I picked up a lead for my 640i one day and it turned out to be quite a hard one to progress as he keeps hitting me with some low offers. We agree that he needs to see the car so he sends me some money to cover my fuel and I’m off to sunny Gatwick!

As I exit the motorway, I’m less than three miles away from my destination when the battery light comes on my dash, followed by the steering and active suspension warnings. Bugger! I’m 130 miles away from home, no tools and an expectant customer minutes away and I’ve got a fan belt that has shredded itself around all the pulleys.

I pull up at his business address and show the car off. Unfortunately, he too see’s my predicament and hit’s me with a very painful offer. He continues that he’ll get it repaired himself and that he’s doing me a favour as it saves me having to get it back home.

The trouble is it’s what I do. I fix cars, recover or deliver them, it’s what I do. So his offer saves me the convenience but at a financial cost, one which I’m not prepared to pay. I make my excuses and leave whilst I find a local garage on foot, I give him the keys as he drops me off at Gatwick station and I make my way back home, tail firmly between my legs.

I’m out of control of this situation. I’ve got a buyer who’s ready to take the shirt off my back and probably my trousers too and a garage that I’ve no idea how good they are or what standard they work too? As I’m on the train home I decide to join a breakdown company, just in case it all goes (even more) wrong.

Two days later I call the garage and he hasn’t even opened the bonnet he tells me. I decide this isn’t working so I catch a train down and take control of the situation. I get the key from the garage and call all the local parts suppliers, but no one has a belt in stock, so I call the breakdown company.

A few hours later the local agent turns up and condemns my engine. Another couple of hours later and it’s on the back of a lorry but going in the wrong direction. Turns out they don’t have enough drivers to take me home. They’re going to leave my car in their compound and give me the keys to their courtesy car. They then continue to tell me it’ll be about three days before I get my car back.

It’s at this stage I’d like to remind you that it’s just a broken fan belt.

Whilst I’m waiting for my car to be returned I get another call on the car, so I tell him what’s happened and the time scale involved. No problem he tells me, let me know when it’s ready he asks. The car arrives and by the time he’s loaded the Citroen and completed the paperwork I’ve got the fan assembly out, cut the old belt off and jet washed the engine bay. Minutes later I have the new belt on and the engines running sweet. I clear the faults, give it a quick road test and wash it. I even manage to polish out the new scratch on the wing!

I take it home, complete the road test, agree a deal, he pays and takes it away. Six months later he sends me a video of the speedo as he’s driving through Europe, well over double our speed limit and he thanks me for selling him such a good car.

It’s not how the day starts, it’s how it ends that matters. Take control of the situation and your training will get you through. That and a little bit of luck!

ter it is the better and safer it is. Secondly, if you look at the cars that dazzle you the most, from my experience, it’ll probably be a Tesla.

Not a hater, just saying.