Under the English Weather

My wife and I have both been fighting an English cold. She had it first, then one goodnight kiss later, I was right there with her. The typical stuff: cough, aches, sore throat. Not fun. The benefit of the cold is that I am in the proper nasty mood to provide a recap of our progress with life in the UK.

I just realized this past week that over here 'moving home' doesn't mean going back to Chicago. When they say 'moving home' here, they simply mean moving to a new home or change of address. This is a relief since I simply felt the Brits knew too much about me since every website I logged on to asked me if I was moving home.

We still don't have a car. I don't even know why. The car guy claimed the Royal Mail packet of signed documents, credit card authorizations, etc. took 6 days to get to him. Uh huh. Royal Mail, by the way, is a shining star here. Most stuff is one day delivery to almost anywhere in the UK. He then was waiting for us to call and give him credit card details. I asked why he sent us a credit card authorization then. "Oh," he said, "right. There is one of those here, isn't there?" He then mumbled something unintelligble and the conversation soon ended. He was going to call last Friday and give an updated delivery date. But he didn't, which is good, because then I might expect that sort of response in the future and face further disappointment.

Our new bank, NatWest mostly came through. I have UK credit cards and debit cards with microchips in them. The missus, for some reason, only got the debit card and we had to re-convince NatWest she was my wife by filing out some more forms. This weekend we went Saturday afternoon into bustling Hereford to deposit a check in to the NatWest account so we could write checks or use the debit card. Unfortunately, it seems here the bank has to be open and you have to go inside to make a deposit. The ATMs allow cash withdrawel and topping up your pay-as-you-go phone but no deposit. I haven't talked to a bank teller in at least 15 years. I won't even know what to say.

Silver Surfer

So NatWest, our new favorite UK bank, came through. We have saving accounts, tax-free investment accounts, checkbooks, debit cards, online banking, and -- soon -- even credit cards. Does this mean we will start building the coveted UK credit?

The car people have asked for money now and we had to sign official looking papers. The grey Volvo was somehow no longer available so we had to take silver instead. Whatever, just get me a car! Rumor has it we might get it next week.

Can't You See This Is The Land of Confusion?

A smattering of updates on life in the UK...

We have officially ordered our Volvo V50. We even were able to pick a color from three choices (grey, gold, funky blue) and we went with the Titanium Grey Pearl. We HOPE to have delivery in about 2 weeks but I will believe it when the car is parked out front. We got a 1-year lease for 20,000 miles. We pay a bit extra for the "non-standard" means through which we were forced to go, but really not a bad deal. Rachel has forced me to take on as captain of the SS Lexus 430 and sail all over Hereford. I have been practicing driving with my right hand (I almost always drive with my left) so that my left hand will be ready for shifting the manual tranny.

In my ignorance, I didn't start thinking about car insurance until the 11th hour. I called the company in town that supplies our renter's insurance and they quoted us about triple what we expected. Long story made slightly shorter: I ended up finding a company that had no problem with our non-UK driver's license and gave us a good deal -- I actually found 3 companies that were OK. They have an interesting insurance service here called CallConnection. You call them and they figure out what companies will actually give you insurance and then they somehow transfer your calls all over the UK to different companies as you get quotes. Nice.

The next big step (once car is in hand) is we have to start working on getting first our UK provisional driver's licenses and then we have to take a couple of tests, including a driving test that lots of people fail multiple times. We have until April 18 next year to complete this. Training and testing are both apparently expensive. Amazon UK carries quite a few 'pass the test' books and software packages to help you pass. Big annoyance: the UK has reciprocal agreements with many countries through which you just trade your home country's license in for a new UK one. They won't do it with the USA, but they will with Canada, Japan, and Zimbabwe (for example). Huh?

