Yes! My new car arrived

Hi,

You already know from my newsletter that my beloved 2001 VW Passat with 550,000 km on the clock was tired and called it a day.

During my last trip to Switzerland with my last bits and pieces of moving house and of course everything that had to go with me to Italy in it, it just stopped on the motorway only 22 km before our destination in Baar.

What a misery.

Then I also found out that the Swiss road assistance cannot fix an old car, or rather, they do not know what to do because they cannot "read" it! Can you understand that?

Then the ANWB, when they open their car, there is a garage on wheels. Here in Switzerland, a man in a car with a few drawers in it and a telephone has to call so that someone else can listen to the sound, hoping they might know what's wrong?

I nearly fell over in amazement.

Well to make the story short ~ conclusion: the car has to be towed to a VW garage, because something is broken. No shit Sherlock....

No sooner said than done. The tow rope is attached and then 😡 …!

"No madam your husband has to drive" because a woman ... can't do that ... no, no that should be done by a man ... this is not a woman's job!🤨

What century are these Swiss living in? My husband has never in his life driven more than straight ahead on the motorway ...

It took a while for it to sink in that I really would be the one driving and no one else. "BEWILDERMENT"

We "miraculously", arrived at the garage fine. There a taxi was called which never showed up, but of course in the meantime the road assistance was long gone.

Well then, as a woman, I called another taxi myself 😉 .

I can heartily recommend, make sure you don't have a breakdown with an old car in Switzerland.

The garage then rejected the car in consultation with the ANWB. I have to admit I had to swallow a little bit. My faithful friend, after so many years of loyal service, off to the scrapyard 😢.

Anyway, eventually I was on my way back to the Netherlands with a rental car. And on the way I took the plunge and visited a garage where I’d seen a VW EOS convertible advertised. I immediately fell in love with it 😍.

So beautiful!

Grey-blue with black upholstery and panoramic roof. The hood with the panoramic roof opens up completely. I am already looking forward to the spring.

I negotiated hard and bought the car, with the reservation that it would get a new TUV inspection, it would have a europe-wide warranty because of my planned trip to Italy and they would deliver it to an import company.

So far so good.

Then off to the Netherlands, where I no longer had a home! Thinking that my car would arrive quickly and that the inspection would take about a week, I phoned my sister to stay with her for a week or so.

“Unfortunately” I can tell you that the TUV inspection is thorough, there were a few small things that the garage had to fix first. One more time for checking and then yes ... approved. Hooray! Delivery date set, the time has finally come.

Unfortunately, despite the inspection and the import firm, the importing still takes ten to fourteen days. What a hassle. I can tell you that our patience has been seriously tested and my stay turned from 7-10 days into more than three weeks.

All in all, I now have a beautiful car that will hopefully take me everywhere on my long journey through Italy without any problems. I am already looking forward to telling you about my adventures regularly in the coming months.