Our car has needed maintenance for a while now but we have been putting it off because "it still runs". In Regina, maintenance was easy. I took my car to Bob Grant's Auto Service and said "Change the oil and fix what is needed". Bob and Marlene and crew looked after our family fleet for many years. It was wonderful to have a mechanic you could trust.
I am glad I don't live there any more as they have since retired and sold the business. I suspect whoever bought it would be trustworthy though or Bob would go back and deal with him personally. And if that didn't work, Marlene would go in and THAT you don't want.
Here in Ukraine it is a different matter for me. If I had to do it, it would be go to Kia Motors and say "Change the oil and fix what is needed" and then Oh, boy watch out. Dealers are never good places to go in my experience unless you can diagnose and prescribe exactly. Fortunately, I have Andrei to help; he knows every blue collar businessman in Zholti Vody and surrounding towns.
Andrei, Tania and Masha are borrowing our car to go to the black Sea for a holiday and Andrei, who looks after our car better than I do, wanted to make sure it was in shape to travel the distance. So Monday he took it to his friend Sasha for "diagnosis".
Sasha has a 1950's garage complete with pit and calendars, in a couple of Soviet built garage/storage system stalls. In Soviet times, garages were built in banks and clusters of hundreds some distance from where apartments were located (scientific efficiency, you know). This meant you had to take a bus or taxi to get your car. It also meant you used public transportation which was excellent rather than clog the streets with cars and burn precious gasoline.
Sasha works mainly on Ladas and other older cars, I think. I asked if he was a good mechanic and Andrei says "I tell him what to do on the Kia and he does it". Between them they decided what needed doing and what parts were necessary. Then Andrei went to a parts store (one of many in town) and ordered the parts which would be in late Wednesday.
It needed new summer tires as the treads were getting pretty worn. Andrei had a friend in Alexandria about 50 km away who had Michelins made in France for $80 installed, about $40 less than I would have paid for the same tires. Michelin also makes tires in Russia but these as any Russian built tires are to be avoided if possible apparently. Wednesday late afternoon Andrei picked up the parts and went to get the tires.
Thursday Sasha started on the repairs. I saw the parts Andrei picked up and other than the filters, fan belt and antifreeze, didn't recognize anything. I have been a Chrysler mini-van person for decades and they wear out different looking pieces of front end and suspension. Sasha finished today after lunch and Andrei and I went to pick up the car. Total bill so far 6000 UAH.
Then we took it for a wheel alignment. This is a new modern auto service centre, with high ceilings, clean floors, no calendars and fancy equipment. First of all I didn't know they even did wheel alignments in Ukraine. Given the road conditions here an alignment would be valid until you left the garage. Like a certificate of health on a hooker in Tijuana, as they say.
The bad news was that before they could do a wheel alignment the back springs need replacing. Now I have been suspicious for a long time that all was not well with the springs or shocks as we were bouncing far too much and bottoming out on too many holes that were not that deep or abrupt. They are on order and will be here maybe Monday. Another 2000 UAH and baby will be all set to run smoothly for a few more months. And Andrei's family will have a safe trip to the Crimean seashore.
I used to tease Bob Grant about his "$400 oil changes". I need to call him up and tell him I had nothing to complain about having just had a $1000 oil change.
Showing posts with label Buying a Car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buying a Car. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2012
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Food mostly GiST #19
1. Ryya and Vladik came for supper last night so I have another granddaughter story. She is 5. Mother: "Why aren't you learning to read?" Girl: "I don't have to; my friend Iliya can read". Late at night, her mother can hear her tossing and turning in her bed. "Why aren't you asleep?" "Mama, who first decided the world was round?" And mother had to go to Google and find out before the kid would settle down.
2. Tanya went to the market today and I didn't have to go.
3. When she got home we made three litres of Adzhika sauce. Tomatoes, bell peppers, red chili peppers, fresh horseradish root and garlic all run through the food grinder. 24 cloves of garlic turned out to be too many and next time we will use just 12. The sauce can be cooked and bottled or just bottled and kept in the fridge which is what we did. Apparently you can eat it with anything though it seems to me it would go best on beef. it is good on bread and butter too.
4. Tanya made vereniki (perogies to some of you) for supper and put a bunch in the freezer too. Vereniki is first boiled of course. Potato stuffed vereniki are then fried in butter with onions. Cottage cheese vereniki are basted with melted butter and eaten with sour cream.
