At 9am on 21 July we had dismissed the notion of buying a car at auction. Less than twenty five hours later we had, via a broker, bid on two cars, on consecutive days, and had successfully purchased one.
We then set about trying to be patient in waiting for delivery* and every now and then had to reassure ourselves about having given a not-inconsiderable sum of money to a random stranger off the internet who could have absconded with it for all we knew**. The tiny residual concerns we had on that score weren’t helped when the first delivery date was cancelled on the day, then all went quiet about a possible delivery the next day. Then on Monday 3 August it was confirmed that Eric(a) would be with us by the end of the day – and so (s)he was.
It’s a strange thing, buying a car you’ve never seen. In fact, neither of us had ever even driven an Expert. We did, however, have the benefit of having seen a condition report and high-level mechanical report (the good report in the latter was backed up by the delivery driver, who sang the car’s praises as he handed over the keys).
For the next fifteen minutes our attention was split, 50% in being polite and chatting to the delivery driver whilst he waited for a taxi and 50% trying to look at what we had bought. I soon spotted a few things that made me think that this car wasn’t entirely what I had expected…
That’s a bit of an unfair cliff-hanger on which to leave this instalment, but if you want a sneak preview of what’s coming, you can click ‘Play’ on the link below to watch this short (3-minute) video tour, made on Eric(a)’s maiden voyage to a local nature reserve.
(*In normal times we would have attended the auction ourselves, paid in full before we left and have arranged to pick up the car within 24 hours, but these are not normal times and we had to wait for the broker to arrange delivery. The auction house’s Covid-secure procedures include an appointment system for collecting cars, which has introduced its own delays.
**A bit melodramatic. Among other things I knew about the broker, I checked that he is registered with the FCA, which seemed a good indication.)
Wow! This is exciting. Your video was a masterpiece. I'm looking forward to further developments - very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt is exciting!
ReplyDeleteI decided before starting the editing of that video that it would be easier if I could do it on a laptop, rather than my phone. My laptop is too dated to run the software, so I borrowed Mick's, uploaded all the footage and spent an hour pulling my hair out unable to locate the controls I needed within the software. I finally reverted to using my phone and would have liked to have polished a couple of areas better (not that any video I produce will ever really qualify to use the description 'polished'!), but by then it was late and bed was calling.