Betsy Has to go
It was inevitable, that this day would come, I have been burying my head in the sand, reluctant to accept that the car I helped purchase for my daughter nearly three years ago was a doozy. Betsy is a 2002 1.4 Polo CL black 3 doors, that's her spec but she’s never been right.
My daughter finally passed her driving test, she wasn’t sure what car she wanted Peugeot 206s were popular at the time in amongst her peers, saying that her friends actually currently own, a Golf, BMW, Yaris and a Polo. I had dreamt of a A class ownership I even have a replica A class I have kept since the launch of that car billed as ‘The affordable Mercedes’ ? Affordable if you wanted a very blank canvas with none of the standard Mercedes features. Nevertheless it still remained a dream of mine. So imagine how happy I was when it turned out My Daughter shared the same dream but never dare utter it ,fearing it was too expensive and way out of her bracket.
I agreed to match her savings and we would purchase a car together joint ownership. I at the time was driving a very reliable non descript Nissan Micra the older shape which I prefer. This bubble design of 2008 just reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons where Homer drives a bubble type car. Anyhow just can’t abide the new shape Nissan, (maybe I just don’t like change).
Well it turns out my daughter had been beavering away and had managed to save £2000 not bad for a student working part time hours so we set the budget at £3000 to allow for insurance which we expected to be high on account of she was a new driver.
The first A Class we found was being sold by a young mother it was red (ahhh instant like) she was quite convincing when asked why she was selling, until her boyfriend suddenly appeared on the defensive anyhow managed to get out of them the gearbox needed replacing. She
Betsy Has to go
It was inevitable, that this day would come, I have been burying my head in the sand, reluctant to accept that the car I helped purchase for my daughter nearly three years ago was a doozy. Betsy is a 2002 1.4 Polo CL black 3 doors, thats her spec but she’s never been right.
My daughter finally passed her driving test, she wasn’t sure what car she wanted Peugeot 206s were popular at the time in amongst her peers, saying that her friends actually currently own, a Golf, BMW, Yaris and a Polo. I had dreamt of a A class ownership I even have a replica A class I have kept since the launch of that car billed as ‘The affordable Mercedes’ ? Affordable if you wanted a very blank canvas with none of the standard Mercedes features. Nevertheless it still remained a dream of mine. So imagine how happy I was when it turned out My Daughter shared the same dream but never dare utter it ,fearing it was too expensive and way out of her bracket.
I agreed to match her savings and we would purchase a car together joint ownership. I at the time was driving a very reliable non descript Nissan Micra the older shape which I prefer. This bubble design of 2008 just reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons where Homer drives a bubble type car. Anyhow just can’t abide the new shape Nissan, (maybe I just don’t like change).
Well it turns out my daughter had been beavering away and had managed to save £2000 not bad for a student working part time hours so we set the budget at £3000 to allow for insurance which we expected to be high on account of she was a new driver.
The first A Class we found was being sold by a young mother it was red (ahhh instant like) she was quite convincing when asked why she was selling, until her boyfriend suddenly appeared on the defensive anyhow managed to get out of them the gearbox needed replacing. She refered me to a mechanic, who explained the extent of the job and the cost it would cost about £300 it was still coming in on budget. Fortunately I had a friend who could get Mercedes parts at cost, when I told him about it he was very optimistic, not actually confirming a price, hmm with £0.00 for part and £120 to fit this was looking doable, until my husband mentioned the perils of buying a car which you have to repair straight away. I was more of the consensus at least we knew what was wrong with it.
So the A Class was rejected by my daughter, this had rekindled my love for the A class my daughter just decided we couldn’t afford an A class I went on the buy an A class my daughter scanned Auto Trader religiously until she found Betsy, or Betsy found her, Betsy ticked all the boxes Black, three door, with cd player, local and within budget. £2500.
So she contacted ........ HARRY .....Yest that was really his name, we should have known alarm bells should have rang out. You don’t buy a used car from someone name Harry. Well anyhow we did, first error we visited the car at night, yes we took the customary test drive to the local petrol station, where quite honestly the fluorescent lighting did not help in tell us what we really needed to know.
I remember before we go there I said I would handle the negotiations and we would offer 2000 and say you had to collect the rest from me. I am not too sure what she heard. It was like the rabbit all again.
