The Search is Over.

Finally, after weeks of Himself trawling the Internet car sites, doing the rounds of local garages and car showroom sites, referring to the '`Used Car' bible, looking up specifications etc, etc, etc, he narrowed the search to the cars he approved of. Then the search was on for specific cars with me in tow to approve or disapprove.

On route we found a candidate not on the hit list that I found comfortable and easy to get in and out of. It was a very economical dual fuel car and priced reasonable for the manufacture year. The very nice sales man actually talked us out of going for it. His reasoning made sense so that idea was binned My ideal small very economical idea of a car was fading fast as Himself was sneakily nudging up my budget ceiling.

Knowing how uncomfortable I've been finding getting in and out of the drivers seat with a 'duff' knee I finally 'fessed up to himself while talking to the very nice sales Man. Himself had decided he wanted an up to date model of the Astra. The very nice sales Man suggested looking at a Vectra, larger roomier but just as economical to run.

So back to the Internet, then yesterday armed with list of cars to view we set off once more. The cars on the Internet sites are not always to be found in a local showrooms they could be in and of the companies showrooms around the country. Two rejected cars later we tried one forecourt with a promising candidate. The sales people were inundated with business so we sneakily decided to go back to the car and phone them to see if the car we were interested in was here locally or in some remote forecourt in a distant city. The last one was in Glasgow! He promised to ring us back. So we headed off to Wisbech to view a promising candidate there.

The car here proved to be acceptable to Himself, right year registration, right price, (for him too expensive for me!) right model. He liked it, did I? He took it for a test drive, I stayed in the showroom with Nathan and sipped machine coffee.

As Estate versions of most of the models we were looking at are as rare as hens teeth now days this is a Hatchback but very roomy. Good for large suitcases for fetching people from airports! I got in the drivers seat but declined to go for a drive. I'll get use to it later. We did the deal, after haggling the price down a little more and scooted off home. So now we pick our new vehicle up on Monday evening after I've sorted Insurance for it. Just for a few short weeks we'll be a two car family once more as my poor old 'girl' is just too old and battered to bother trading in as part exchange. One dealer offered a measly £50 I felt aggrieved and insulted as I'm still very fond of her. She's carried me around faithfully now for 14 years and only stopped once when her battery needed replacing. I hope her replacement gives as good service.