Well, as Angela said in the last post our poor old Smart car failed the MOT. We paid £144 to get it through but we were advised that the was an oil leak that would need investigating and that our tailpipe of the exhaust had corroded away as a result we may smell fumes inside the car.
I almost fell off the chair when the nice young lady in the Mercedes garage told me that a new one would cost £520. Probably what the car is worth if not more!
While I was waiting I began pondering about how long the car would keep going for before it all went wrong. It was the original version 1 Smart car and the engine had so far clocked up 69,500 miles. The salesman told me that it was like a ticking bomb as they normally needed an engine change after 48,000 miles. We think that the reason it had done so well was because the original owner we bought it from had it from new and was a vicar!
I decided to have a chat with Dan who was one of the salesman at the Mercedes Benz Truro garage about a trade in. As the car now had an MOT it was worth £500 and to cut a long story short I had asked him to get the Smart car sent down from their Exeter branch that sounded like a bargain (08 plate, 7000 miles on the clock and only £5,495). We saw it for the first time yesterday done the deal there and then, it was serviced and MOT’d full tank of fuel put in and we collected it today
After the handover we drove to Fowey for the rest of the day.
We have never had any dealings with Mercedes garages in the past but the service was second to none. From the moment you walk in to the showroom no matter who you were you were treated the same. Customer service to the highest standard.
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About Dean
Angela and I decided that there was more to life than working hard to keep up the payments on the mortgage, to pay the gas, electric, phone bills etc. etc.
SO............
In 2008 we sold our house, I initially took a year off (Unpaid) and Angela handed in her notice!
We bought a motorhome and set off for a year of travelling!
This was the best thing we had done in our lives (Apart from getting married) and we have no regrets.
During the year I managed to secure a redundancy package which felt very strange. Almost sad as I had worked for the same company for 19 years (BT).
It was always our plan to have a whole year off before thinking about the 'W' word.
We began applying to the Camping and Caravanning Club (CCC) for the position of Holiday site assistants in August 2009. After the interview, work experience and induction we were finally given a contract at the CCC site in Inverewe (Scotland).
Our plan is to work through the summer in the UK then head to Europe to overwinter before coming back to work the following summer season.
Hopefully these few words and our blog will inspire others to get off the hamsters wheel and see that there is more to live than having a house and material things.
A cliche I know but this is not a rehearsal, life is too short!!!
Since our first contract in Scotland we have worked a winter contract in Oxford (never again!) not Oxford but a winter contract. Hereford for two years, living in a yurt for one! And Cornwall. In between our working we have also travelled a bit.
Hopefully this website will give you an insight into our alternative lifestyle.
Get out there and live the dream!
