Moving to Aargh 5 - Dacia Jokker

Did we mention there's a new car? Now we did. A Dacia Jokker hybrid. 

There are a few reasons for it, here is the first:

The red car now is almost 50 years old, and still quite perky and happy, but it's not too suited for moving a lot of stuff, or carrying two electric bikes. Cabrera is not really accessible by bike. So if you want to continue cycling you will need transportation. And a bike carrier on the tow bar.

We've done all our shopping and everything with the red car, but it is only really drivable by one of us. So, a new car for shared daily use, and the red car for flashy occasions.  

We have thought about an all-electric vehicle, but they are still bloody expensive, while a Jokker is actually quite affordable. 

We're very happy with it so far, it drives as well as the Merc.  And at 1:19.8 it's a bit more fuel economic.

Car lock locked

For more than 30 years I’ve had an anti-theft lock in my car ("AutoBlock"). An iron bar between steering wheel and brake, with a lock. Meticulously I applied it when parking the car, ALWAYS. Even for 5 minutes. Today it did not want to open any more, while at the shops. So there I was, fiddling a lock, in my car. No one looks, no one sees.

Anyway.

Called the insurance, and they sent a grua. He tried to call a colleague to bring a cutting machine, but it was a quarter to 2, so almuerzo. He then put my car on his lorry, and took me to a friend’s garage, that was still open despite it being 2:10, and him not picking up the phone. There he borrowed a machine and took the bloody lock off in 5 minutes.

Great service, Seguros Reale and Gruas Azor! Many thanks!

All done within an hour. I wonder if they’d have been so efficient in the Netherlands.

Now what to do.. Buy a new anti-theft device, or..?

New car!

Not really a new car of course. Hahaha, fooled you there, didn't I? But it feels that way a bit, because it now has a new Spanish white license plate. A white license plate feels a bit German to me still, but that is my problem.

A Spanish license plate is compulsory, you cannot drive a foreign car as a resident. Well, some British people can, but they can be heavily fined for that.

When you emigrate you can bring your car, and not pay import tax etc. But, in practise that does not work, as you need to matriculate your car within 30 days after arrival in Spain. But, you can only do that when you are a resident, which takes about two months. Perhaps I should write a letter of complaint? "Dear señors, with abhorrance..."

Insurance should be cheaper her than in The Netherlands. It isn't. And the insurance people are chaotic. Before you have your car in their computer with the proper type... In NL the premium was about €150, with 18 years no claim, and thus 75% reduction. Here its €355. Alright, gas is cheaper.

Though I now have to pay road tax again, about 100€ per year, to the local council. Here you can be exempted from road tax too for old cars, if your city council allows that. I'll tell you next year, this year I simply had to pay.

License plates are just stuck on to ones car with two-sided tape! No bolts and nuts with special anti-theft... Although my license plates are from 2000 (AD), and it wasn't easy to remove them, actually.

Indicator light

A light. My car's turn signal suddenly went nervously plink-plink-plink-plink instead of calmly tick-tock-tick-tock. And indeed: the left front turn signal wasn't working. With most cars, you open the hood, turn a cover a quarter turn, take out the bulb, and put in a new one. Not with mine.

First, a piece of bodywork has to be unscrewed. This piece of bodywork should actually be removed from between the bodywork and the bumper, but that's not possible. I can lower it a bit so it's inside the bumper. Then the headlight unit has to be unscrewed. So far, so good. But then the headlight unit has to be lowered a bit and removed with a special movement. First lower it, then tilt it forward a bit, and then "take it out." That doesn't work without a lot of cursing and a lot of wrestling and twisting. Now, this car is a piece of my heart, so twisting hurts.

First, I'd have to get a light bulb, on my bike because driving isn't allowed right now, right? I could see myself taking the headlight off first and then having no bulb. I could then reinstall the bulb, without a bulb, drive the car to the dealer for a bulb, drive back home, and then remove the "headlight unit" again. The manual said 12V/21W. Yes, they do exist. Odd brands, Chinese, but hey, it's cheap, 2 euros for two. The gas station had them too, from Osram. Okay, I'll take two of those too. And the headlamp too. They come in two versions: "regular" and "long life." I'll just take two spares of each. I

followed the procedure above, removed the bulb. And no, the old bulb doesn't have two filaments, nor two contact points on the bottom. Only one. So, the BAY15 type isn't the right one. Grmbl.

Back to the gas station. No, there aren't any others... And so I was still left with a disassembled headlight unit and no bulb.

But, the Poligono (business park) does have more car dealerships, and they're sure to still have old-fashioned bulbs. It was still a fifteen-minute wait, because it was a quarter to four, and still siesta time. But, the garage knew what to do: two doors down is an auto parts store, and they have them "on the shelf." And indeed. And, neat Philips. For a euro each. I immediately bought a box of four. Happy. At home,

I tested the old bulb with an ohmmeter: 0.08Ω. Hey, not ∞? Hm. The new bulbs are also 0.08Ω (...) (Argh!)

But, a new bulb works fine. Relief.

Reinstalling the headlight unit takes even longer than disassembling it, and involves a lot more cursing. Hopefully, I won't have to do that again for the next 25 years... This job took me a day. That's what happens with 42-year-old cars.  

Pack!

Last time we had this on the car is quite a long time ago. About 11 years, when we last moved house. This time it's about moving house and country. But, only for three months to start with.

I did not know we had that much essentials that we cannot do without for three months, but we do. Well, actually we planned a mini removal of a part of our household, like half of our books, summer clothes, garden furniture, tools, but decided against that in the end. Instead we'll bring the car, and pack that with the most essential essentials. And we still have more of those than we thought.

Tools, because we need to do.. things. Computers, to try out the internets.

I see someone has sneaked in an extra pair of sneakers.

Oh well.