24th April Burnley and Back.

I seem to have settled into a rhythm of recieving work from regular customers and being lucky, or organised enough to find a job to get to the destination required.

For example, today I have to collect a sold car for one of my Aylesbury customers from Burnley.

So I looked for a few days after receiving this job on other portals to find something going that way. Or as close as possible.

One of the things about this job is the cost of public transport. Do it right. And trust me. It's not as simple as you think, you can save money. But taking a car the other way and getting paid for it helps. I hear, so many people who do this job. Say they have a price per mile and will not do anything for less.

If you are spending £50 for example on a train and get a job going that way instead. Even doing the job for half price. You're still better off.

I'm not saying do this too much. You're devaluing yourself. But occasionally it saves money.

Today I had taken, an ok paying job, from a storage and prep centre Nr Bicester. To Manchester. The money was ok and delivering a new car to a customer can be satisfying.

The only thing I got wrong, and Uber, you need to fix this. Is looking at Uber the night before. A taxi from Bicester Village station to the prep centre was showing a 7-8 minutes wait and £7.00

Don't believe it if you do this prior to arrival.

At the station. When I looked for an Uber. Nothing. One of those non Uber blackspots.

Only option was a local taxi and that time of the morning was going to be difficult. And as it turns out. Expensive.

I finally arrived at the ex airbase centre. They're all ex airbases. Where I was £18 worse off for a 8.2 mile drive.

This prep centre was a first for me. And probably last given the taxi situation.

Here I collected the brand new Nissan Juke. In a bright yellow colour.

It was collected quickly and I was even given fuel which was unusual.

And being Bicester it was a short distance to the M40 and heading to Birmingham. I know I shouldn't but I believe the time saved, is worth the money for the M6 toll. It's quiet, (apart from the service area which is always strangely busy)

Fast and without road works or speed cameras. For now.

Passing Birmingham and onwards on the M6 passing Stafford, Stoke, and Crewe and on to Manchester. I was looking for a place called Shaw. This is a place north east of Manchester between Oldham and Rochdale.

Quite close to the M62 so quickly found and arrived at the customers house.

She was a driving instructor and the car was for this purpose and she always buys cars of a standout colour. And this stood out.

Appraisal done and signed. The customer offered to take me to Rochdale station. She was actually dying to drive her new car. She was over the moon with it and was smiling from ear to ear.

This is one of the nicer parts of the job.

The train from Rochdale to Manchester Road station Burnley. Passes through some lovely countryside.

Rochdale to Burnley train views

Rochdale station

Arriving in plenty of time to be able to take the 35 minutes walk to the dealership to collect the car for the return journey.

Today's ride home was a silver Vauxhall Crossland. A 1.2 petrol automatic version

Pleasant enough to drive. And having driven a lot of these Vauxhalls . You get used to them. That's not a good thing as they really are not great cars.

Again I would say they are really good enough for the vast majority, ok, all of the people who buy them.

I find the seats uncomfortable. The handling borderline dangerous. And the ride crashy . The steering being the obvious today's electric powered type. Doesn't supply any kind of feel for the road you're on.

The engine is ok now. I say that as a frequent buyer of these cars in the past. I always had, still do. That special tool to measure the thickness of the cambelt to see if it was swollen. As if so. It's a new cambelt and kit to replace and around £700 added to the stand in value of the car. If you're lucky. If unlucky and they are in anyway de-laminated. Then oil ways are blocked and further engine damage is inevitable. Sometimes terminal.

So I always check when valuing these. Who's idea was a cambelt running in oil.

A full service history and trusting whoever did it used the right oil is crucial on cars with these engines.

So car collected, appraised and the three and a half hours drive home to Aylesbury begins.

Another good day finished