9. Only 10 Careful Owners????

Because of the distances we have to travel to do our monthly supermarket shop, buying a car was one of our priorities when we arrived. Now, for those of you that have read our previous posts, you will realise that the word "priorities" can have several meanings in Greece. It was a priority to us but not, it seemed, to anyone else.

We put the word out, to anyone who was interested in listening, that we were looking to buy a good second hand car (an unfortunate phrase as the word "good" in Greek has a thousand different interpretations when used by sellers). After a few days the offers started flooding in, and our expectations of buying anything approaching roadworthy, for the money we had available, disappeared as quickly as ice in the Sahara. A couple of examples of what were offered...........

2000 Seat Cordoba. 170,000 kms. Interior modified by Freddy Kruger. Paintwork in a weird blue/black camouflage design. More oil under the bonnet than in the engine. Tyres that indicated Michelins' profits in Greece are on a downward trend. And just to help convince you how much of a bargain this was, a detachable boot spoiler with a free roll of Duck tape!!!
Price. Only 4500 euros?????????

1990 (did they make them then?) Ford Sierra. No details as we didn't bother to even consider looking at this.
Price 1000 euros?????????

NO. The prices are not mistakes. Second hand vehicles are VERY, VERY expensive here!
We haven't got to the bottom of the reasons why yet. We suspect it has something to do with the fact that over the last couple of years the Greeks round here have discovered CREDIT. The banks are monopolising the commercial breaks on TV, offering all sorts of enticing interest rates, and the Greeks are falling hook, line and sinker for it. The preponderance of shiny new BMWs and 4wd monsters is mindblowing and we think that the necessary deposit is raised by fleecing anyone interested in buying their existing shed on wheels. But, fortunately for us, we did find a car being sold by another British expat, well looked after by him and the previous owner, at a price we were happy(?) with.

And then the problem of actually acquiring the vehicle began. Our seller was having problems with the purchase of his replacement car which delayed the sale, but our main problem was that, when it was available, good old Greek bureaucracy, in its' many headed form, stood firmly in our way. Again!!!!

continued.................