2 years ago, my Discovery failed an MOT with some £2k of work needing doing on the body. With a resale value of £2.5k after doing the work, I opted not to throw my money away. My next car turned out to be a lemon and was scrapped. Following that, I had an old Rover for a while until the head gasket blew recently – a common fault on these cars, mainly because the engine is a bit crap. For the few weeks after that I had some rental cars (new Mondeo saloon – very nice indeed; a brand new Corsa – not bad, but too small for me; ML320 – nice but waay out of my reach) while I desperately looked for a new car. I had a recommendation to go and visit a garage in Risca so off I went.

Stuart, of Trustworthy Motors in Risca didn’t have anything in my price range out front and since it was a Sunday the office was deserted. Nevertheless, you don’t often get a used car salesman with such a glowing recommendation so I grabbed his phone number and left a message. Stuart called me back and we had a chat. He took the details of what I needed, my budget and so on and I was left with a feeling of confidence that he could find me something decent, even though my budget was fairly tight. Then at the end I had the big surprise – since I was a friend-of-a-friend he offered to lend me a car for a few weeks so that he could have a chance to find something and it would at least get me on the road. Once I’d picked myself up off the floor I gratefully accepted and a few days later picked up a Renault Scenic. With that taking a weight off my mind and wallet, life settled back into a routine again.

A week or two later I had a phone call – he’d found me something. An R reg VW Golf Estate, 1.9 diesel (no turbo). Initially unenthusiastic, it was a little over budget but I popped over to see it. Immediately I saw it, I felt better – a 4 door, small family-sized estate, loads of room in the boot. It even had a dog guard and a boot protector. My fears over a lack of turbo were put aside as I drove it and after chatting over the price, we shook hands – with a payment plan that suited me perfectly as well.

Of course, I’ve already told the story of what happened next, not two weeks into the ownership of my new Golf. The good news is that the rumble was just a balancing problem and I’m back on the road with a fully working Golf. It needs a little TLC for the bodywork and a new wheel, but other than that, it’s back to normal. The drive is lovely – it’s such an effortless drive to Aberystwyth, there’s more room in the boot than almost any other car I’ve had and all in all, it’s a cracking little car. My experience with Stuart has boosted my confidence in used car salesmen tremendously and I can’t speak highly enough of him.

Makes a change, doesn’t it?