Betsy - yeah I know, naff isn't it but all our cars have been Betsy for years. Big Bets, Little Bets, Old Bets, New Bets etc etc..... I blame my wife......
Anyway, some of you will recall the ongoing automotive love triangle going on in the Backbridge household. A tale of three cars fighting for the affections of just two adults. The old Betsy a humble ford Mondeo estate, Little Bets the Ka and new Betsy a Vauxhall Signum.
Old Betsy was bought second hand 4 years ago. The year my biggest customer went bust owing me what was most of that year's income. Her predecessor was a Merc which had to go as a result of the financial pressure. Having had Mondeos before I was happy enough to run another.
She has given faultless service for 155 thousand miles. She has got me to Italy and back a dozen times, often crossing the Alps in winter, laden to the gunwhales as usual. A similar number of business trips to Germany have been completed without fuss and every summer she has phlegmatically dealt with the bike racks and kitchen sink levels of detritus which we apparently need when camping in the south of France. Most weekends she shrugs off the indignity of being laden with damp people and muddy mountain bikes as we continue our quest to find the gloopiest and steepest places to ride.
But, in the summer along came the new pretender, the Signum. A fresh faced youth in comparison with sports suspension and an addictively smooth revvy engine. Bucket seats and big alloys. A right poser by comparison.
After much deliberation I announced over the toast and thick cut this morning that it was time for Old Bets to go. A friend has been after her for some time and I only need to make the phone call.
A stunned silence sank over the breakfast table, a small voice quavered from my 8 year old's lips "Dad, you can't sell Betsy, you musn't" I looked to my wife for support, but in vain. "No, you can't....it's well....Bets" "She's our favourite" came the chorus.
- but it's time for her to go.....
- you won't get much, not worth it...
- still be enough to fund Christmas.....
- yes but what if one of the others breaks down......
- I prefer the petrol car now.....
- petrol might go back up....
- you haven't got a bike rack for the others and anyway you don't want to get the new one muddy...
- it just takes up room....
- you can't sell Betsy.........
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Logic, as well as emotion, could be on your side. You obviously need your car for business, and it sounds as if a day without a car is a day without income. So as long as you can afford the tax and insurance, and as long as neither Betsy starts costing more to repair than she is worth, then hang on to both.
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Damn right!
Ask for one of those home valeting kits, with everything from wax polish to dash cleaner to wheel polish etc etc etc.
GREAT excuse to get the hell out of the house on boxing day, when everyone else is arguing about whether to watch 'best of strictly come dancing' or the eastenders omnibus!
Come December 27th, Betsy will be gleaming like a new pin, you'll probably feel much better for the fresh air (or have pneumonia), and you won't be shelling out a fortune, in these difficult times, for some other bangernomics special which is bound to bite you on the buttocks in the long run.
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A heartwarming tale for Christmas,
here's Ebenezer Backbridge, counting his money by candlelight in the gloom and his poor downtrodden and long suffering wife and children, no doubt trying to warm their frost bitten fingers by that dim light, searching for a slice of bread to soak up the last of the gruel.
As if by magic, their calls for mercy for Betsy Scratchit have touched the very last vestage of Christmas spirit left in the man, truly a wondrous thing we have witnessed.
;)
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Or, gordon, humph is huddled in front of the fire with a copy of the Radio Times when suddenly there is a knock at the door ...
"Who could this be?" cries Mrs Backbridge.
"I'll go and see," says Humph.
Lo and behold, on the doorstep is a hoodie.
But not just ANY hoodie - this chap has a RED hoodie on, and a large white beard.
Ëxcuse me, bloke," he says. "My reindeer have been impounded by DEFRA, over a new foot-and-mouth scare, so I was hoping I could load all these PlayStations and Ipods into your car, and deliver them up and down the land, to deserving kids..."
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To which Ian, Ebenezer (stitchup) Backbridge replied...75p a mile Guv no problem..;)
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I was thinking more along the lines of "And that, your honour, explains WHY my client's car was loaded with expensive electronic equipment, for which he has no receipts, when the police stopped him while he was travelling along the road at 3am on December the 25th..."
:)
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>>And that your honour explains WHY my client's car was loaded with expensive electronic equipment
;-)
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>As long as neither Betsy starts costing more to repair than she is worth ..
I have never understood the logic of this equation - it ignores the cost of changing to another vehicle. Unless you are operating bangernomics, where the cost of each vehicle is written off immediately, what matters is the difference between maintaining the first vehicle and the cost of buying AND maintaining the next. All the equation really says is 'I would rather spend X on buying another, than spend X on fixing what I have'. Not the same thing IMHO.
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Andrew - the logic (although you don't have to agree with it) is that if an ausgeklappt Betsy needs one major repair she may then need others. And there comes a point where one's money would be best spent on something newer and hopefully more reliable.
That said, Humph sounds like a person who looks after his cars, and Betsy the Ford is probably good for many miles yet - provided she isn't drafted in by S. Claus to play the part of Rudolf.
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I suppose if it starts to take too much of a liking to oil or other fluids I could always send it to the "Betsy Ford" clinic..........
So sorry........
;-)
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Oh dear - clearly a signum that he's going kaka.....:)
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>If an ausgeklappt Betsy needs one major repair she may then need others ..
