It is now some time since I told you about our cars and the world is going through a recession. In order to lend assistance to the motoring section of the British economy, the government has introduced a car ‘scrappage scheme’. Under the terms of this scheme any car which is ten years old can be traded in for a new vehicle, for a minimum value of £2,000. The traded in vehicle is then scrapped. The government provides £1,000 and the manufacturer/dealership contributes the remainder, with some manufacturers offering considerably more, in order to sell off vehicles which they had continued to produce even though orders were not forthcoming. These vehicles were being held in storage in the hope that the market would pick up.
As our red Passat was eligible to be scrapped under this scheme, being more than ten years old, I began to take an interest in manufacturers’ advertisements. It must be pointed out here that the British Governments scheme applied to vehicles not necessarily manufactured in Britain because this would help the car dealerships around the country, many of whom were in dire straits for want of trade. I first noticed that SEAT were offering £4,140 ‘scrappage’ against a particular Leon model, but as this did not particularly excite me, and more so, Susan, I moved on to the Volkswagen website, where I discovered an offer of £4,250 for any ‘scrappage’ vehicle against a new VW Passat. I asked Susan if she intended retiring from her job as a School Librarian in the near future or did she intend carrying on in this position which she loves so well. On being told that she was “too young to retire” I said “In that case we are going to have a little luxury!”
We visited the local Volkswagen dealership and looking like children with their noses pressed to a sweetshop window, we walked around among these incredibly shiny desirable cars. Soon an elegant young lady receptionist came to offer assistance. On being told of our interest in the deal for the Passat she called a smart young salesman, who introduced himself as Daniel. He showed us around an example of the Passat Highline and went off to arrange a test drive. He soon returned and, as the new vehicle would be Susan’s car, she took the wheel of a diesel version for a trial run around the local area, including a stretch of the A21 dual carriageway, where she was able to give the car its head. The performance and comfort impressed us greatly, Sue in the driver’s seat and me in the back. I told Daniel that the version we wanted was the 1.8TSI with the DSG automatic transmission. We chose Reflex Silver for the paintwork, which comes with a black leather interior.
On Friday, September 25th we took the red Passat to the dealership and came away in this beautiful silver Passat Highline, with its 1.8 litre TSI petrol engine and 7-speed DSG transmission, proudly wearing its 59 registration plate and showing just ‘4’ on the mileometer. We have never had a brand new car before and we still find it hard to believe!
