Have you ever been really excited about something, only to be disappointed very soon after? I have. It happened to me when I bought my first car. From the outside, the car looked immaculate. It couldn’t be faulted and it was in fantastic condition. It was an absolute steal for the price I was buying it for, and I felt smug at how good a purchase I was making.
But as it turned out, my Dad was right. He warned me that buying a second hand car meant I was buying someone else’s problems, but I had too much faith in humanity and didn’t think someone would sell something that was essentially a piece of junk. I was wrong.
As soon as Dad saw the car he said I had to find somewhere to get a roadworthy certificate near me, as apparently he didn’t trust the one that had come with the car and wanted a second opinion. This was annoying, but I thought I’d be able to get him off my back when he saw the proof that the car was fine – it looked perfect, after all.
Well, when the mechanic properly checked out the car, he was appalled. He was surprised that I even managed to drive the car to the garage because of the shape it was in. He said that my Dad had potentially saved my life by forcing me to have it looked at, and booked me in with an auto electrician. Around Underwood, evidently, the mechanics have somewhat higher standards than elsewhere.
He asked me if I wanted to spend the money fixing up the car, and I said yes. Even though it’s adding a couple of extra thousand dollars to the cost of the car, it’s still cheaper than buying another one. So he was put to work and I should have my car back within three weeks. Not the best start to my car ownership, but I guess it will have to do.