My Bianchi

Yesterday we sold our car. Our red car has been a trusted chariot for our travels, clocking over a hundred thousand kilometres during our three years stay here. Selling a car is always a challenge especially when you know you are going to make a loss to the initial investment. This is especially so in the current downturn. Apparently smaller cars are in higher demand where else normal saloon car market currently is going through a patchy period.

Nonetheless this is the first time we are impressed with the power of selling through the Internet. I posted the car on a certain buy/sell site and four hours later someone expressed an interest to test drive immediately. An hour later the car was sold. And the guy let us to drive for the next three weeks. And yesterday was when all the formalities needed to be done.

And if anybody wants to know what e-Government should be, here's a great example. When I transferred the car at the post office, the lady only asked for the car certificates and the driving license of the buyer. In less than one minute all was done. She typed in the driving license number, confirmed verbally the home addressed is right and off she printed a new ownership certificate and a payment of about 9 Euros. There were no form to fill in, all the required detail was already in the system. Later when I canceled the car insurance, the same thing happened. When my name was type in,their system already indicated the car ownership has changed and I am entitled to a certain reimbursement. Amazing!

Anyway yesterday was also when I picked up my Bianchi. It finally arrived.