The Rabbit
It was the summer of ‘96 and our neighbour’s son Ben had a rabbit for sale, their house was like a mini zoo they had every animal under the sun, two dogs, a cat, an iguana frogs, (Thats another story) rabbit and hamsters and of course four children and two girlfriends who had moved in, they also had an uncle who slept on the sofa. I only visited once on the basis that I didn’t think I could squeeze in, it was a three bedroom terrace with a small box room. Anyhow he was selling this oversized rabbit with cage and hay for £8 thats a bargain, how could I say No, until I heard my daughters negotiations. I heard Ben say ‘Yeah my Mum says I can sell it for £8.00’ As he had his eye on some other super cool pet. To with disbelief I heard my daughter offer £9.00 why? where did that come from. He of course said £8.00 will do. When it came to buying it I of course gave him £9.00 well we was getting so much for our money and a deal is a deal, wouldn’t want to renegade on a deal.
So it was like the Rabbit all again, So we met Harry middle age smartly dress looks mediterranean with his olive complexion of course immediately he dropped in a few choice Jamaican words which is fine but I am not Jamaican. Alarm bells should have rang out when the back seat was wet as reported by my youngest daughter yes (probably not the best idea, do not bring small children when buying a car). He explained he had had it valted and the company had neglected to dry the seats, plausible, (that’s nice I thought) the interior light did not work, it looked clean enough it was showing 75,000 on the clock. I now know that the average life of a clutch is 70,000 so if you purchase a second hand car with over 70,000 on the clock if you don’t get receipt for a new clutch move on, no sriously do not buy walk away . Well we didn’t even the fact the cd player didn’t work we brought along a cd to try it out. My daughter was beside herself with excitement, so serious negotiations were pointless.
So we purchased Betsy for 2,300 that was it. Straight away it was apparent something wasn’t right, so once we attended to the important things went Halfords and purchased a cd player now when wherever we went we had the comfort of music, which involved over 20 cd’s which were already made up, actually called ‘Driving CD’ .
After a month we had to replace the front part of the exhaust system, this became apparent in the MOT which all cars over 3 years old have to go through. It is a good indication of the safety of a vehicle, although there are ways around it I guess. Always be weary of cars with long MOT’s I just think they are trying to give you false hope although the MOT covers major components it doesn’t give you any indication about the clutch condition, pistons, spark plugs, fuel pump.
MOT
It covers Lights, suspension, emissions etc., Choose the MOT station carefully, although it is relatively cheap, I can say I have used 3 different stations in the three years of owning Betsy and each time they have reported that a front light needed replacing I know I have paid twice to have this particular light replaced so either they were replacing it with a faulty light or they weren't replacing it at all. This year I intend to sell the car before the MOT is due. I will be using the Webyanycar.com site, I believe in Car Karma. Now I know what is wrong with Betsy I can not sell this car on to any unsuspecting person.
What is wrong with Betsy has always been the case she’s got a dodgy clutch which needs replacing. I was of the opinion that a clutch was used when selecting gears correct what I also is responsible for is the storing of energy in which the car relys on whilst driving. This was apparent when I was driving on the North Circular two weeks ago, I was travelling along at 50 MPH then there was a slight gradient difference in the road I slight incline, the speed suddenly dropped to about 25 mph, no amount of pressing on the accelerator made any difference, I quickly put on my hazard lights as I try to regain speed, of course I kept looking at the rear view mirror where everyone was travelling at the correct speed and gaining on me. Panic came to mind but there was no time. I quickly changed gears dropping to 2nd, 3rd accelerating then back into 4th now i was driving at about 40 MPH got back into 5th then i was back in line with everyone else. That was scary.
Thats why Betsy has to go!!!!
me to a mechanic, who explained the extent of the job and the cost it would cost about £300 it was still coming in on budget. Fortunately I had a friend who could get Mercedes parts at cost, when I told him about it he was very optimistic, not actually confirming a price, hmm with £0.00 for part and £120 to fit this was looking doable, until my husband mentioned the perils of buying a car which you have to repair straight away. I was more of the consensus at least we knew what was wrong with it.
So the A Class was rejected by my daughter, this had rekindled my love for the A class my daughter just decided we couldn’t afford an A class I went on the buy an A class my daughter scanned Auto Trader religiously until she found Betsy, or Betsy found her, Betsy ticked all the boxes Black, three door, with cd player, local and within budget. £2500.
