More Possible Delays

This is getting beyond a joke. This evening I had a call from the salesman at Nunns who’s been dealing with us and going the extra mile for me, Gerry.

It now seems that there’s no sign yet of the tax disc as – apparently – the Local Vehicle Licensing Office at Lincoln is building up a backlog of registrations/licensing and there’s no tax disc for my RX-8 yet.

Great! Let’s hope it’s there by Friday.

In the meantime, it just makes me think I won’t bother buying a new car again: too much like hard work!

Insurance

I hadn’t realised that Mazda offer seven days insurance cover for you – their “driveaway” scheme – when you buy a Mazda from one of their dealers:

“What’s more, most new and used private car purchasers benefit from seven days free insurance. So you can drive away from our dealerships safe in the knowledge that you’re covered. Conditions for this free cover may apply.

“All you need to do is call us on 0800 048 0962 for a no-obligation quotation.”

Now, it also turns out that Mazda’s policy offers what is called “RTI” cover which is:

“Mazda Return to Invoice (RTI)

“Mazda Return to Invoice will either pay you the difference between your Motor Insurance settlement figure and the outstanding Early Settlement Balance due to your Finance Company, or pay you the difference between the Net Invoice Price of your Insured Vehicle at the Start Date and your Motor Insurance Company’s settlement figure. Your claim will be settled based on whichever is the greater amount.”

And what’s more they were very competitive on their premium, coming in at the lower end of the quotes I’d received from price comparison websites and then – after haggling – knocking off 10% so as to come in second lowest. I will be going with Mazda for the insurance because of the RTI cover benefit.

N-N-N-N-Nineteenth

I had the delivery date confirmed to me today: the car is available for collection on Wednesday, 17th March but because that would mean me driving up to Grimsby and back the same midweek day to collect it, I’ve postponed collection until the 19th. D-8 days and counting!

In the meantime, however, I’d better get used to being pulled by the police with threats to impound the ST200 as for some reason it isn’t showing up in the MID as being insured even though it’s currently on the dealer’s insurance policy.

The Waiting Game

It’s all getting a tad frustrating: the ST200 is bravely soldiering on having now easily passed the 130,000 mile barrier but it’s now due a service and one of the front tyres is not too far off the wear bars.

Obviously anything I spend now won’t give me any real benefit as – hopefully – I’ll be collecting the R3 on 15 March.

Let’s hope so, eh? My sister’s new Seat was promised to her by her dealer in March a few years back and she didn’t actually get delivery until the end of June!

So in the meantime, I’ll just have to keep checking the oil and tyres and see if I can nurse it through the last couple of weeks. The cash is sitting there in my bank account waiting to be spent. I’m willing but it’s on a slow boat from China Japan!

Delivery Delayed

I went in to the dealer today and asked whether the delivery date I had been told – 1st March – was definitely happening as I was making my arrangements and managing my diary around that.

I was very disappointed to be told, after waiting for 20 minutes, that it was probably going to be delivered at least a fortnight later but even that isn’t guaranteed.

Now my present insurance runs out on the 9th March. The promised delivery date of 1 March obviously would have meant that I would not need to take out insurance on the ST200, but a later date means I will have to take out new insurance and then almost immediately cancel it which will mean I incur additional costs as the best insurance quotes for the RX-8 R3 and ST200 are from different insurers.

Similarly, I was going to obtain a refund for my road fund licence but again I will be out of pocket because of the delayed delivery.

When I placed the order on 22nd January, I was told that 1st March delivery was achievable and had relied on this date, even to the extent of booking a service on our other RX-8 bought from them recently for the same day.

I have now asked the dealer for their proposals for achieving the 1stMarch delivery date or alternatively covering the extra costs this delayed delivery will mean for me.

Mazda RX-8 40th Anniversary Limited Edition

As something of a prelude to what this blog will be showing, here’s some photos of my girlfriend’s ‘new’ car: a lovely, low-mileage (4,700) 2008/08 Mazda RX-8 40th Anniversary in Metropolitan Grey Mica.

I’d gone into the dealer to buy this car for myself, but ended up ordering a new RX-8 R3 for me and buying this one for my girlfriend to drive around in as well.

Ford Mondeo ST200

So, who or what is 2000RM?

Well, for now it’s a 1999 Ford Mondeo ST200 five door hatchback and not a bad car at all. I bought it at very short notice from my local Ford dealer when my well-thrashed Ford Scorpio 24VCosworth finally gave up the ghost (engine was fine, but the auto box was knackered and with 120,000 very hard miles down, I’m not surprised it went).

I’d just about bought a Volvo C70-T5 Coupe until my wife spotted that it was only two doors and had a beige interior: not good with two kids… This was after she’d ruled out a Jaguar XJR on the grounds that it was a “look at me” car.

My Scorpio was in the workshop with the dodgy box and the dealer lent me their ST200 – “it’s only a Mundane-oh”, I said – for a couple of days just to see how I got on. No complaints from my first wife, Amy was unruffled although she liked the colour and Jack was chuffed as it sounded like the baddies’ car from “Bullitt”.

So I bought it, slapped on the vanity plate and here we are.