What are you all up to

Enjoy your Christmas at Seacroft JVB.I am sure it will be great fun. Wrap up warm  The daughter of a friend of mine went for a swim at East Runton last week to celebrate her 50th.

My  Doctor  insists  I  always  take  the  medication 

with  WARM  Water 

Enjoy the festivities at Seacroft JVB, are you going for the full Monty with the Xmas meal, hope it's good. 

A brighter but much cooler day today. Drove over to Attingham Park and had a very pleasant walk round the woods & deer park before lunch. Then went into the House to see their Christmas Trees. Some very imaginative ideas for decorations such as feathers and deer antlers on one tree, envelopes and old photos on another, sprayed dried flowers on a third one, paper hearts with visitors wishes written in them on another, as well as some beautiful flower arrangements in each of the main rooms. Very impressed. The place was very busy with families, seemed to be as many there as on a fine summer's day.

Malcolm that Smart insurance cost seems extremely high. My MB S Klasse for business use is only £630 through MB Insurance. Did you not get a quote whilst at the dealer when you purchased? They give you 7 days insurance too, that allows you to register the car and shop around.

The 7 days free insurance is useful.  We got a quote for our Smart from MB but ended up going elsewhere for a better price.

We have it insured through the CC this year, £180 as OH has not got to a full NCD yet, only 3 years so far.  We have 3 named drivers as our daughter looks after it while we are away.

Not business use of course as we are retired.

You're right, Keefysher. I did get 7 days free insurance so my insurance starts on expiry of the free insurance. Also they did offer insurance at the dealer but as I had already paid business insurance there was no need to take out another policy. Sorry, total paid was £2800 for the two cars. For some reason Lloyds system couldn't insure two cars, so I had to take out new SDP insurance on the Shogun which I will now only use for towing the caravan. So the total extra paid is £900 which is cheaper than the £1000 quote from the dealer's insurance.

It may be that you have more no claims bonus than me Keefysher and that would account for your lower cost insurance deal.

I paid the whole years premium in one go because it works out cheaper than monthly payments. The car is on monthly payments but at 0 per cent interest so I'm getting four years interest free credit on the car purchase.

The new insurance on the Shogun is through the Caravan Club but I have to admit that I was surprised at the £1400 quote. Last time it was £750 for SDP with the Caravan Club.

The monthly payments on the car work out to £191 per month and with the service plan added on, it will be another £20 per month. However, the fuel cost saving of using the Smart car instead of the Shogun will be more than this amount, thereby increasing our overall profit from the business.

Our boss met us at the car showroom and spoke to the salesman too. He said that we had provided excellent delivery service for dinner2go and said to look after us and make sure we got the best deal!

 The insurance quote from MB after expiry of 7 days is £996. So yes, it would have been a better deal if we hadn't already taken out business insurance through Lloyds. The problem was, having paid £1903 to Lloyds with just over £500 refund for change of car plus the £1400 to the Caravan Club insurance, it worked out £100 cheaper doing it this way than through MB. Although MB argued that their insurance was better because it was specifically designed for their car. Insurance always seems a bit tricky and complicated and difficult to know what to do for the best but we were mindful of the large capital outlay in the car purchase and the £100 saving helps. Like they say at Tesco, every little helps! We can only hope that it turns out to be the right thing to do!