5. Number ONE son and DIL bought a new to them car, a 2008 Ford Escape. They needed a new car so badly as their Toyota had seen better days. I am glad.
2. Tanya went to the market today and I didn't have to go.
3. When she got home we made three litres of Adzhika sauce. Tomatoes, bell peppers, red chili peppers, fresh horseradish root and garlic all run through the food grinder. 24 cloves of garlic turned out to be too many and next time we will use just 12. The sauce can be cooked and bottled or just bottled and kept in the fridge which is what we did. Apparently you can eat it with anything though it seems to me it would go best on beef. it is good on bread and butter too.
4. Tanya made vereniki (perogies to some of you) for supper and put a bunch in the freezer too. Vereniki is first boiled of course. Potato stuffed vereniki are then fried in butter with onions. Cottage cheese vereniki are basted with melted butter and eaten with sour cream.
5. Number ONE son and DIL bought a new to them car, a 2008 Ford Escape. They needed a new car so badly as their Toyota had seen better days. I am glad.
Friday, June 18, 2010
It's the Rules
I bought Roman a new keyboard yesterday for his birthday as his old one had a broken wire. He took it home and it didn't work so today we took it back to the big electronics shop where we bought it. The same girl was at the till and knew who we were. We had the receipt and the MC slip. They needed a passport. Mine or Roman's. Didn't matter but to return it they needed a passport with positive identification. We went and got Roman's passport and got the amount credited to my MC. I was so proud. I had mastered enough Russian to tell them their service was terrible and that I will not buy anything from them again.
We went to a little computer shop "Mir" and got excellent service, a 5% discount card and the knowledge that problems would be dealt with immediately with no red tape. I like small shops.
This afternoon Tanya, Ky and I drove to Krivii Rih to get the 75,000 km oil change done on the Kia. That cost us about $120. For an oil change. The next one is due at 90,000 km and our warranty runs out at 100,000. I can get it done locally by a mechanic I trust for about 1/3 that so I think we will skip the last oil change at KIA Motors.
We had a couple hours to kill while we waited for the oil change, so took a taxi to our favourite store to shop and have tea. We got in line at a till and Tanya told Ky and I to go ahead to the on-site restaurant and wait for her. We slipped past the other customers in the line and we hauled up sharply by the sales clerk who informed us we could NOT exit there, we had to go back to the place marked EXIT. I thought Ky would hurt herself laughing. She is learning about Ukraine.
We went to a little computer shop "Mir" and got excellent service, a 5% discount card and the knowledge that problems would be dealt with immediately with no red tape. I like small shops.
This afternoon Tanya, Ky and I drove to Krivii Rih to get the 75,000 km oil change done on the Kia. That cost us about $120. For an oil change. The next one is due at 90,000 km and our warranty runs out at 100,000. I can get it done locally by a mechanic I trust for about 1/3 that so I think we will skip the last oil change at KIA Motors.
We had a couple hours to kill while we waited for the oil change, so took a taxi to our favourite store to shop and have tea. We got in line at a till and Tanya told Ky and I to go ahead to the on-site restaurant and wait for her. We slipped past the other customers in the line and we hauled up sharply by the sales clerk who informed us we could NOT exit there, we had to go back to the place marked EXIT. I thought Ky would hurt herself laughing. She is learning about Ukraine.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
No, You CAN'T Make this Stuff Up
Yesterday, Friday, was the last day for the annual safety registration of our car for 2010. While the ownership of our car is registered in Zhovti Vody, because our residence is registered in P'yatkhatskii Raion, we must go to the office of the Motor Vehicle Police (DAI) in the "county seat" of P'yatikhatki. To register, one is required to provide a safety diagnostic from a licenced provider and a health certificate for the main driver.
Tanya had gone to P'yatikhatki several weeks ago to find out what the protocol was for the safety registration and what documents we needed. Last time it took 10 minutes to get out little card. I had traded a box of chocolates and a jar of coffee to the local head doctor for her signature on a health certificate printed on what we used to call scrap paper and we didn't need a safety diagnostic. Because our car was new when we first registered it, we had two years before we needed to come back. I was not new but apparently my health certificate could wait the two years too.
