Tag Archives: Hybrid

Training in Quarantine – Day 76 & Car Update

Wet and raining day. No running or walking today.

Picked up my new Toyota Yaris Hybrid today. Had to spend about 30 minutes on hold while waiting for verify myself for the 3-day driveaway insurance.

I now need to finalise my own insurance to cover myself from Saturday.

My dad and I drove up to Toyota in the hire car so I could drive back in the new car.

We spotted some chips in the paintwork which we could not resolve while we were due to it raining (any painting we would do would be ruined by the rain). Toyota gave us some paint and lacquer to do it ourselves when the rain stops.

Drove back in the new car. First time I’ve properly driven an automatic. I previously drove an automatic for a colleague to help her park, so it wasn’t a “proper” drive.

My dad also used to have an automatic (VW Touran), but again, didn’t drive that “properly”

The brakes on the Yaris were REALLY sensitive. Just a tap brought the car to near stationary. On my old Skoda I had to push the brake pedal to about half way before it started braking.

Car has bluetooth so managed to pair it with my phone. Haven’t tested the music playing over bluetooth yet.

Also, Toyota gave me a plushie as thank you for buying a car

Update

Spent the afternoon with Toyota going through different cars and options. Ended up reserving a Yaris Hybrid.

The car I was looking at had been sold by another salesperson two hours ago, but their credit check had failed, so they were running a check against another company. If that passes, they get first dibs on the car.

So I looked at another Yaris Hybrid. Slightly older, but less mileage, and £500 more — BUT, it looked like it had been treated MUCH better than the other car. It had leather seats meaning it’s likely to get extra hot in sunny weather.

Hire Car 4

So, it was finally confirmed. My car is written off after being assessed by the insurance engineers. Interestingly, they were also on lockdown so had to make the assessment using the photos I had taken from the accident.

They have valued my car at £3000. Which isn’t too bad I guess. It’s better than nothing.

The car next to me that was also involved was also written off, to the value of £2200. So that’s £5200 being claimed against the insurance of the other driver. The two cars other cars affected in the accident will probably claim the cost of their repairs, which I’m not sure how much that will be. Probably in the 1-2K region, so that’s at least £6200 in total.

Then there’s the driver’s own car’s damage. Assuming it’s not written off, the damage is probably another K at least. So £7200 of cost on the driver’s own insurance.

That drink he had is proving to be rather expensive…..

My car is going to be towed to disposal on Monday, with the other written off car to be towed tomorrow (Friday)

I’ve already started making enquiries to different dealerships in my area looking for hybrids with a size about the same as my Fabia, or possibly the size of an Octavia. Contacted Hyundai, Toyota and Skoda.

So far, only Toyota have come back and they’ve suggested the Corolla. But I’ll have to wait until they open up again so I can take a look at it closer.

No news yet from Hyundai or Skoda.