Yet another company here floored us with its complete lack of customer service. Again we were told that this 'wasn't represenative' of how the company normally works -- and I am trying to believe them this time. This time it was NatWest, the 2nd bank we tried to get a joint account at. Here is how it went: We completed an app over the phone, received paperwork in mail two days later. We then went to local branch, stood in line, then supplied proof of ID and address to complete application. Couple days later our account advisor called and said all was in order and we should have our cards and such in about 3-4 days. Cool. Then, nothing shows up. I call NatWest and find that our account advisor has had some sort of 'crisis' and is away from work indefinitely. Her voice mail gives a new number to call (which had two digits swapped) for a guy that now works somewhere else. After a week of calling NatWest everyday I FINALLY got a call back from a branch manager. Our paperwork, he thinks, was locked in said missing person's desk and un-obtainable short of "jimmying the desk". This past weekend we were forced to go to the bank in person, again, and start the process over. The only saving grace was when we walked and said we had an appointment, the lady immediately responded, "Mr. Edwards?" Whew -- now we are getting somewhere! We walked out in 30 minutes with our account open and our account numbers in hand.

Rachel and I both have our National Insurance Numbers (NIN), now. I even have a very official looking card. These, by the way, allowed us to open Cash ISA accounts at NatWest -- I think these are basically the UK equivalent of tax-sheltered Roth IRA accounts. Don't tell Uncle Sam but my money will be hiding in there.

There, now you know more than the average customer service agent here.

Funny Lady

There is a website here that has excellent and realistic prices on lease cars. Unfortunately, they won't lease to us since we don't have UK licenses (and won't have for many months.) I use it as my baseline when the dealers I am forced to work with give me prices that I have no idea about.

Either way, the lots-of-nonsense with no-nonsense prices scheme works for me. Here is a snip from www.lingscars.com!

Bad Motor Scooter

First off, big thanks to the voters out there. The Volvo V50 was a clear and present winner of the 'Pick Kept Man A Car' poll.

You may recall I mentioned that some cars were more available than others for leasing. I spoke to 'my guy with the connections' today -- who just came back to civilization after some deal with BT caused him to lose Internet at his office for almost 2 weeks -- and all of our efforts to achieve some type of normal financing have ultimately failed. This was a surprise and disapointment since the latest attempt included Rachel's company as a co-signor; the underwriters didn't care since we're not citizens. This means forget about the Ford Focus, the Vauxhall Astra, the C30R, and also the Qashqai.

Of the cars that were discussed via the poll, the only two that we have any chance of getting through a very non-standard deal are the Volvo V50 and the Audi A3 SportBack. This deal gives us basically no control over miles per year, color, options, engine, etc. -- it's either take it or leave it. The good news is that the V50 is in high-demand -- but for one of the smaller engines -- which means the leasing company is offering the same price with an upgrade from the 1.6 diesel to the 2.0 diesel. Everyone except Mike Antoine can probably stop reading this paragraph right here: Performance-wise, this is a huge boost from 109 to 136 horsepower and from 240 to 320NM of torque and changes the 0-60MPH time from 11.5 to 9.0 secs. The downside, to reiterate that we get no control over options, is that it is a standard SE (not a bad package though) with no Bluetooth. I think I can add a roof rack, though, aftermarket.

I am working on securing a reasonable quote for insurance before we seal the deal on the Volvo. What I have been told so far is insurance companies in the UK don't like to insure lease cars, non-citizens, people without UK licenses, and people who have been in the UK less than one year. The quotes I've gotten so far were a bit ugly but the agent is going to keep looking... here we go again.

Dig Deep

Last chance! Vote for a car...

Vote For Pedro

If you vote for a car, Boo offer's her protection...

Thanks bloggites for the extra votes on the car poll. I know there are still a few of you that can't decide which car to vote for. No worries, take a couple more days to think about it and then just click that button. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, read the car blog below and vote in the top right corner.

In the words of Rob Schneider, "You can do it!"

Seeing What Condition My Condition Was In

Americans. Democrats. Republicans. Perot-ians. Obamists. All of you, listen, don't forget to vote. And you know I mean it. I'm not talking politics here - I'm talking about my new ride. Six measly votes on the car poll? C'mon folks. Kept Man has completely lost his decision making ability and needs your help. Don't let me down.

Break My Chains

Kept Man needs a car and more reasons to refer to himself in the third person. Right, Bob Dole? Right, Kept Man.