This time there was no fooling about the health certificate. They had a new fancy blue form which was constantly in short supply. Mine has my picture and stamps approving me as healthy enough to drive trucks and cars but not public transportation. Andrei and I went to the local diagnostic centre where they check the brakes and steering, turn signals and head lights. We got an official print out, which I didn't read, but it must not have mentioned our cracked windshield (nowhere near my line of vision but illegal none-the-less) or the fact that no matter how often you set them up, the emergency brakes do not work.
We also needed a copy of our insurance policy, my driver's licences and the usual passport copies. We were set. Oh, yes, one small detail. Andrei had a couple of speeding tickets from some time ago. When Tanya first went to check, she found them posted on the computer under our car's registration. They have to be paid before you can get the safety registration renewed. Andrei paid them Friday morning in Zhovi Vody. Because his residence is in the city, he has to pay his fines there.
I picked up the receipts from his home and Tanya and I headed for P'yatikhatki. First, because the fine payment would not have time to work its way through the system, we had to stop at the office in Zhovti Vody which deals with all fines. Tanya took the bank receipt to them and got another receipt. By 2:30 we were in the DAI office in P'yatikhatki. We sailed through the first part but when it came time to deal with the fact the tickets were paid, we had a problem. TWO tickets require TWO receipts, not one for both. After some discussion we got a document from them that had to be stamped by the DAI in Zhovti Vody.
So at 3:00 we headed back to the city, got the required stamps and by 5:00 we were back in P'yatikhatki. Tanya walked in the door and the computer crashed. This is the program with every vehicle in Ukraine listed, which prints out the safety registration cards. We waited until 6:00 closing time to see if the computer would come back up. N'yet.
Kyiv sent a man down this morning to check the computer as it was not the main program which crashed. He turned it on and it worked perfectly. The man at the DAI office called tonight to say he would meet us on our way through P'yatikhatki tomorrow and give us our card.
Tanya had gone to P'yatikhatki several weeks ago to find out what the protocol was for the safety registration and what documents we needed. Last time it took 10 minutes to get out little card. I had traded a box of chocolates and a jar of coffee to the local head doctor for her signature on a health certificate printed on what we used to call scrap paper and we didn't need a safety diagnostic. Because our car was new when we first registered it, we had two years before we needed to come back. I was not new but apparently my health certificate could wait the two years too.
This time there was no fooling about the health certificate. They had a new fancy blue form which was constantly in short supply. Mine has my picture and stamps approving me as healthy enough to drive trucks and cars but not public transportation. Andrei and I went to the local diagnostic centre where they check the brakes and steering, turn signals and head lights. We got an official print out, which I didn't read, but it must not have mentioned our cracked windshield (nowhere near my line of vision but illegal none-the-less) or the fact that no matter how often you set them up, the emergency brakes do not work.
We also needed a copy of our insurance policy, my driver's licences and the usual passport copies. We were set. Oh, yes, one small detail. Andrei had a couple of speeding tickets from some time ago. When Tanya first went to check, she found them posted on the computer under our car's registration. They have to be paid before you can get the safety registration renewed. Andrei paid them Friday morning in Zhovi Vody. Because his residence is in the city, he has to pay his fines there.
I picked up the receipts from his home and Tanya and I headed for P'yatikhatki. First, because the fine payment would not have time to work its way through the system, we had to stop at the office in Zhovti Vody which deals with all fines. Tanya took the bank receipt to them and got another receipt. By 2:30 we were in the DAI office in P'yatikhatki. We sailed through the first part but when it came time to deal with the fact the tickets were paid, we had a problem. TWO tickets require TWO receipts, not one for both. After some discussion we got a document from them that had to be stamped by the DAI in Zhovti Vody.
So at 3:00 we headed back to the city, got the required stamps and by 5:00 we were back in P'yatikhatki. Tanya walked in the door and the computer crashed. This is the program with every vehicle in Ukraine listed, which prints out the safety registration cards. We waited until 6:00 closing time to see if the computer would come back up. N'yet.
Kyiv sent a man down this morning to check the computer as it was not the main program which crashed. He turned it on and it worked perfectly. The man at the DAI office called tonight to say he would meet us on our way through P'yatikhatki tomorrow and give us our card.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Lessons Learned and Still to Learn
First.
For two years, ever since we moved here, low water pressure has been a problem we just accepted as the way things are. Until a couple weeks ago, Tanya asked Lucia about their water pressure. Lots of pressure at her house so it was not the city water system, it was our problem.