So she contacted ........ HARRY .....Yes that was really his name, we should have known alarm bells should have rang out. You don’t buy a used car from someone name Harry. Well anyhow we did, first error we visited the car at night, yes we took the customary test drive to the local petrol station, where quite honestly the fluorescent lighting did not help in tell us what we really needed to know.
I remember before we go there I said I would handle the negotiations and we would offer 2000 and say you had to collect the rest from me. I am not too sure what she heard. It was like the rabbit all again.
The Rabbit
It was the summer of ‘96 and our neighbour’s son Ben had a rabbit for sale, their house was like a mini zoo they had every animal under the sun, two dogs, a cat, an iguana frogs, (That's another story) rabbit and hamsters and of course four children and two girlfriends who had moved in, they also had an uncle who slept on the sofa. I only visited once on the basis that I didn’t think I could squeeze in, it was a three bedroom terrace with a small box room. Anyhow he was selling this oversized rabbit with cage and hay for £8 thats a bargain, how could I say No, until I heard my daughters negotiations. I heard Ben say ‘Yeah my Mum says I can sell it for £8.00’ As he had his eye on some other super cool pet. To with disbelief I heard my daughter offer £9.00 why? where did that come from. He of course said £8.00 will do. When it came to buying it I of course gave him £9.00 well we was getting so much for our money and a deal is a deal, wouldn’t want to renegade on a deal.
So it was like the Rabbit all again, So we met Harry middle age smartly dress looks Mediterranean with his olive complexion of course immediately he dropped in a few choice Jamaican words which is fine but I am not Jamaican. Alarm bells should have rang out when the back seat was wet as reported by my youngest daughter yes (probably not the best idea, do not bring small children when buying a car). He explained he had had it valeted and the company had neglected to dry the seats, plausible, (that’s nice I thought) the interior light did not work, it looked clean enough it was showing 75,000 on the clock. I now know that the average life of a clutch is 70,000 so if you purchase a second hand car with over 70,000 on the clock if you don’t get receipt for a new clutch move on, no seriously do not buy walk away . Well we didn’t even the fact the cd player didn’t work we brought along a cd to try it out. My daughter was beside herself with excitement, so serious negotiations were pointless.
So we purchased Betsy for 2,300 that was it. Straight away it was apparent something wasn’t right, so once we attended to the important things went Halford's and purchased a cd player now when wherever we went we had the comfort of music, which involved over 20 cd’s which were already made up, actually called ‘Driving CD’ .
After a month we had to replace the front part of the exhaust system, this became apparent in the MOT which all cars over 3 years old have to go through. It is a good indication of the safety of a vehicle, although there are ways around it I guess. Always be weary of cars with long MOT’s I just think they are trying to give you false hope although the MOT covers major components it doesn’t give you any indication about the clutch condition, pistons, spark plugs, fuel pump.
MOT
It covers Lights, suspension, emissions etc., Choose the MOT station carefully, although it is relatively cheap, I can say I have used 3 different stations in the three years of owning Betsy and each time they have reported that a front light needed replacing I know I have paid twice to have this particular light replaced so either they were replacing it with a faulty light or they weren't replacing it at all. This year I intend to sell the car before the MOT is due. I will be using the Webyanycar.com site, I believe in Car Karma. Now I know what is wrong with Betsy I can not sell this car on to any unsuspecting person.
What is wrong with Betsy has always been the case she’s got a dodgy clutch which needs replacing. I was of the opinion that a clutch was used when selecting gears correct what I also is responsible for is the storing of energy in which the car relies on whilst driving. This was apparent when I was driving on the North Circular two weeks ago, I was travelling along at 50 MPH then there was a slight gradient difference in the road I slight incline, the speed suddenly dropped to about 25 mph, no amount of pressing on the accelerator made any difference, I quickly put on my hazard lights as I try to regain speed, of course I kept looking at the rear view mirror where everyone was travelling at the correct speed and gaining on me. Panic came to mind but there was no time. I quickly changed gears dropping to 2nd, 3rd accelerating then back into 4th now i was driving at about 40 MPH got back into 5th then i was back in line with everyone else. That was scary.
That's why Betsy has to go!!!!
