Our New 7 Seater Car

We had a Citroen C5 for a few years and it’s safe to say Ant was really not a fan of it. He Liked it for a few weeks when we first had it but then little things started to bug him. He didn’t like parking it because it was quite a long car and the bonnet sloped down which made it hard to see where the car ended. This meant the car got a few bumps and scrapes along the way!
Similarly, the back of the car had a big towbar sticking out and he always worried about going back too far and hitting whatever was behind him, with it.
He was eager to get a new car but we kept putting it off because it was just more stress having to advertise our car and find a new, well, second-hand car.

We have also been thinking about getting a radar detector after reading about them here: https://www.ratedradardetector.org/blog/best-radar-detector/ and thought it might be a good idea to help us keep on the right side of the law by making us aware of our speed.

I Liked It!

I didn’t mind because I always liked the car. The colour and shape of it looked nice and it was very comfy. This was a bonus once when it took us over 10 hours to get home from our holiday in Cumbria one year!

We had to go to Derbyshire first before going home to Lincoln and we seemed to hit every single traffic jam along the way.
I think we got out of the car just once in those 10 hours. I’ve never felt so stiff after a car journey in my life!

New Car – Vauxhall Zafira

Ant had always wanted a 7 seater so when we started looking properly for a new car, he knew straight away what he was looking for.

We started checking out Facebook selling sites and places like Autotrader.

Fairly quickly Ant found one for a great price on a local family run car sales website. It had everything he was looking for and wanted to go and buy it asap. He phoned to enquire when he could go and see it and was told it was with the mechanic and he would probably be able to see it in a couple of days.
On Friday he phoned again to see if he could go and view it and to see if he’d be able to drive it away the same day.

They arranged a time for him to go and see it but a short while later they phoned back to say that someone had put a deposit on the car through the website.
We didn’t realise this could be done. If we had, Ant would have done it as soon as he found it.

The man at the garage apologised profusely and even phoned the next day when another 7-seater had been sold to him. It was a diesel and we were looking for a petrol one, unfortunately. It was nice of him to think of us, though. Luckily for us, Ant had already found one at another garage and had been to collect it!

Part Exchange

We weren’t looking forward to putting our car up for sale and having to deal with buyers coming to look at it. People don’t turn up when they say they’re going to and don’t let you know. They try to lower the price to a silly amount. I hate haggling anyway as it always makes me feel uncomfortable!

Even though we would have probably got more money by selling it privately, we decided to part exchange it.
Part exchanging the car meant Ant didn’t have to have someone go with him to drive our Citreon back and the guy at the garage did all the work with the DVLA.
We got a letter in the post from them a few days later confirming Ant was longer the registered owner. It was so much easier and I’m glad we saved ourselves all the hassle of selling privately.

So Much Space!

KayCee and Ella absolutely love the new car! They’re going to the fair next week and have asked Ant to drive them and their friends so they don’t have to take the bus!

We like it because when the grandchildren come to visit, we won’t need to have someone else with a car coming with us on day trips. We can now have enough space to fit all the children, their backpacks, our car emergency kit and still have a seat to spare! 🙂

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