Last week I had a week off to get a bit of sleep and relaxation in away from work … I also saw it as a good chance to get an overdue service and MoT in for the car.
Lesson number 1 – get things done in plenty of time.
Phoned the garage on Monday to book it in, earliest possible date was Friday. Fair enough … I’d be able to get it in on the morning and out and taxed on Friday afternoon.
Lesson number 2 – never take things for granted.
I’d made the fatal mistake of assuming because my Puma is pretty solidly reliable, there wouldn’t be much needing to be done outside of the exhaust needing fixing. WRONG ! Here’s the list :
70k service (expected)
Wiper blades (not expected – must have been sold rubbish ones 18 months ago)
Alternator belt – split (not expected, no funny red light signs)
Air con service (definitely not expected – was done 30 months ago)
Brakes replacement front (not expected but fair enough)
Exhaust (expected – it’s been noisy lately)
Power Steering pump (definitely not expected, although hindsight tells me I should have)
Lesson number 3 – Keep a reserve cash supply handy …
I was thinking about changing my car pretty soon but I think I’ll put that on hold in order to a) Pay off the credit card I used to pay for the repairs ! and b) Pay off a couple of other loans I have. It’s not quite that bad but it’ll take a couple of months to pay the £1150 repair bill and I want to get some mileage out of it.
Lesson number 4 – Never assume …
The most expensive my Puma has been before now was about £500 for an earlier service … It’s been far better and still is better than my last car, a Rover 420. That was terrible … The sheen of the Puma’s been dented now but it’s still the best option for me at the moment. The bodyshell has the flexibility I need, I don’t need the extra seats, it has the performance I like and it has excellent economy.