2013 really isn’t proving to be a quiet year for the fleet. I confidently hoped that it might be. After all, the Citroen BX Turbo Diesel has been an excellent machine. After a strong start to the year on the earning front, I decided it was safe to blow some of the cash from the sale of the Ford Maverick last year. The Maverick was all that remained from my £2000 project, as I’d had to dip into the fund for general living costs.

In fact, 2012 was quite interesting as we really did discover just how little we could live on. It’s not nice having to decide whether you can go and meet up with friends and family only after considering the cost of fuel, but we did at least prove that if money is tight, we can still live. We try to live frugally – really frugally – to try and minimise our impact on the world. That may seem slightly at odds with my obvious love of fossil-fuel powered motors, but bear in mind that while I own many vehicles, I can only drive one at a time – and working from home means I’m not actually clocking up very many miles at all. Yes, I’m a hippy with a fuel guzzling Mercedes-Benz. I don’t see a problem with that.

So I bought a Mercedes. Then got offered one and a half 2cVs, which I collected last weekend. Then I decided I needed to upgrade BXs. You see, I love my TXD Turbo, but it’s one major failing is that it isn’t an estate. So, I decided to seek out a turbo diesel estate. I wasn’t in a rush – I knew finding an affordable BX in the spec I wanted would be difficult. Estates are rare and often driven into the ground. Turbo diesel estates are pretty much one of the most desirable BXs to have. Ridiculously, I found the perfect vehicle the very next day!

I’ve since bought the car – again over the internet, sight unseen – and will be collecting it tomorrow. It’s covered 305,000 miles and is bright red. Pleasingly, I sold the silver BX TXD this very afternoon (over the internet, sight unseen and yet to be collected) which means my driveway will not be completely inundated with vehicles. Well, not for very long anyway.

Buying cars ‘blind’ seems very much to be the way of the world these days. Perhaps it’s driven by fuel costs. The alternative is to drive around physically looking at cars, which costs a fortune. Ebay has made people a lot more comfortable about buying ‘blind’ and car dealers report that many cars are sold this way.

Certainly, there is some trepidation. I’m to clamber onto a train tomorrow, travel to Manchester (£18!) and then drive home in a car I’ve never seen, which has covered more miles than a trip to the moon. Should be fun!