11 September (Part 3) - Profiteering from having fun
Beware propaganda!
On this day in 2018 I signed over £32,110 to a car dealer and with
considerable trepidation drove home in a vehicle with no gear box. No, not an
automatic, no gear box at all just 204 horsepower with a direct link to the wheels.
It left me pretty much broke but you can’t take it with you.
It took a bit of getting used to.
I was also very aware that at the moment one drives off a car dealer’s forecourt
several thousand pounds are tipped down the drain.
Today
seven and a half thousand miles later and in a moment of of idle curiosity I put my details into webuyanycar.com.
This was the result. The most expensive second hand model like mine that I have seen was £42,995.
Total madness but that is what was being asked.
The reason is supply and demand. You can’t get an electric car on demand
anywhere, the best you might do, if you don’t pick up someone’s cancellation, is a
two to three month wait for a Tesla.
Meanwhile the government talks out of its backside while encouraging widespread adoption.
If I might rub the petrol heads nose in it a bit the last time I calculated fuel
costs it was 0.08 pence per mile and it still brings a smile to my face when I
see the driver of the car next to me at the lights has his cap on back to front,
windows down so that we can share the throbbing bass line, revving his
turbocharger and then I see him receding rapidly in the rear view mirror. (†)
By the middle of next year it will be different, most of the big manufacturers
will have electric vehicles on sale and the value of mine will likely plummet.
Ford and Toyota are the only big names with their heads in the sand. When we
eventually see Fords they will be little more than rebadged Volkswagens.
† The reason is that an electric motor delivers its full output from the off, no gears
necessary to optimise the power output. It just goes smoothly from a standstill.