Writing for life

Living in the country has many benefits – but options when it comes to transport isn’t among them. No matter how much we’re urged to leave the car at home, or how much we might wish to, most of the time living in the country means getting behind the wheel to get anywhere.

With our car consigned to a French scrap-yard getting a replacement was top of the priority list. In the meantime we were prevailing on the hospitality of our local mechanic, who had kindly lent us a courtesy car.

It was a 1998 Toyota Corolla, in a particularly unlovely shade of metallic lilac. Despite the unsavoury hue I have to admit that the Toyota was a great little run-about, but with the five of us aboard it was a little cramped. We were going to need something bigger. Our old Mitsubishi Space Wagon had served us well over the years – carrying all of us, our belongings and up to two guests in relative comfort. We were going to need the versatility of a seven seater again – and that meant our choices when it came to a new vehicle were severely curtailed.

When I say new of course, I mean second hand. We’ve never bought a new car, and given how quickly they depreciate I’m amazed that anyone else does. In general you get much more car for your money when you buy second hand.

We hadn’t planned to change the car for another year or so, but now that our hand had been forced I was actually looking forward to the change. We began our deliberations with the Echo Free Ads – a wonderful local resource that can be very effective. This time, however, it only served to illustrate the challenge we faced trying to find a people carrier within our budget that was in good condition.

Next we tried local dealers, but everything they had was too new, and ridiculously overpriced. Time to go online.

A quick internet search on “used cars” turned up a small selection of vehicles, but nothing that leapt out. It also threw up something unexpected. It was a press release from the Consumer Association of Ireland, and it basically advised Irish buyers that they could save thousands of Euro by buying a used car in the UK, even taking the extortionate 25%-30% VRT that the Irish government levy on vehicle imports into account.
 
Intrigued, I searched the UK vehicle web sites and, sure enough, the price differences were staggering. A quick call to my uncle in North Wales put him on the case, and before long we had a list of prospective vehicles to look at. A few days later we dropped the girls off at Nana and Granddads and got on a flight to Liverpool. Two days after that we were on the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin, the owners of a Ford Galaxy.
 
We haven’t had it long, but first impressions of the Galaxy are great. It’s incredibly roomy, remarkably versatile and is in immaculate condition inside and out. The girls were suitably impressed when we collected them. Then we told them they weren’t allowed to eat in it, at which point they unanimously wished they could have their old car back.

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