I had to wait until yesterday to get my windscreen replaced. Not great given I had first called it in to Autoglass two Saturdays before. They had turned up at my place of work on Thursday the previous week with the wrong glass (so much for call centre staff training) and found that the glass required was a bit specially and Ford had to order it from Germany.

Promised call-backs and updates never happened. Why is it that most service companies seem incapable of staying in touch. I recall when running help-desks in the past that the hardest thing to get staff (especially technical staff) to do was provide regular updates when these updates had only bad news but it is always the case that the punter likes to know s/he has not been forgotten and that matters are still progressing even if that is not as fast as required.

I had made it clear that I was only on site down south until last Thursday, would be at home near Telford on the Friday and would be travelling to Scotland on the Saturday for a holiday. This had been noted on the system Autoglass used but no one ever took account of this.

Eventually, I managed to get through to the Heathrow branch that was meant to be dealing with my problem (they had not returned my calls) and get them to take action. They could not provide a mobile service but they had got hold of the replacement windscreen and an alternative local branch (Hounslow) could do the fitting that afternoon if I could get there.

Given that this was a) my last day before a holiday and b) there was a meeting and a coaching session that I was especially keen to attend, having to drive to a local branch and hang-around for a couple of hours whilst they did the fitting and allowed the glue to dry was not high on my list of great options. They could not fit me in at Telford the following day and I did not fancy driving to Scotland with a big crack in the screen even if it was not in my line of sight and the glass was supposed to be safe because of the lamination.

I had already prepared as much as possible for my going on holiday and also headed off a ton of stuff that hopefully would now never cause a problem. Fortunately, there is a great team in place who I am sure will cover any problems that come up. Thus, with the permission of my boss, I ducked out of the meeting I wanted to attend and headed off to Autoglass.

It took a little while to find even with the help of the satnav but I got there for 4PM and at 6PM I was able to drive off. In fact, I sat in the car for the last 30 mins with the aircon on – their offices were very hot. Much to my disappointment, I could not get a mobile broadband signal from their offices so was unable to get online for the last couple of hours. I hate not doing my hours – I work long hours and well ahead on my time (I book extra time but not as much as I do) but still have this old-fashioned concept of working the key hours on site.

Well, at least my screen was nice and clean for the drive home and beyond.

It might have taken them a while to get the screen, but the fitters did a good job.

Ironically, one of the reasons I chose a Ford Mondeo as a company car was so that I would have a car that was common, easy to repair, covered by lots of dealers throughout the country. I did not allow for some of the many options I had taken (which still left the car cheaper than a BMW) being rare and requiring special order parts.

I got a stone chip on my window last Friday. Fortunately it was near the bottom of the screen located centrally between driver and passenger positions.

By midday Saturday, a crack had developed from the original strike to a vertical length of around 4 inches. Still not obscuring my screen.

I have a company car and window replacement is covered by Autoglass. I am told that they offer a 24 hour replacement services. I called them and they made an appointment to come to me where I work on the following Tuesday (rather than at home the following day). There was some confusion about where I was going to be located – why does everyone insist on knowing the post code, it was not as if I had asked to deliver a parcel. [This is a rhetorical question – I do know the reasons.]

On Sunday, I got a phone call from the Lincoln branch of Autoglass who wanted to check the appointment details and my location. They do not cover my location. In the absence of a post-code, the job had been allocated to the wrong branch. They said they would transfer me the correct branch.

Later on Sunday I got a call from the Heathrow branch. The earliest they could come to me was Thursday.

Everyone I had spoken with assured me that I was not at any risk, the glass was laminated and would not shatter and cave in on me [unless hit by another stone methinks]. The crack does not seem to be growing and my vision is not obscured. As long as I have an appointment, I am, apparently, covered legally.

Autoglass van and man turned up this morning – bang on the start time of the window for the appointment. As it happens, I was near the front entrance of the building I am working in and was able to wander out and greet him and get a lift to my car (my knee hurts so I was happy to avoid walking the two or three blocks to the overflow car park I use).

