Our car

I have been waiting for weeks to write this post as I wanted to post a picture of us in our new car with Limerick happily in the back, but we have yet to acquire our car. Since I was on vacation in North Carolina last week and will be going to Minnesota on Wednesday, I thought I better blog now to keep my readership up :) Obtaining a car in Bermuda is not easy. The logistics of driving, buying, and passing a drivers tests all lead to stress. Let me tell you our story!

After 5 full months of only driving a scooter, I was ready for a car. Ryan agreed at about the same time that an opportunity fell in our lap. Cars in Bermuda are EXPENSIVE. What in Bermuda isn't expensive, but cars are at a premium. I know it has something to do with importing cars overseas, but I think that the dealers must not make as many cars with the steering wheel on the right hand side, and that may relate to elevated costs. Not sure, but a new Honda Fit in Bermuda costs $30,000. I could buy the same car in the USA for under $15,000. So we knew that used was the way to go! People sell used cars, scooter, chairs, rugs, anything you can imagine on a site called Emoo. While it is a great site to get quality used goods, things go fast. There are many things that you cannot even buy in Bermuda that are found on this site, but if you want an item you have to call within minutes and set up an appointment within an hour to see the item. The people that lived in our house before we moved here said that their car sold in 2 hours! So we knew if we were to look at emoo and find a good car, we would have to put a deposit on it immediately without researching the price, quality of the car, or its condition. Ryan's boss was selling his Daihatsu Terios which is a 2001 model. It is a little SUV with 4 wheel drive and a cassette player. Both very important in Bermuda. I have recently purchased some quality cassette tapes and we can't wait to pop our car into all wheel drive during the next Bermuda snow storm! Since his boss was selling the car, we were asked first if we wanted the car before they posted it on emoo. We were excited that we didn't have to deal with making a snap decision on a car. The planned exchange should happen on Monday. While the car is not cute, and as Ryan says, "I would never be caught dead driving this car in the US," we are thrilled we got a good deal and can't wait to take Limerick for rides and go to the grocery store for a full load of food!

Now onto getting our drivers license. Even though I have a US drivers license, I had to take another driving test in Bermuda. While I feel this is a good idea because the roads are narrow here and the whole driving on the left can be confusing, that hassle to get your license is amazing. If you have a car already or if you can borrow a car from someone else, then you can sign up online to take your driving test. If you sign up online, you usually have to wait 4-5 weeks to get in. So the alternative is to pay a driving instructor to teach you how to drive and then he/she signs you up for your driving test which usually happens within 2-3 days of your lessons. So you are basically bribing the driving instructors with $50 a lesson to get you a quick exam. So Ryan and I each took one lesson and were both encouraged to take another. Once we got our test date, we took another lesson the night before the exam so that it was fresh in our mind. We were then able to take the lesson on the driving instructors car. The most difficult part was the parallel parking. I have never lived in a city where I needed to perfect my parking skills, so I am terrible. Really truly bad! The spot for the driving exam is so small and I know that if I was in the city, I would never pick the same sized spot! I was really nervous for my exam which is crazy because I have been driving for 11 years, but still I really wanted to pass because I knew if I failed I would be paying the instructor another $50 for lesson number 3. We both ended up passing, and now we are legal to drive both scooters and an automatic car in Bermuda. Crazy thing is if I ever get a manual car, there is another test for that! So now when guests come we can pick them up at the airport! We are excited for this next chapter in our lives. Ahh how the little things make you so happy.

Until next time...

PS the picture posted is not our car, but the same model. I will take pictures when we get the car next week. Our car is not that shiny and it is all silver.