The CLK has gone and we’ve invested our pot into the next step on our ladder

First things first. We made a slight accounting error last month which I’ll blame on doing sums on deadline. Our current total doesn’t currently reside at £9,418, it’s in fact the slightly lower figure of £8,970.

The cash counting cock-up came to light when we were handed over £8,250 for the Mercedes CLK. Ass reported last month we’d had a few issues with the convertible roof on the 03-plater and it had been in the hands of our tame technician Matt Kendell to put right.

After a few visits to the local Mercedes garage and some new parts, Matt had got the roof working again with the final bill totaling just shy of £700. You may remember, Merecdes Benz of Bolton boss Andy Banks couldn’t bear to see BEN go without so offered to cover the cost of repairs.

Kendell’s receptionist’s mum had been lined up to buy the Merc after spotting it during a visit to the garage. We struck the deal for £8,250 on the condition the roof would be fixed so as soon as it was we were handed a bundle of the folding stuff and we never saw the CLK again.

So with just shy of £9k burning a hole in our pocket it was time to plot our next move. We wanted something that we could sell on pretty quickly, that was in demand and that wouldn’t need any remedial work. We’re keen to get to our target of a Porsche 911 – which we’ll eventually sell in aid of BEN – so the more money we can make on each step the better. Another healthy £2,500k jumpy would see us perilously close to our £12k target to by the Porker trade.

So I set about making a few phone calls to some press contacts. Instead of taking the risk of buying a car from auction that we’d struggle to make £500 on, I decided twisting a few manufacturer press office arms to do their bit for BEN would be the best call.

Enter stage right Citroen with a cracking offer. Communications chief Marc Raven promised to find us a car within seconds of us firing off the email asking for help. And true to his word he was back in touch just a week later with the corker you see here.

It’s a C4 Grand Picasso with the fuel-sipping 1.6 HDI diesel engine and comes in VTR trim with the EGS auto gearbox. It’s done just 19,000 miles on a 58-plate and comes from the firm’s contract hire fleet.

‘We’ve also added 12 months tax at £110 as it always makes them easier to sell’

Paul Drake, Citroen’s used vehicle sales manager, was the man that found us our next steed. ‘The vehicle books at £8,500 but dealers are paying up to £1,000 above book for them at the moment and it should retail for a minimum of £9,995 and it might even be worth having a go at £10,995.’

So what did we pay for it? Well, with a bit of generoisity from Citroen thrown in, we’ve shelled out £8k on it. We’ve also added 12 months tax at £110 as it always makes them easier to sell. Plus the added bonus of it being a 58-plate means the MOT isn’t due until later this year.

At the time of writing this we’d only just taken delivery of the C4. It was pulled from a BCA auction for us and has had a new wing mirror fitted as it was the only thing that had taken a battering.

The plan is to turn it around as soon as possible for around the £10k mark. That would take our total just one more trade away from our target. We’ll be putting it up for sale on Auto Trader or similar this month and hopefully will have some good news to report this time next month. Wish us luck…

THE STORY SO FAR…