What a fuss, once home from the car dealers I started to recall the events that took place whilst we were ordering the car, the last thing on our minds was the up coming bank holidays, being more focused on the impending arrival of 3 guests ( dad , partner and her sister ) who all needed collecting from Alicante airport in 9 days time and our now 3 wheeled wagon as not going to cut it.
We explained to the nice young man our predicament and he , obviously not understanding completely said , yes and car any colour 3 months ! So I had another go this time using his desk calendar to show the 12 dec was our dead line, not wanting to collect on Friday the thirteenth . So after some searching of the computer a car was sourced in Seville it will be here on Wednesday the 11 dec. great how ever said the Spanish where slow ? German technology from the peoples car makers and Spanish friendliness seems to be a good mix.
Arr the money ! Not planning on buying a new car we were a little shy of the total , well about €5k short not a problem I'll pay what we can and have the rest sent from the UK , on the pad arranging the transfer whilst still sat in the dealers , free wifi sweet !
Then the whole place shuts down for 4 days, no banks no car showroom nada . On Tuesday morning the phone rang , your money it's not here ! That's right because some one unplugged Spain again from the world of international finance, ( out of re session who they trying to fool ) I can't register the car at trafico until it's paid for , fair point .
I'll go to the bank and get cash today? Agreed . So off we limp in our 3 wheeled wagon to the bank to see our regular cashier, by far the best dressed man in Spain must be suit wearer of the year ! After the usual pleasantries the lovely wife asked for €5k , no problem call in on Thursday ! No I need it now, sorry we don't have ? The lovely wife leaned over the counter a little and said softly " but your a bank ?" He got a wide grin as if we had just spotted some private joke and replied " I know "
So it was to be an electronic transfer overnight and a trip to the dealers to explain that the second biggest bank chain in Spain had no cash ! The economy is really looking up cash circulation is good :-/
That evening whilst telling the tail to the neighbours and bemoaning the fact that I was having to give my car away for scrap when for €200 it would be as good as new I got a surprise " I'll buy it " it turns out that our part time neighbour needed a car to go to work in the UK and will have it repaired and drive it back . So the deal was done he got a real bargain I got way more then I was expecting and the knowledge that she's still being loved.
Wednesday slipped by with no news , starting to twitch by Thursday lunch , as they shut at 1:30 . Then a call , they can't find your address the gistoria needs you to confirm it ??? It's on the padron , yes but not on the map ! That's because it's an illegal build ! So I sent a copy of the rental agreement by e mail and then we got our number plate at 4:40 so just 20 mins to sort the insurance even in the UK that could be a challenge . I called the office and wasted 5 mins explaining what we wanted and the lady remembered me ( not sure if that's good ? ) but she came through , at double the UK price , apparently Spain is a dangerous place to drive. It might be in Madrid but by the time you get passed Lorca the AV7 is a very quiet road .
When we went in to collect the car the sales man gave us the full tour of every switch , button and function he had obviously done this bit many times in English as he was quite good, and highly amusing using the language issue as a ice breaker, with such memorable lines as " is good ? No " after each description or whilst explaining the dash display " I turn to English , ok now I no understand but for you is good ? No "
If this is his regular patter he ought to be on TV we had all on not to laugh ! Mind you we were ready for some light hearted fun it had been a stressful day and yes the lovely wife was light up like our Christmas tree.
But that's for next time , after all the next day is Friday the thirteenth !