We called Yuri in of course and he took the pipes apart. We had pressure to the meter but none after. So he installed a new meter, cleaned junk out of all the shut-off valves, and installed another filter in front of the meter. Now the water pressure will take the skin off your back in the shower.
Makes you wonder how often in life we accept things as "the way things are" when it is within our own power to change them?
Second
I bought an electric chain saw in Krivii Rih a week ago yesterday to cut up all the wood around here into fuel lengths. Russian built and $40 cheaper than a Makita. The young man at Epicenter took it out of the box and plugged it in to show me that it worked, then put it back in the box. Neither of us looked closely at it.
Sunday, Roman and I took it out of the box to assemble and go saw some tree branches. There is a cast aluminum set of anti-kickback teeth at the front of the saw. The casting was broken. Someone had dropped it in the factory as there was no damage to the box and no broken pieces in the box.
Andrei and I took it back to Epicenter on Tuesday when we were looking for tires, explained the problem, filled out the required documents and were told that we would hear from them in 14 days. To get that far took us an hour. It is unlikely we will get a replacement as I had my chance to inspect it in the store and they will argue that I dropped it.
Third (but old)
Within a month of when I first bought the car, i managed to break the right back tail light. We fixed it with red tape and you can hardly see it unless you look carefully. We ordered the part, picked it up in Dnipropetrovsk and put it in the garage "for the next time I broke the tail light". A year ago, I decided to install it, opened the box and the part was for the LEFT tail light. I had my chance to inspect it when I picked up the box and did not. Well, if I ever break the left tail light, I am set.
Canadians have no idea how fortunate they are to get the quality of service they do. Much of it is based on trust. Here there is no trust (and justifiably so) and it increases cost of doing business dramatically.
For two years, ever since we moved here, low water pressure has been a problem we just accepted as the way things are. Until a couple weeks ago, Tanya asked Lucia about their water pressure. Lots of pressure at her house so it was not the city water system, it was our problem.
We called Yuri in of course and he took the pipes apart. We had pressure to the meter but none after. So he installed a new meter, cleaned junk out of all the shut-off valves, and installed another filter in front of the meter. Now the water pressure will take the skin off your back in the shower.
Makes you wonder how often in life we accept things as "the way things are" when it is within our own power to change them?
Second
I bought an electric chain saw in Krivii Rih a week ago yesterday to cut up all the wood around here into fuel lengths. Russian built and $40 cheaper than a Makita. The young man at Epicenter took it out of the box and plugged it in to show me that it worked, then put it back in the box. Neither of us looked closely at it.
Sunday, Roman and I took it out of the box to assemble and go saw some tree branches. There is a cast aluminum set of anti-kickback teeth at the front of the saw. The casting was broken. Someone had dropped it in the factory as there was no damage to the box and no broken pieces in the box.
Andrei and I took it back to Epicenter on Tuesday when we were looking for tires, explained the problem, filled out the required documents and were told that we would hear from them in 14 days. To get that far took us an hour. It is unlikely we will get a replacement as I had my chance to inspect it in the store and they will argue that I dropped it.
Third (but old)
Within a month of when I first bought the car, i managed to break the right back tail light. We fixed it with red tape and you can hardly see it unless you look carefully. We ordered the part, picked it up in Dnipropetrovsk and put it in the garage "for the next time I broke the tail light". A year ago, I decided to install it, opened the box and the part was for the LEFT tail light. I had my chance to inspect it when I picked up the box and did not. Well, if I ever break the left tail light, I am set.
Canadians have no idea how fortunate they are to get the quality of service they do. Much of it is based on trust. Here there is no trust (and justifiably so) and it increases cost of doing business dramatically.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Re-Tired
We put new summer tires on the KIA yesterday. The winter tires will last another season but the Hancook summer tires we took off last fall were worn out after two summers. One balances tires in Ukraine but as I mentioned before one does not do wheel alignments.
Trying to find good quality affordable tires was not easy. (Note: FX rate is 8 UAH to the CAD or USD). The place I usually go to have tires repaired and from whom I bought the winter tires two years ago quoted between 850 and 950 UAH per tire for Michelin or Continental. In Canada I would not have quarreled with that as anything under $125 for good tires, installed is OK in my books. But the roads are so bad here that I am torn between cheap throw away tires that could be dangerous or good tires that may get wrecked anyhow.
Andrei said that Nokian Hakka H tires, made in Finland had been rated as the best tires for the money. We were quoted 740 UAH so yesterday we went to Krivii Rih to see if we could find something cheaper but still acceptable quality - in the 600 UAH ($75) range.