Ah yes, true. But so might the replacement car, unless it costs a good deal more - which is as I said before. It's just a case of the owner getting fed up with an increasing failure rate, not the same as a repair being more than the car is worth; except in metaphorical terms I suppose.
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I could undetstand their concern if you were thinking of selling the Signum ... but it's only a Mondeo, so get rid while someone still wants it!
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Wash your keyboard out VB at once ! We are talking about THE Betsy here......
Stitchup Backbridge indeed....... ( quite like that actually )
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 20/12/2008 at 19:11
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Sell her
The old cow is gonna let you down any moment, specially now she knows you wanna get rid
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It's quite sweet their attached to it! Have been to several vehicles, but also some to me are just machines.
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I bet its peeing oil stains over your drive as we speak
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It most certainly is not !!!
Just to be clear, I'm not emotionally attached to the thing, it's just a car.
Just going to pop out and chamois it down in case it gets too frosty.
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I have posted on here a couple of times about the stupidity of people considering buying replacement cars for perfectly good existing vehicles, during a time of economic depression....
You would therefore think that I would recommend Humph sells one of the two big cars, and pays down some debt. But given the state of the car market, how much would he really get for either car. Old Betsy is worth pretty well nil - say £500(?) and the Signum is probably two or three large. Not really worthwhile taking the sudden drop in value on that one and given that Humph does spend an awful lot of time in his car, having access to a readily accessible replacement, I wouldn't chance selling one of them.
Keep them, keep them warm and happy over Christmas, as stated above, give Old Betsy a thorough clean and bruch up and she will driving better than ever before new year.
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Sell it. Gain some space. The Mondeo will soon be forgotten how ever much good service it's given in the past. Nothing, apart from hitting something substantial, kills a car off faster than standing around doing nothing, waiting to be used. It's only a few bits of metal and plastic flying in close formation after all. Say goodbye now before you subject you and the car to the indignity of the first time it won't start, or the brakes seize, or any of the 101 other things that afflict a "spare" car. The curse of giving cars names ....[shakes head in despair]
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Hawkeye - You are absolutely correct, I agree with everything you say.
You can't see their faces though, I am being treated as if I have suggested shooting the family dog by my lot........
:-(
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There's the solution!
Shoot the family, then sell the car ;>)
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shooting the family dog
Now we're talking. Bit messy though. Just sell the car with free onboard pet included. Ditch two money drains in one go and assert yourself. Humph, I fear I might have reached the limits of acceptable life coaching here. ;-)
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Espada>>Old Betsy is worth pretty well nil - say £500(?) and the Signum is probably
>>two or three large. Not really worthwhile taking the sudden drop in value on that one
I think old betsy is actually worth £1,500 trade in - I was surprised how much when last I checked.
However, what I never understand is the concept of "taking the drop in value". He already has the drop in value, crystallising it makes, surely, no difference. Like those Lloyds TSB shares you bought at £12 8 years ago. They're now worth £1.10, like it or not - whether or not you sell them, you've lost £11 per share.
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if the wife loves the car sell it to her..........failing that sell the wife and throw in the car for free :-)
Edited by welshlad on 21/12/2008 at 13:05
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I have a feeling the fair maiden The Lady Backbridge may be compiling a secret list of unapproved persons here, of which HE and WL seem to be competing for 1st place...
EDIT, coming up fast on the ouside is BT.....
Edited by gordonbennet on 21/12/2008 at 13:10
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the voices made me do it.....honest!!!
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You were told not to take the colander off :-)
JH
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Well, thanks for all the seasonal suggestions. Some are just a bit too radical for practical use but at least we have explored many options......
Just put £46 worth of diesel in it and am putting the bike racks back on the roof for Christmas expeditions to muddy places so it has had a reprieve for now. Well, at least until after the holidays.
If, however, it so much as creaks, coughs or rattles out of turn it's for the chop.....
;-)
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Now you've really upset Betsy with that remark HB, and she will break down on you big time!
Don't you know cars have feelings?
Pat
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>>If, however, it so much as creaks, coughs or rattles out of turn it's for the chop.....
That's the Signum, right?
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Could always sell the Ka, s'pose,
04, 21k. one owner. Got to be a couple of bob left in it.......
;-)
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I am being treated as if I have suggested shooting the family dog ........>>
Quite right too. How could you do it? I hate getting rid of faithful old cars, and I bet you if you do your Signum will crack up to prove you wrong.
Wouldn't mind it if you posted the best route(s) for taking a Mondeo to Italy outside the summer. Mine is getting a bit restive, and I'm wondering what it would be like to, say, try Tuscany in March.
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By March fairly much any of the routes will be fine. If you don't mind a bit of a diversion and fancy a stunning drive, in short, head for Monaco and turn left along the coast.
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head for Monaco>>
Thanks, but that means the A7, which I like least of any road in the world!
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Alternatively, Salzburg - Villach - Udine - Venice - Bologna - Florence - Sienna perhaps ?
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Alternatively Salzburg - Villach - Udine - Venice - Bologna - Florence - Sienna perhaps
Lets organise a BR race
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Alternatively>>
That sounds more promising, thanks! - off now to consult the atlas. Anywhere to stay with a Mondeo-sized parking space in or near Siena?
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