As soon as we pulled up next to my carefully located car, the Autoglass man says "I have the wrong glass." He had a basic "green" screen and not the "Solar, heated with autosensor" type my car has. Shame as I have given the correct details on the initial call to Autoglass.

He called his local depot, hopefully. No joy. His office then checked more widely. He apologised and told me that they would have to order one from Ford. He his office would call me to make another appointment.

Less than an hour later, their office called to advise me that Ford do not have in stock in the UK either and that they would have to get one from Germany. This would take a few days. Autoglass will call me back with a new appointment once they have the glass.

So much for that 24 hour service.

At least, I don’t think I am a car snob. I decided earlier this year to go back to having a company car to save hassle. I chose a Ford Mondeo. This was after having two S-Class Mercedes and a Volvo XC90 as personal cars. I am a big guy and not many cars are roomy enough or comfortable enough for me. I was surprised to find that the Mondeo was more suitable for me than my wife’s Series 5 BMW.

I could have gone for a modest engine size. I didn’t. I went with a 2 litre diesel automatic – so not the worst option but not the best either. When I try, I can get over 50mpg but most of the time I am closer to 38/39mpg – may start to work harder if the fuel prices continue to go up. I should mention that the car is also an estate format, so again, not the most efficient.

The boot generally has lots of stuff in it, so I have done little to optimise the weight to reduce fuel usage. I have roof bars on as well.

Several colleagues have gone for very frugal cars, others have fallen for the Toyota Prius hype – Toyota claim 65.7mpg in mixed motoring for this car yet most real-world tests and reports from owners come out at around 50mpg. I like this comparison with a modern Beemer done by The Times which showed very little difference in consumption between the two cars and I know which I would have preferred to have been in.

Another colleague has just ordered a pretty high-spec Audio A4 with performance (as in fast) as a key criteria. He is not green in the same way that Jeremy Clarkson isn’t (i.e. somewhat tongue in cheek and slightly exaggerated anti-green) and to help wind people up as much as possible likes to go for the ridiculous but logically sustainable arguments to justify he own environmental stance.

I do get some stick from my kids on green issues but one of them likes to be in a cold room so has her a/c on very high most nights. I expect all their peers to be somewhat green in their attitudes and have been surprised to find that, almost without exception, they are pretty much anti-green. Simply do not believe in global warming and their part in it.

I have had my Mondeo company car for a little while now but have not been seeing substantially better fuel performance than I was getting with the Volvo XC90 which is a much heavier car with a larger engine.

Typically I was coming in at around 35mpg. Various reviews suggested I should be getting at least 40 and closer to 50.

The cause of the problem is, of course, my heavy right foot. I accelerate too aggresively, brake too hard, and generally drive too fast anyway.

Given the huge increase in fuel costs, I obviously have an incentive to become a little more frugal.

Driving down from Shropshire to Stockley Park this morning I reset the trip computer and made every effort to drive very steadily (I even used cruise-control to keep to 55 miles per hour for long stretches on the M40).

I left at 7am (much later than usual) and arrived at the office just after 10am (earlier than some recent longer trips) and felt reasonably relaxed (I had listened to a good Audible book on the way down).

Best of all, my MPG average for the journey overall was 51.2 – wow! It was striking that during the latter part of the journey, the occasional burst of accleration to overtake or avoid problems would bring that average down very rapidly.

I think a few days tootling between the office and the hotel before heading back home on Friday evening will bring that average down somewhat but I hope I can achieve similar results when I do do the return trip. I am proud of myself.

I arranged with the garage supplying my new company car to deliver it to the client offices I have been working in for the last 6 months or so. This is located near Heathrow, the opposite end of the country from the supplying garage.

It arrived shortly after 7 this morning. It was scheduled for 7.30 which is when I got there from the hotel.

