the decision; he endorsed it and said he’d have done the same.
In this instance though, the problem with common sense is that it costs money! Whilst the gearbox repairs were covered by the warranty, the wear and tear issues were not and that meant forking out more of my hard earned dosh.
By that point – the price of the car, the cost of 12 months road tax, the cost (paid in one lump sum) for a year’s car insurance had already been funded – now another significant bill on top. I was quoted the rough cost for the cam belt kit and clutch components and said ‘yes’; the actual costs higher and then VAT was added on top (should have thought about that). Ouch!
Another downside of the work being carried out was that having had the car for a week, it then spent a fortnight off the road.
The evening I collected it from the repairer in Northampton, I was driving it home and ‘ping’ on comes the engine management light and the car switches into its ‘limp home’ mode. This mode means that the engine management unit restricts the engine’s revs and the car's speed in order to protect it. Believe me, driving a car in this state is hard work.
So the saga’s next chapter involved the car going back to Northampton for a diagnostic check to reveal that the diesel particulate filter (DPF) was the problem. The repairer of course being completely certain that this issue was completely unrelated to the work done over the previous fortnight.
Facing the prospect of being without the car for yet more time and feeling like I had the grifters’ ‘mark’ upon me, I decided to cut my losses and take the car to the Daventry Vauxhall dealer. Here the investigations proved that a rubber hose connected to the DPF filter was split – it was duly replaced and the filter force regenerated. A bargain at £150!
Could the rubber pipe have been split by the gearbox coming out and being put back in – who knows?
So – car purchased 25th May, finally running properly 21st June.
My out of pocket expenses are too depressing to admit to and I have a car that is worth less than I have now forked out on it. My desperate hope – that I have years of reliable motoring ahead.
Of course having been so frustrated, the fears playing at the back of my mind are that the cam belt might not have been changed and that the old clutch assembly could have been put back in and how the hell would I know anyway. Only time will banish these demons.
Still, I’ll always be relieved I bought a warranty and that it was worth the paper it was written on. I have to acknowledge that I could have left the cam belt for another 5,000-10,000 miles; I could have left the old clutch assembly in place too (assuming I didn’t). I’ll never know if my decisions to spend money now to save it later were correct.
Hopefully the challenges over the last month are just teething troubles and the tempestuous relationship I have with Zafira (for that is now her name) will become a loving one.
Having lived with Zafira properly for the last week, my observations are these:
· Her 12 volt socket doesn’t power up anything (and it’s not down to a blown fuse)
· Zafira drinks diesel faster than Mrs Baldwin guzzles Pinot Grigio
Zafira is like my ‘other woman’ , my new bit on the drive if you like - she has demanded attention, she has taken time away from my wife and family, she has spent my money with wild abandon, she has screwed me, she has promised much and so far delivered little.
Maybe my epitaph won’t be “sensible” after all; maybe it will include “gullible”, “too easy going” or “had the best intentions but….”.
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At the very top of my June challenges list has been car trouble. Having bought my first car in about a decade, it has proved beyond doubt that company cars are worth their weight in benefit-in-kind tax.
At the end of May, I bought a 2007 Vauxhall Zafira 1.9CDTi SRi. Not exactly a dream car for me but practical, sensible and well suited to family life. No mid-life crisis sports car for me!
As an aside, if I ever get a tattoo, the word ‘sensible’, in some kind of script etched across some part of my physique, could be appropriate. Clearly ‘exciting’, ’adventurous’ or even ‘courageous’ would be more inspiring but ‘sensible’ is the adjective for me! If I ever have a headstone marking the place of my final interment, it will read “Here lies Adrian, he was sensible”.
Buying cars is a stressful experience and I’d rather face the prospect of colonic irrigation than do it again in the near future (both shitty you understand?). Concerns range from “am I paying too much”, “is this car what it purports to be”, “is this car in good order” and “can I trust the vendor” – the answers inevitably “yes”, “maybe”, “who knows?” and “no”.
Having trawled through Autotrader over a few weeks and trundled around various places to inspect various vehicles, been thoroughly disappointed that descriptions weren’t accurate, seeing overpriced vehicles and finding cars sold by their owners whilst I was still en-route to view; I finally decided on this Zafira and I bought it from a non-franchised dealer in Northampton. At least the purchase was close to home.
