My Car

In recent posts, I’ve written a few things about my car. Good and also bad things about it. A couple of weeks ago, it got so cold that it killed my battery and I went and got a new one. It was then I decided it needed a service, so it can get fixed and ready for an MOT test back home.

By driving the car, there are quite a few funny noises that seem concerning, like a rattling noise (which is a sheet of metal underneath rattling against the exhaust pipes), the grinding sound of the brakes (not sure what that is, but the brakes work fine), the whining of the steering (it’s ran out of power steering fluid, and it’s also hard work to turn the steering wheel), and the trouble starting it up. Especially after a while of being idle in the cold, the engine struggles to kick in when being turned on. I have to press on the accelerator to get more power into it, if I don’t, it would just turn back off (much to the amusement of passengers and others nearby).

But as I took it into the service at the local VW centre, the mechanics had a look at it, and said it would cost at least 2,000 Euros to repair it. It needed a new steering system, it needed new wheels and brakes, it needed some welding, it needed a new axle and there was some rust. I knew my car was getting old and needed some tweaks, but I didn’t think this much work needed for it.

For the first time since I had my car three years ago, I decided it was time for a new one. I really don’t want to get rid of it, but it’s inevitable. So I started looking at buying a car out in Germany, it took a while to find, but I came across this really good car not far away from me and was close to buying it. However, if I did, the insurance back home would triple due to it being a left-hand drive car. I was disappointed about that, but nothing could be done about it.

I then started looking for rental cars, so I could get home in a more structurally sound car, but even that seemed impossible. Hertz won’t rent a car to anyone under 23. The prices on a lot of companies were rather high. It didn’t seem there was a company who would rent a car to go from Germany to Wales, so I was looking for companies with places here and also in Calais, and there was one company who didn’t have a station to Calais, either. And the ones who did, their offices close at 6 in the evening, which was about 2 hours before my sailing time. So I decided it would be much less hassle to drive my own car home. It will be easier to get rid of, but I have to be careful on the car itself, even though I’m more than sure it’ll get back home still intact.

But it’s a pity that my car is coming to the end of its driving life.