At last, after 5 weeks (I counted them all) 5 weeks of having no motorised wheels and a day in hell car hunting, we finally bought a new car!!
We started the search at Car Giant has anyone been there before? My idea of hell! We arrived with the rain and the freezing cold. Elliott was fascinated by all the cars and wanted to go the opposite way. Craig and his dad were bossing me around. At this stage I wanted to scream at anyone and would have picked any old car! After a little while walking around, back and forth, just to make sure no perfect car would have magically appeared, we came to the conclusion that there wasn’t anything for us there.
We left for another garage and this is where we found our treasure, the perfect car: a Renault Grand Espace! Nothing very glamorous, but when you have 2 children and a dog the size of a pony, you can’t go to glamorous unfortunately. The problem is that we will have to wait for up to 4 weeks to get it!
We were just about to close the deal when the guy mentioned the wait… I almost broke down in tears repeating: “four weeks…” looking into space. The sales man, an angel in disguise, looked at me and said “would you like a courtesy car while you wait?” at this point I almost kissed him!! We found the perfect car and the perfect salesman! Then he introduced us to his courtesy car… an old banger named Rover…
For one split second I contemplated saying “erm, no thanks”. But who was I to turn this offer down? Wasn’t it a very sweet offer? And FOR GOD SAKES I was going to be independent again!! So we left with the banger and glad we got home intact. I still need some practice as the clutch and me don’t seem to get on really well, but I am sure that by the time we need to return the car, we will be very good friend and I will be delighted to kiss it good bye.
In the meantime, this is the start of new adventures baby!
Eye test
Big Energy Week
Congrats on the new wheels! Espaces are great – we can fit our three kids, the dog and the triple buggy in, and still have room for shopping. We just can’t afford to actually DO any shopping now we’ve bought it…
Thank you! It is such a great feeling… Isn’t funny, I don’t plan to go anywhere special this week apart from staying local, but just the thought of being able if I want to is great!
Glad to hear you enjoy your Espace! we can’t wait to have ours even though shopping will also be limited now…
The car question… I envy you for the family cars! Since all the bankers who lost their jobs had to sell their 2nd (and 3rd…) cars, lots of sporty cars swamped the market and pushed the prices down. The pregnancy came as a surprise to us, so when we bought our car, we have been your typical double-income-no-kids couple. No backseats needed at this point. And now we would just loose too much money selling it. I have no clue how we are going to make it to our summer holiday destinations. Maybe hubby can take the train?
But at least I will be looking very glamorous…
Did you want Rover?! Once it is tamed Rover is brilliant, you’ll see. Although I think Rover might retire by the time it leaves us…
Now I am trying to think of an alternative for you… How about flying and renting a car at destination? Is it a possibility? Where about are you going?
Look at you! You are fitting in so well, you are even advertising for a Rover. You sure you are French?
We are going to Ile de Re in July, and I booked an appointment at the garage to fix and Isofix thingy into the sport seats in the rear. It was hard to explain on the phone what I wanted (have been asked a million times ‘you are sure you want us to do that?’), and I am very certain to get some puzzled looks from the guys once I am there (especially because the car is so low, that I can only very unglamorously roll out of it in my current state), BUT in the end it will work. Will have to install a mirror for little L though, apparently you can only put the car seat in facing the back. She might get a bit bored.
Hey! we bought a Renault, but the guy insisted for us to have a Rover, it would have NEVER been my choice!
What sort of car have you got? Hope there is 4 doors or you might find it a little bit awkward to put the chair in and out… she’ll be like a little rock star though. You never introduce girls to luxury early enough! Don’t worry about the facing backward. They all have to at first and they just alway sleep in the car anyway. And the little mirror is great!