Deciding to live abroad. It’s a big decision to make. Not just because “they eat funny food”, although they do, but because you’ll have to organise various parts of your life that run differently here. Yeah, there’ll be things that you’ll have to do that are different - register with the local authorities, for example, get a resident’s permit and so on. But hey, you’re living in a foreign country, it’s to be expected. There’ll be other things that you’re used to though, like owning and driving a car. And yeah, once you work out that they drive on the wrong side of the road and use kilometres it’ll be easy enough apart from going the wrong way around roundabouts, coping with driving at 150mph in a column of cars on the outside lane of the Autobahn with another car 2 feet behind you and, oh okay, driving is different here too, but that’s for another post. What’s really tricky is the paperwork involved in owning your car. You’ll go to the garage and some guy called either Klaus or Hans (don’t ask me why they’re always called Klaus or Hans, it must be the law) will end up selling you a car. Then you’ll fill in an inordinate amount of forms at various offices (and pay a fee each time) and get lots of provisional and then real registration plates. And, being the upstanding citizen that you are, you’ll go off and insure the thing with a large insurance company. The insurance advisor, who will also be called Klaus and insist on speaking English with you even though his English is crap and he actually only knows American business terms, and not British ones will arrange a policy and everything’ll be fine.
German Phrase For Today: “Wer richtig versichert ist, hat im Schadenfall wenigstens keine finanziellen Probleme zu befürchten.” - Oh, fuck off!
Song playing as this was published: Elvis Costello “I Want You”
That bites the big one! I hope they find the f-er. Personally, I’d be stalking my neighborhood, er, um, going for frequent evening walks, looking for dented silver Mercedes.
Oh and I’m here for another 2.5 months. I still need to finalizing the movers & flight tickets though.
I’ve been out on my bike with the camera (for exercise) - but it’s a silver Mercedes - that’s every 5th car here!
Ouch, that’s a f**ker. Are you going to go round the local garages to see if anyone’s come in for a new paint job? I ask this because I remember years ago when a car crashed into our parked car. By coincidence my dad worked in a garage, and a few days later a man came in with his car, which had clearly crashed into ours. (They’d exchanged colours.) It had been the man’s teenage son who’d been driving. We got it sorted out all right. It might be an idea, if they’re willing to let you know about their customers…
Oh no, that’s awful; no potential for schadenfreude, even. I hope that luck does eventually swing your way.
[Making the universally ubiquitous, teeth-sucking “That looks painful” face]. Oh dear. I hope this swings back in your favour (but I’m not that much of an optimist).
And I thought it was only round here that every other car was a silver Mercedes? Who knew Mercedes were popular in Germany?
And if the insurer’s Allianz, check the document wording for errors - they can prove very useful (Really shouldn’t be saying this).
Oh merda!
AF,
I know it’s no help anymore, but you usually select Vollkasko for newer models/cars with significant value. If you drive an eight-year old Corsa like me, you go for Teilkasko because otherwise the insurance would run higher than the car’s value after a while.
On the bright side, you just got rid of an Italian car that’s pretty expensive to maintain (spare parts etc.) and can now purchase a true quality product from Stuttgart or even better, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Plus an Alfa is just not the appropriate type of car for a developmental geneticist to own anyway.
All kidding aside, I am sorry to hear this type of story. I hope the police will be ablke to track down the offender. That Alfa would have easily gotten you into the golf club of your choice.
Kopf hoch,
JCS
JCS: Less of that developmental geneticist talk if you please, that’s all in the past, I’ve paid my debt to society etc. It’s science communications director, thank you very much. Actually, one of the benefits of buying a second-hand Italian car is that they’ve already depreciated a lot in value (not quite as rapidly as on Thursday though), that makes the Teil/Vollkasko decision a valid one.. There was also a huge difference in price between Voll und Teilkasko because it has a fabric roof (about exactly the cost of a new roof, every year), and I weighed it up and made the wrong judgement.
Ho hum….
When I “just” owned a Polo, I naturally had Vollkasko and nothing happened. Even when I drove through Zuffenhausen past that huge, shiny alunminium building.
AF,
You crossed over to the dark side? No more tissue culture/blots/mega preps/scanning pubmed at midnight? Oh well, Christiane N.-V. must have been disappointed, that’s for sure. And didn’t your old website say you considered yourself a “true scientist at heart”?
But enough shop talk, I can follow your train of thought regarding insurance. I think the likelihood of such a severe hit and run is pretty low in Stuttgart and from a statistical point of view you probably made the right decision. But of course that does not help you at all right now.
Let’s hope the Swabian police force will turn up a good lead.
JCS
It just proves the good sense in staying at home under the care and protection of Fony Blair and his merry men.