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Thursday, October 21, 2010

4x4

This week I have done something I thought I would never do, taken possession of a 4x4 car. The last few weeks have been eventful. I had my first ever car accident and it proved to be traumatic. I won't go into details but suffice to say that my car ended up as a write off, I lost my confidence and the kids had a very bad experience.

Matthew bounced back really quickly and once Lucy was reunited with her beloved Pooh bear she was fine too, Heather took a few days but is now OK and luckily no-one was injured. Having never made an insurance claim everything became a steep learning curve but on the whole the experience was a positive one as they guided me through the process and have helped me through it. After a week we found out that the car was a write off and I had the upsetting task of emptying our remaining possessions.

We also had to find an alternative car, I was given a hire car for a fortnight so had to try and get a new car within the week to prevent having to pay a fortune in hire fees and insurance. As Mr T had a great experience with BMW we went back to the garage there and looked at the X5, we also visited a 4x4 specialist who had lots of different SUV's so we could compare them but we settled on the X5 as it had seven seats allowing my three to travel with friends as well.

I think I probably recorded the slowest time in history for a test drive as at the time I was still struggling with the idea of getting behind the wheel, but Mr T had encouraged me to drive the day after the accident. Even so sitting in a car that was brand new was nerve-wracking. The sales lady was great and once we confirmed that we wanted to proceed with the purchase she managed to locate one in stock that could be delivered within the time limit. It had a few extras to what we needed but we went for it anyway.

Yesterday we picked up the new car, having dropped the hire car back to the company. The new car is great, high driving position, built in satnav and heated seats but best of all it gives me a feeling of safety. This is the most important thing for me as for the last two weeks I have felt very unsafe, it is not just that the car is big but it has a good engine and prevents you from rolling back. I also have a parking camera which takes a bit of getting used to be allows me to see around the car as well. All in all for my three kids useful in size and gadgets and comfort.

On a more positive note yesterday was parents evening and the children both got good reports. I was so relieved to find that Matthew has settled well into the reception class and is keen to learn and do new things. Heather seems to have made a great start to the year as well and seems a lot more confident in herself. Phew!