11:50 am, August 1, 2008
TO be honest, the Kia looked a canny buy for someone. On a V, it was pretty fresh, and had covered just 70k. With a stack of equipment and a roomy four-door body, it sounded just the job.
Mark Boyt of HS Cars was trying to do the business for us. ‘It’s not my normal cup of tea,’ he explained. ‘But it’s all for a good cause – I’ll see what I can do for BEN.’ Alas, the customers didn’t take to it. Mark’s usual motor is higher-end than the budget Korean hatch, and while there was interest in the cause from customers, nobody followed up with the cash.
They could probably afford to… but just couldn’t see how a Kia would sit alongside a Merc CL 600 on their driveway. We understood. To be honest, we couldn’t, either.
Two months later and still no bites. So Mark decided to cut any losses and trade it, instead. He got in touch with one of his rivals, who deals in cheaper, lower-end stuff, who agreed to take it off his hands for a small profit. Result? Well, anything is better than nothing.
Particularly as Mark then showed he’s a hero – by agreeing to contribute, out of his own pocket, to the cause. He pushed up the Kia’s ‘profit’ to a very admirable £250 – not bad at all! Thanks for that, Mark. Good Karma will come your way.
So now what? Well, We now have a total fund of £1,250, so enter Tim Stentiford of Tailored Vehicle Leasing. He’s the man in charge of our kitty, and is going to find our next profit-wagon. No pressure, Tim! Trouble is, Tim already had something lined up – a diesel Zafira, like the one above, with lots of potential. This sounded amazing to us; an family-magnet compact MPV? We’d be raking it in!
The problem is, even with Mark’s kind allowance, it doesn’t stretch to the trade-in cost of the Zafira. Tim was banking on the Clarus being more appealing than, alas, it turned out to be.
We hope to get something sorted and on sale before next month, but for now, we don’t know what! We rest assured that Tim’s on the case, though. Tune in next month to see the saga unfold.