Here are the wants:

1. Bluetooth Communication: Ok, this one is a must! My mobile phone and portable navigation need this so I can use them hands-free in the car. They are stricter on using phones in the car here. When you see the web of roads here, you will understand why navigation is needed. I'd opt for built-in navigation but just like the US, its too expensive here.
   
2. Two Bike Capacity: We have great outdoor space right outside our backdoor and some even better places not far away. I've got the bikes tuned up so the car needs to hold them. Ideally, a roof rack.
3. Kayak-able: I really want to dig in to kayaking. I went a few times around Chicago and on various vacations and want to do more. Some of the nearby coasts are supposed to be great for this; not to mention the River Wye right up the road. The car should be long enough and have a shape conducive to holding a kayak.
   
4. But Not Too Big: Herefordshire has narrow roads and short parking spaces. Too big and the car won't fit. Yes, I know this conflicts with the kayak requirement. It's my blog.
   
5. Ooompf: A very typical engine here would be less than 90 horsepower. This is quite timid by American standards, even for small cars. For comparison, my last car had 280HP. I am shooting for 120HP+. They don't use horsepower as a measurement much here, though. You will see the German unit Pferdestärke abbreviated as PS, and that means horse strength. 1 PS is roughly 0.98 horsepower; for most people we can just say they're equal.
   
6. Price point: Less than 300 pounds per month including VAT. VAT is like sales tax except more painful at 18% on top of everything. I think I get charged VAT for blogging. Please don't convert pounds to dollars... its not worth the pain.
   
7. Odds and Ends: A nice stereo would be a plus. I like tech stuff, so anything like keyless start, rain sensing wipers, reverse sensors, etc. is a nice bonus. Oh, and an automatic transmission would be nice (shift with my left hand???) but these are quite premium here.
   

With these rules in mind, I have some contenders, in current order of preference (and yes, I like wagons; they call them 'estates' here):

1. Ford Focus Estate: Fords here seem to have a great set of features at very good prices. With everything I want above, I think this is one of my best bets. Bluetooth is currently a free option and a 145HP engine is a reasonable upgrade. Roof rack is cheap. You can even get the fancy keyless ignition and voice recognition in these. Not common so leasing might be hard to do. Rachel sometimes thinks its ugly but I like it, just fine.
   
2. Volvo V50: I almost bought this car in the US. Similar to the Ford shape-wise, but with nicer trim and higher price tag. I love the interior on current Volvos; the design around the stereo controls is very cool. Very common lease car here, though, so may be able to get a better deal. This sentence is just filler so the pictures line up better.
3. Audi A3 Sportback 5-Door: I had an Audi A4 in the USA and loved it. Performance-wise, this might be the best on my list but I think its also a bit smaller (both a pro and con.) Options are expensive on these guys so Bluetooth and bike-hauling gear might be an issue. Target engine would be the 1.4 TFSI @ 120PS; next one up is too expensive. Fairly common lease car; getting a deal may be a possibility.
   
4. Nissan Qashqai: A new entry from Nissan that might be called the Rogue in the USA. These seem to have good standard options and a great look. The body style might be a problem for kayaks. Roof rack would need to be aftermarket and options are limited. Rachel likes it.
5. Volvo C30R: The sportiest of the bunch; I like the look. Very hip. If I could get one of the better engines, it would be a great performer, too. Its a two door hatchback, though, so not so convenient for having guests. Kayak may be an issue but its longer than it looks.
6. I added this one last minute as a tribute to the GM heritage of my family. Vauxhall is the GM-brand in the UK. I like many of their cars but there are sooo many options they are a bit hard to sort out. The Astra, for example, has around 15 trim levels and 3 body-styles, ranging from kid-haulers with no oompf at all to the super-sport 240HP Nurburgring Edition. This one, the Astra SXi Sport Hatch, is one of my favorites. It has a sporty look, a 115PS engine option, and a good price point. Minimal options included as standard, so might be hard to get Bluetooth and such.
   

Runners-Up: Ford C-Maxx, Ford Mondeo, Audi A4 Estate ($$$), Peugeot 308 SW(questionable style), Nissan Note (a serious bargain option)

You've seen the contenders, let's put it to a vote! See panel at right.