Sign Here.

So we drove the seventy odd miles round trip last night to sign the finance papers for the Peugeot. Even though my RAV4 is fourteen years old the 2-litre engine is still as good as when it rolled off the conveyor belt and we made really good time despite all the speed camera warnings from my SAT NAV.

We were greeted by the same salesman, you might remember him from "So you want to buy a car?" and ushered into the showroom. "Take a seat." he said as he sidled off to get the paperwork. The wife and I duly sat at one of the vacant tables and a few moments later the documents were spread out in front of the wife. The sales guy placed a photocopy of the wife's driving license in front of her "Can you sign this form exactly like your signature on your driving license please?" What? Is this some sort of test? Do you think the wife has had plastic surgery or something so she looks like the grainy image in the photocopy? The wife signed the form and (And this is one of their annoying practices) he walked, or should that be grovelled? over to the Managers island and handed over the documents for what I suspect is the royal assent. As he came back, to our dismay, he handed the misses the very same piece of paper with her driving license on and a fresh form to sign "Can you get your signature to be the same as on your license, please." OK, this is starting to be a joke now. I suspect you're trying to make sure the finance company has absolutely no reason to reject the agreement forms but here's the thing.

1. We've already filled out the application which has her signature on WHICH was not a perfect copy of the driving license signature."
2. It must be obvious to the finance company that this is our second visit to the premises and so there's strong evidence that the wife is who she says she is.
3. If the finance company is that picky I'd get a new supplier. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for security but there is such a thing as overkill.

Finally the Imperator sat surveying the row upon row of empty negotiating tables nodded at the resubmitted documents and we were informed we could go; I might add, we were not offered a drink while we were there even though they knew we had travelled a fair distance to their premises.

Now dear reader, has anyone spotted the annoying resolution to this farce? As you will have read it's a 70 mile round trip to this site and we've already made the journey twice. You would think that we could have the car? But no, we can't take it until the money is in their bank! Now OK, I kinda see that, but if we've applied and been accepted and the signed agreement forms have been submitted you would have thought a large company that must be selling hundreds of cars every day presumably through this same finance company is going to get paid? Nope, we have to come back again! (Sunday) to collect the damn thing, oh, and another pathetic hurdle they threw up at us. They insist on seeing a copy of the insurance before releasing the car! What's all that about? It's none of their business or responsibility if we decided to drive an uninsured car on the road. Obviously, I have insurance for it and it would be cynical of me to say that maybe the fact they offer 10 days insurance for £15.00 might have something to do with it. :-)