Michael S. Clark

Interesting day, yesterday. Our car insurance was up for renewal, so Laura phoned up and got through to an Indian guy at a call centre. I was in another room, but had to come through when she said her name to him four times, and spelled it twice. Apparently he was recording my spouse’s name as Warren. She had difficulty understanding him when he asked about no claims protection and breakdown cover, so we didn’t get either. When she came off the phone, we sat for a few minutes and discussed the fact that I have 5 years no claims discount, and we should probably protect it, but since the car was only 3 years old, we didn’t need breakdown cover.
Cost so far, ~£260.
So I phoned back to get no claims protection. and got a very nice northern English woman who was very helpful. She stated that it was lucky was phoned then as no claims protection cannot be added to an existing policy. We said fine, and she said that’ll be ~£40. Cool.
£300.
Good. So that’s that done then. We usually go up to the council recycling place of a Sunday. I put the stuff in the boot and the back seat of the car and we had lunch, planning to go out in the afternoon. The afternoon comes around. We head down, get in the car and … the car won’t start. Bastard. Try again. Nope still dead. It was turning but not offering as my Dad would say. So I called him up, being my automotive saviour in the past, but he was reluctant to touch it since the engine was a bit more complex than older cars, having an ECU and all. Bastard. Okay. With much trepidation we phoned the AA. Again I got a very nice woman who said that she could send out a guy to come and fix the car, but only if we took out a years membership. Well I was pretty stuck, since I had to get to work today, so I said fair enough. Now the first membership option which offers Home Start is Option 300, cost ~£150 for a joint membership. The call out charge is ~£40. Double bastard.
£500.
Now I have to give the AA guy credit, he was at the car in about 15 minutes. Nice guy. He told me that because I moved the car forward a little bit to get into the boot (I usually park with the back of the car hard against the wall) and then turned it off and then later tried to start it again, it was flooded. Apparently, the way these new-fangled engines work since they don’t have a choke is when they detect that the engine is cold, to start they dump a whole load of fuel into it and ignite. Now the AA guy said that because I moved the car only a little bit, they engine was still cold, but none of the dumped fuel had been used. When I tried to start later, then, the engine was still cold so more fuel was dumped, as it was every subsequent time I tried to get the engine started. So what he did was go into the fuse box, remove the fuse for the fuel injection system and crank the engine a few times to clear the fuel, replace the fuse, and it started first time. Phew.
Now it’s due it’s service and MOT.
Bastard.