Our Car & Driver

Never say never. I said that I would never have a mini van. I don't like them, and I'm sorry but I don't want to look like a soccer mom. Now for people with kids, I'm sure a mini van is the best thing since sliced bread.

Well, we moved to Beijing last year and what do we end up with? A mini van! Since our company was paying for our car and the driver to take us around, we only had a couple of options and couldn't be picky. We had the option between a car or a mini van. Now most of you are thinking for just S and I that a car would have been fine. Nope! You forget that we had a driver, so there was always an extra person in the vehicle. That didn't leave room for many other people. Therefore, we took the mini van, and more than once, we had it completely full of people or suitcases. I ended up being able to tolerate the mini van...plus it probably helped that it was a Buick, and I have owned a whole lot of Buick cars.

I grew up with a father who would only own Chevrolet and GM cars and trucks. Ford was a four letter word in our house. Ford stood for Fix Or Repair Daily and Found On Road Dead. I said that I would never have a Ford. So, guess what? We move to India and end up with a Ford!

Up until today, we have had a Toyota SUV. While it was new, I haven't liked it from the start. It wasn't comfortable to ride in...and with India traffic, you really want to be comfortable in your vehicle. Also, it didn't have automatic locks, which is a must have here for a number of reasons. After our driver left my bag unattended in our car with the doors unlocked...and my bag contained my laptop computer...I about had a cow. Well, low and behold, a couple of weeks later, our Toyota had automatic locks installed.

Anyway, I asked S what other options we had for vehicles besides the Toyota. I knew I wanted an SUV if at all possible. Riding in a car here almost makes me car sick. I don't feel well at all when I get out. Plus, with monsoon season bringing flooding roads plus living on a dirt road, I felt that a SUV would be a better option for us. Well, S came home and told me that the only other option besides the Toyota SUV would be a Ford SUV. I had actually been in my friend's Ford and had found it to be much nicer than the Toyota. Automatic locks, cup holders, back seat A/C controls. Since I didn't have a option to get a Chevy (still don't know why as I have seen Chevy SUVs here), I decided the Ford would be the way to go.

Well, S brought me home the brochure to pick out what color we wanted (big deal for me because in Beijing we only had two color choices...silver or dark blue). So, we decided that we wanted our Ford to be mystic wine colored (in other words, purple). This all occurred back in July, and our Ford was to take a few weeks to reach us. Well it is now November 6, and we are finally getting it today. I guess the big problem was that the new Ford model hadn't been approved yet, and there weren't any old models left. Typically India.

So, this is a photo of our driver, Krishnan, with our new Ford Endeavor. He was like a kid in a candy shop today. All excited. Showing off the new car to all of the security guards. Plus, I'm sure all of the other drivers know that we got a new Ford. I had to go out today, and I could tell he was all nervous driving it. We went slow, and on more than one occasion, I saw him flinch when a motorbike got too close to us. Of course, this is India...it's only a matter of time before it gets scraped and scratched up (a topic for a whole other future blog post).

So, what's it like having a driver? Well, they pretty much become like a family member. In fact, I think I have liked our drivers better than I like some of our family members (won't mention any names here). When our first driver in Beijing had a serious heart attack, S and I were devastated. He ended up being OK, but then we had to hire another driver, who we ended up liking as well. As far as Krishnan goes, he is a good driver...but more important here, he speaks good English...not necessarily an easy thing to find with drivers here. He seems to be pretty happy driving for us. He is even looking to move closer to us, so he doesn't have such a long commute to work every day. To me that says something, given that he only makes around $100 per month (plus whatever extra S and I give him) and has a wife and 2 young sons to support. I think by driving for us he knows that he will be making this amount every month...before us, he would only do airport runs and temporary assignments...not guaranteed to have someone to drive for every day, which means he wouldn't get paid or earn any tips if he didn't work.

So, anyway, we have a Ford. Fix Or Repair Daily. Actually, Ford should become India's national motto...there is always something broke here every day (another future blog post), Fix Or Repair Daily just seems to fit...as does having a Ford SUV.