The secret? You get fond of the car. You still see it as that sleek brand-new model you drove away in at the beginning, even though you know it's not. It's maybe an old-ish car, but it's
your old-ish car. The longer you keep it, the fonder of it you get.
It's really quite upsetting me, thinking about scrapping it. But the time comes to anything that's been driven that far.
Last night I phoned a friend, whose husband had been keeping a wreck in their driveway waiting for the scrappage to be announced. I asked her to tell me about the new car. No new car, she said. The wreck doesn't qualify because it's not roadworthy. Despite the fact that they need a smaller runabout that they can insure for their student son, after the older student son wrote off the previous Honda Civic (and lost his licence, silly boy).
So I brought up the subject of her own car, one of these Volvo estates built like a tank. 15 years old and 145,000 miles, and a tail light with a Heath-Robinson repair. She's had that from new, too. She launched into exactly the same spiel about liking the car and not wanting to get rid of it. I said, now shut up a minute and listen to me. Two months ago I was singing exactly that tune too. But then I thought about it. If this scrappage deal was going on indefinitely then fine. Do it next year. Or even the year after. But it isn't. It'll stop in a few months. You can't keep that car forever, but nobody's going to give you £2,000 for it if you don't bite the bullet now.
I pointed out that she is a senior member of the medical profession (and has more money than God by the way) and just look what she's driving round in. She said she felt the old car gave her a bit of individuality, a quirk. (It's a Volvo estate, not a bloody Silver Spirit!) She still went on and on hesitating, but at least she promised to think about it.
It's a personal thing. Some people grow fond even of inanimate posessions, and don't want to move on even when common sense says it's the sensible thing to do. This car that's on order will only be the fourth one I've ever owned.
But if you're built so that you can leave your former pride and joy behind in the dealer's yard without a backward glane, then there's no much can be done about it.
Still, I look on the bright side. I had originally intended to downgrade so something sensible and economical. But I realised the only way I could be reconciled to giving up the Peugeot was by replacing it with something even nicer. So, Golf GTi MkVI is on the way!
Rolfe.