Today is the first day of a holiday over the Easter period and a great day to get a new car. I had arranged things so that I could work late the preceeding day in case of any problems getting away for a holiday and also allowing for me to stay on an extra day if needed. As it happened, unlike my previous break, this time everything worked out okay and so I was able to jump straight into the car with my bags once I had done a quick hand-shake and signed a couple of straight-forward documents and head off towards home.

Having first tried out the model I was acquiring back in January and as I was in many ways coming down-market from my past few cars, I was nervous when I drove off this morning. The car is a little more cramped that my past few cars but after a hundred-fifty mile drive home, I now know it will not be a problem. Getting seats to exactly the right position will also take time (and this model, whilst adjustment is all electric, lack a memory – should be fun when swapping between myself and my wife driving).

The car is a Ford Mondeo Estate with a 2 litre diesel engine. I could have gone for a smaller engine but frankly, I wanted to retain at least this level of power. This is the same level as my last Ford (a Focus estate around 7 years ago). I do not know how much things have improved since then but I doubt it will be so much that the extra weight of the new car will not slow it down compared to the Focus. Still, performance wise it seems much better than the larger engined Volvo XC90.

I went for automatic again – do not think I could face going back to manual (I would curse each time I got stuck in a traffic jam around the M25). The Focus was a Ghia model, the height of luxury back then. Ford now have two routes to luxury: Ghia and Titanium with the former having a traditional style and the latter a much more modern style. I went for the modern look with a Titanium X version.

One advantage of going for something like a Mondeo rather than a BMW or Mercedes, is that price advantage gives you sufficient headroom to add plenty of options without worrying too much about the tax hit. I went for a lot of options significantly increasing the list price of the car to around the 27K mark but I have a lot of additional comfort, safety and convenience to enjoy. Trivial though it may seem, I especially like being able to get into and start the car without touching a key (as long as the key is on me, I don’t need to use it) – my family will especially like this feature as it means they do not have to wait outside in cold/rain for me to hunt through 6 or more pockets trying to find the key.

Naturally I had roof bars and a tow-ball to support our camping activities. I also upgraded suspension options, lighting (brighter and with cornering features), and the ICE (including excellent blue-tooth integration).

At the moment I am still in the first-flush of enthusiasm for a new car. Let’s see how I feel in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I have to think about preparing and selling the Volvo XC90. Gulp.

Well, finally done it and returned to the company car fold after years of running my own cars. I have just decided I no longer want the ad-hoc expenses and hassles of running my own car – the tax savings are simply not worth it to me any more.

I have not gone over the top though… just gone for a humble Mondeo and have left behind the fancy Mercedes of the past.

When I say “humble”… actually, I am going for a fancy specification:

Model:

• Vehicle Details: Ford Mondeo Estate 2.0D Titanium X
• Transmission: Automatic

Options:

• Metallic Paint
• Keyless Entry (no need to search my pockets for the key)
• Bi-Xnn ilo Hdlmp AFS (I need all the light I can get)
• Park Assist (front and back – really appreciate these things)
• Roof Rails-Brght Fns (must support the camping activities)
• Front climate control seats (maximum comfort for me)
• Rear heated seats (keep the kids happy)
• Driver seat 8-way adjustment (protect my back)
• Advanced Bluetooth and voice control (ok, I am a techie)
• Fixed Tow Bar (camping gear)
• IVDC with CDC (er, yes, I know it is a good thing, just not memorable)
• Solar Reflect Windsc (keep it a bit cooler in the car park)

Current delivery date looks like mid-May.

Terms

• Lease Term: 36
• Cost of Ownership: £508.89 from my monthly car allowance

Cost

I think total list value is around £27k, so a lot cheaper than the original list price of my cars over the last few years although I do not buy new. Tax will be based on 40% of this adjusted for CO2 rating.

Environment

CO2 is around 189g/km which is not great but much better than my current Volvo XC90 and previous S-Class Mercedes.

Well, no car is brilliant for the environment and I am using the trains as much as possible for work again. There are times though when I have no practical choice work wise but to go by car.

I am not a small man so need a car from the “larger” category just to fit in comfortably and not cause myself more back problems when I have to drive.