I thought hard about the car before I made the decision to buy it – I even made a list of good points and bad points (seriously, I even created a spreadsheet and I can’t tell you how unlike me that is!) and then weighed up my decision – good things included low mileage, full service history and all vehicle paperwork/handbooks/codes, HPI checked/cleared, better specification than I was looking for, a full size spare wheel, a tow bar already fitted, full MOT (no advisories) and a nice/clean interior. Bad things – some scuffs/minor damage on the bumpers, no road tax (immediate need to pay for that too) and underwhelming CO2 performance and therefore high road tax costs.
Erring on the positives, I duly haggled on the price and got a service and a warranty thrown in.
My dream of hassle free driving was erased within a week when the first problem manifested itself. The car was whining in sixth gear and the gearstick had this twitching habit; bearing in mind I’d paid for a warranty (thank God), I just decided it was in my best interests to get it investigated. The problem turned out to be a combination of a planet gear and the bearing on sixth and the gearbox was duly removed and sent away for repair.
Whilst the car was off the road, I thought that I might as well get the cam belt replaced. Then the repairer, that had taken the gearbox out, raised the issue of whether or not I wanted to replace the clutch and dual mass flywheel instead of putting the old items back in. Mr Sensible here thought about it and decided that the ‘sensible’ option would be to replace the clutch and dual mass (without attracting any additional labour charges) whilst reducing the likelihood that the car would have to come off the road again for a clutch in the years that I’d own it.
To be fair, I talked to my dad about the decision; he endorsed it and said he’d have done the same.
In this instance though, the problem with common sense is that it costs money! Whilst the gearbox repairs were covered by the warranty, the wear and tear issues were not and that meant forking out more of my hard earned dosh.
By that point – the price of the car, the cost of 12 months road tax, the cost (paid in one lump sum) for a year’s car insurance had already been funded – now another significant bill on top. I was quoted the rough cost for the cam belt kit and clutch components and said ‘yes’; the actual costs higher and then VAT was added on top (should have thought about that). Ouch!
Another downside of the work being carried out was that having had the car for a week, it then spent a fortnight off the road.
The evening I collected it from the repairer in Northampton, I was driving it home and ‘ping’ on comes the engine management light and the car switches into its ‘limp home’ mode. This mode means that the engine management unit restricts the engine’s revs and the car's speed in order to protect it. Believe me, driving a car in this state is hard work.
So the saga’s next chapter involved the car going back to Northampton for a diagnostic check to reveal that the diesel particulate filter (DPF) was the problem. The repairer of course being completely certain that this issue was completely unrelated to the work done over the previous fortnight.
Facing the prospect of being without the car for yet more time and feeling like I had the grifters’ ‘mark’ upon me, I decided to cut my losses and take the car to the Daventry Vauxhall dealer. Here the investigations proved that a rubber hose connected to the DPF filter was split – it was duly replaced and the filter force regenerated. A bargain at £150!
Could the rubber pipe have been split by the gearbox coming out and being put back in – who knows?
So – car purchased 25th May, finally running properly 21st June.
My out of pocket expenses are too depressing to admit to and I have a car that is worth less than I have now forked out on it. My desperate hope – that I have years of reliable motoring ahead.
Of course having been so frustrated, the fears playing at the back of my mind are that the cam belt might not have been changed and that the old clutch assembly could have been put back in and how the hell would I know anyway. Only time will banish these demons.
Still, I’ll always be relieved I bought a warranty and that it was worth the paper it was written on. I have to acknowledge that I could have left the cam belt for another 5,000-10,000 miles; I could have left the old clutch assembly in place too (assuming I didn’t). I’ll never know if my decisions to spend money now to save it later were correct.
Hopefully the challenges over the last month are just teething troubles and the tempestuous relationship I have with Zafira (for that is now her name) will become a loving one.
Having lived with Zafira properly for the last week, my observations are these:
· Her 12 volt socket doesn’t power up anything (and it’s not down to a blown fuse)
· Zafira drinks diesel faster than Mrs Baldwin guzzles Pinot Grigio
Zafira is like my ‘other woman’ , my new bit on the drive if you like - she has demanded attention, she has taken time away from my wife and family, she has spent my money with wild abandon, she has screwed me, she has promised much and so far delivered little.
Maybe my epitaph won’t be “sensible” after all; maybe it will include “gullible”, “too easy going” or “had the best intentions but….”.
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