The £20 courtesy car

A VW Polo 1.2 Match (with a new Scirocco)

Nothing much to write about, but, as a courtesy car, it's very good.
I've has a Fiesta, a brand new one for about six months. it was not the new, new edgy design one but the Polo-esque one before. After six months, we were bored of it's dull personalty and tin can feel. So we exchanged it for a SportKa and never thought twice over one of the best decisions SL and I have ever made.
Where the Polo and the mk4 Fiesta do make a good point of being so accessible is when they're used as courtesy or hire cars. The Polo was instantly drivable, nothing flash but nothing difficult either.
You're in the automotive version of a Travelodge; nice to be there for a night, but only because you don't have to live there.
As with the Fiesta, the Polo's interior has a designed look about it. As in, all the buttons, switches and dials have been designed for that vehicle, not a scatter-gun, parts bin aproach. Yet both cabins are flawed because of it. They have the feel of everything, every item being designed with the same amount of time and quality. This should be good but as the total time to create both cars were the same as designing a thorough facelift, the end result is rather dull. The ashtray has the same level of interest as the steering wheel, as the interior light, as the electric window button. Bland, bland, bland.
Spending a couple of days in either the mk4 fiesta or the Polo, well it's fine, nothing to get use to, everything average and in a logical place, space is good too.
But if you where going to spend £9000 or either and have it for three years, no, you'll be wondering if getting the train would be better at stimulating your mind in the morning commute.

As well as the £20 Admiral charged me for celeb hitting in the Polo, I drove 34 miles and put in £4.20 of fuel. Really, it just wasn't worth the bother.
Having said that, had I not been offered a courtesy-mobil, then I would have really needed it for something.

One thing of note
On both dashboards on both superminis: back-lit LCD odometers and trip computers. I only drove the polo once in the dark but really, who's idea was it. The bright blue rectangles in the lower six-0-clock positions of the speedo and rev counter where ruining my night vision. The Fiesta was not as bad, with green glowing LCDs but instead of a physical fuel gauge, the mk4 had a tacky LCD fuel tank made of 5 black bars. Stangely, the new 2009 Polo has adopted this child-like display whilst the mk5 2008 Fiesta has returned to a real needle.

The VW cars are slowly dropping their trademark blue backlighting, shame because when used on a LCD or negative LCD, the blue glow really is good. VW are going for a white glow as on the mk6 Golf, which, I'm not convinced will do any favours when driving at night.

Thank you Admiral, for that....

....extra £20 fee.

It's my own fault.
When Audi Glasgow give you a courtesy car, they expect you to insure it.
Fine, I thought, done this before, odd though it is, with no charge or difference to the level of cover.
Normally, on the two occasions I've had to do this, the courtesy car has been in the same insurance group as my own vehicle, so as you and I would expect, no charge; one car on the road, as one car is off the road being repaired, serviced or whatever.
Not this time.
The courtesy car in question is not a larger-than-Kolo Audi A3 or VW Golf, no it's a 1.2 petrol powered VW Polo. Two whole insurance groups lower than my 1.4TDI A2 SE. The Polo doesn't even have remote central locking.
When I finally drove home, through the rush hour M8 traffic, I really found myself wondering why I have to pay £20 extra for just 3 days in the little VW.
I phone up Admiral, and a nice person in an overseas call centre answered.
"The £20 is for up to a week, it's standard extra charge because if you crash, we would have to pay the full market value of the car."
So, I thought, would you not with my car?
"No, because you do not own the courtesy car, we would have to pay out full amount. Your car it would be different, it's a standard charge to cover this."
He also added
"It covers you also, say you hit a famous person in the courtesy car."
So, when I get my car back, my own car, on Friday the 13th, Celebs in Glasgow better watch out, because I'm not worth much and it would seem, I'm not insured if I hit the famous.
Tomorrow and Thursday however, Celebs, you're fair game!

Hmm, so, £20 down and worms everywhere, can cut open....

....when they say fully comp, they mean, not that fully. A kind of nearly fully.

The cost of driving.....

......Insurance, MOT & Tax.

Oh dear, the start of November was looking like a costly month. However, it was not as bad as it could have been.
Nine months ago, on the Audi channel on Sky, Audi UK were advertising a free MOT to any Audi driver. All you had to do was to print off a receipt from their website after enter your postcode, Reg. number and the date of the MOT. Then, Audi UK will book you in at the nearest Audi approved dealer or official main dealership. All for free. No catch, right, well, obviously they'll fail the car and cover there costs with something or other that has to be fixed.
As it turned out, Audi Glasgow and other Audi main dealers don't charge MOTs on older Audis anyway, but you live and learn these things. So on the 26th of October, Kolo the 8 year old A2 went in for it's test.
Failed.
Of course. But on the pettiest of things: loose indicator repeaters in both wings. Yes they were loose, I broke them, they do work however! So it should really be an advisory note, not a fail. However £32.68 to supply and fit (at a main dealer). Not bad, still cheaper than £45 for a MOT these days. Plus I was going to fix them, they could have shorted in the Glasgow rain, so, in a way, two stones. They also washed and polished Kolo, they didn't even mention it. Very good Glasgow Audi. From the huge disappointment of the last visit at AforAudi, main dealer service doesn't seem as costly or as frustrating as I've experienced before.
Insurance time, the costly side of Admiral Multicar. Instead of just facing one renewal, it's time to shop for two.
I've been on S L's insurance for too long to keep my No-Claims, when we had just one car. Then, 12 months ago, we bought a second car. Phoning up Admiral and explaining my situation with with 0 No-Claims, they Multicar'd me. I didn't care at the time as it was by far the cheapest insurance I could get. On paper, I'm not the best person to insure: a 27 year old male, inner city Glasgow address, a premium car make, 0 years N-C bonus.
The renewal cost this year for both cars: £807.03. Going on all these price comparison sites that advertise with ever increasing frequency and ever increasingly annoying gingles did not save me anything, one site: £985, for just me! I then went onto Admiral's own site: £734 for both cars and drivers. Phoned them up to ask why, after a 50 minute chat to a friendly Welsh woman, £704 with added 'Non Insured Driver Legal Cover' for both myself and S L, so if a NID hits me or S L, in either car, all occupants can claim compensation for injuries and loses, without affecting our N-Cs bonuses.
Bargain, as Paul Whitehouse would say, in his poor Welsh accent.

So, Saved £13 or so on the MOT and £103 on the insurance renewal. Plus Tax is only £35 on this low capacity, low CO2 Diesel.

Not the most well written post I've made but maybe with £116s worth of English grammar tuition, I might get better*.


(*because that's what I'll spend it on, hmm)