It returned… I didn’t really want it back as I discovered, through a quick online check that the MOT expired months ago. This provided a bargaining advantage as the £100 asking price was politely refused so effectively, the Polo rolled back to me for free.
I know that car as it used to be mine until 2019 when it went to a colleague who swapped a Vauxhall Agila (again, that was mine) for the Polo. That Agila was lime green although the reason, said colleague wanted rid was that it had a faulty headlight – and not that gaudy colour.
LV08 was bought as a category N recorded car at auction originally for £510, including costs. I drove it back with a constantly beeping handbrake warning indicating the rachet hadn’t been fully retracted. It had but the switch that the ratchet was meant to push against became dislodged. The Polo had war wounds with clues of speckled glass fragments in the spare wheel well that nobody had bothered to remove – a replacement tailgate then? I replaced one mirror casing and sprayed both in hammerite white that gave it a distinguishing feature, easily recognisable in a full car park. I recall pushing most of a driver’s door dent out with a quick valet to make it presentable.
Three years later… with almost an additional 50K miles on the speedometer increased its mileage to 130,590. The engine still felt smooth despite an exhaust blow. £570 was spent last year that included replacement front tyres and brake discs although there was brake judder, possibly from either poor quality discs or repeated heavy braking and the inner edges of both tyres were worn because of misalignment.
Car prices are high so after reattaching the aerial to the stereo unit, replacing two bulbs and a clean, in it went to be MOT’d to appreciate its value. £80 was spent on the MOT including £40 for a replacement exhaust collar that had rusted.
Optimistically, I advertised it initially for £1350 and gradually reduced it until being offered £800 to go to a first-time driver. A happy result then, that proves you can sell a car twice over, making a profit each time.
Words and photos are copyright of Sotiris Vassiliou
October 2022
