I was brought up in Dubai and lived there for 33 years. People generally have this idea that in Dubai money falls off the trees. It’s a different matter that you don’t get to see many trees in Dubai. Well the point is that my parents were pretty structured and organized with their finances and from a very young age I have seen my parents do things together. My Dad’s one passion was cars and though he earned well, I don’t ever remember him buying a new car. He used to change his car every two years and it always used to be a second hand one.
So now you can see that my background is one where I don’t hold much value to the car I own, other than it being an automobile which takes me from point A to point B. Back in Dubai, I had a Chrysler Neon first, then a Mazda 6 and finally the frugal me ended up with a Skoda Fabia. But here in London, for the first time, I got the chance to select a car from a huge list. You see my company provides me with a company car because I am field based and since I have a contract that specifies I work from home, I get paid for pretty much all the mileage accumulated due to business trips.
For my personal use, I have the fantastic Transport for London (for layman that means the tubes and buses). This worked out ideal for me as I did not have to put in a penny from my pocket towards gas.
Last week, I accepted a position that requires me to be based at office. So while I negotiated keeping the car which I already have, (office based staff do not get a car) I could not get my company to reimburse the gas expenses of to and fro daily trips to the office.
So what’s my point here? Last October, I was asked by the company to buy a car, they were tired of getting me leased vehicles. When I had lease vehicles, I was lucky enough to get a VW Golf and then a Vauxhall Astra. But when it came down to buying my own car, the company gave me such a huge selection that it was mind boggling. I took six months to decide on a car. And what did I do? I went ahead and selected the most expensive diesel guzzling car I could find (within the restraints of what's permitted at my level in the company), after all the company was paying for both the car and the diesel. Little did I know then that I would move on to a job that would require me to use the car extensively and that too at my own expense.
Now, here I am. Today I accepted delivery of a beautiful white Volvo S40 completely automatic. As I signed for the delivery, I just could not believe that here I am an insignificant middle-class woman driving such a beautiful car. But all that humility evaporated the moment I sat in the driver’s seat. Hell I will now have to chip in approx £10 towards gas every day.
So now you can see that my background is one where I don’t hold much value to the car I own, other than it being an automobile which takes me from point A to point B. Back in Dubai, I had a Chrysler Neon first, then a Mazda 6 and finally the frugal me ended up with a Skoda Fabia. But here in London, for the first time, I got the chance to select a car from a huge list. You see my company provides me with a company car because I am field based and since I have a contract that specifies I work from home, I get paid for pretty much all the mileage accumulated due to business trips.
For my personal use, I have the fantastic Transport for London (for layman that means the tubes and buses). This worked out ideal for me as I did not have to put in a penny from my pocket towards gas.
Last week, I accepted a position that requires me to be based at office. So while I negotiated keeping the car which I already have, (office based staff do not get a car) I could not get my company to reimburse the gas expenses of to and fro daily trips to the office.
So what’s my point here? Last October, I was asked by the company to buy a car, they were tired of getting me leased vehicles. When I had lease vehicles, I was lucky enough to get a VW Golf and then a Vauxhall Astra. But when it came down to buying my own car, the company gave me such a huge selection that it was mind boggling. I took six months to decide on a car. And what did I do? I went ahead and selected the most expensive diesel guzzling car I could find (within the restraints of what's permitted at my level in the company), after all the company was paying for both the car and the diesel. Little did I know then that I would move on to a job that would require me to use the car extensively and that too at my own expense.
Now, here I am. Today I accepted delivery of a beautiful white Volvo S40 completely automatic. As I signed for the delivery, I just could not believe that here I am an insignificant middle-class woman driving such a beautiful car. But all that humility evaporated the moment I sat in the driver’s seat. Hell I will now have to chip in approx £10 towards gas every day.
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