We went to two big tire stores, all with well known brands but no bargains. We went to Epicentre (Costco/Home Depot). Their Nokians were Russian made. No thanks. We went to the big market place for all things made in Russia/Ukraine automotive. We found Kumho tires for 600 UAH. I could live with that. No credit cards of course so off we went to find a bank machine and grab a quick lunch. Forty-five minutes later the Kumho tires were now 700 UAH. "It's Ukraine".
So we drove back to Zhovti Vody and put on the Nokians at 740 installed. Good tires for $370.
By the way, that is a month's wages for a great many people and two months' for rural farm workers, street sweepers and the like.
Trying to find good quality affordable tires was not easy. (Note: FX rate is 8 UAH to the CAD or USD). The place I usually go to have tires repaired and from whom I bought the winter tires two years ago quoted between 850 and 950 UAH per tire for Michelin or Continental. In Canada I would not have quarreled with that as anything under $125 for good tires, installed is OK in my books. But the roads are so bad here that I am torn between cheap throw away tires that could be dangerous or good tires that may get wrecked anyhow.
Andrei said that Nokian Hakka H tires, made in Finland had been rated as the best tires for the money. We were quoted 740 UAH so yesterday we went to Krivii Rih to see if we could find something cheaper but still acceptable quality - in the 600 UAH ($75) range.
We went to two big tire stores, all with well known brands but no bargains. We went to Epicentre (Costco/Home Depot). Their Nokians were Russian made. No thanks. We went to the big market place for all things made in Russia/Ukraine automotive. We found Kumho tires for 600 UAH. I could live with that. No credit cards of course so off we went to find a bank machine and grab a quick lunch. Forty-five minutes later the Kumho tires were now 700 UAH. "It's Ukraine".
So we drove back to Zhovti Vody and put on the Nokians at 740 installed. Good tires for $370.
By the way, that is a month's wages for a great many people and two months' for rural farm workers, street sweepers and the like.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Car Insurance
We renewed the insurance on our car today. It ran out tomorrow. I thought it had run out last week.
We had trouble finding an agent. The little insurance office by the DIA vehicle registration office was vacant every time we went by and the phone number in the window didn't work. Tanya finally got on the internet, found the company website and talked to the office in Dnipro. She gave them all the information and today a lady from somewhere in the DIA office building came over to the insurance office to finish the process.
It took over an hour. Masha and I had a snowball fight to kill time while we were waiting. First Tanya got the invoice and then went to the bank to pay it. The bank wouldn't have anything to do with anything plastic so we then had to get cash from a Bankomat and go back. Once it was paid for, the insurance lady needed pictures of the car. She didn't have a camera so went to find someone who did. A girl in the DIA office had a cell phone camera. It didn't work. A guy from the office had a camera and took pictures but had no way to get them to the insurance company.
We went for groceries, went home and took the pictures ourselves and emailed them to the office in Dnipro.
We had trouble finding an agent. The little insurance office by the DIA vehicle registration office was vacant every time we went by and the phone number in the window didn't work. Tanya finally got on the internet, found the company website and talked to the office in Dnipro. She gave them all the information and today a lady from somewhere in the DIA office building came over to the insurance office to finish the process.
It took over an hour. Masha and I had a snowball fight to kill time while we were waiting. First Tanya got the invoice and then went to the bank to pay it. The bank wouldn't have anything to do with anything plastic so we then had to get cash from a Bankomat and go back. Once it was paid for, the insurance lady needed pictures of the car. She didn't have a camera so went to find someone who did. A girl in the DIA office had a cell phone camera. It didn't work. A guy from the office had a camera and took pictures but had no way to get them to the insurance company.
We went for groceries, went home and took the pictures ourselves and emailed them to the office in Dnipro.
I have become that most-to-be-feared driver - an old man with no neck and a hat.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Beauty and Muscle - at a Price
The Guy bought a shiny new black truck. He may let May-B drive it when she gets older. Or after HE puts the first dent or scratch in it. I saw on MSN website the other day that of the Top 10 Gas guzzlers in North America, it ranks 9th.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Will that be cash or...cash?
The other day in Kyiv a couple were robbed at gunpoint of $350,000 USD which they were carrying in a briefcase, just like in the movies. The gunmen knew they had just sold their house and would be leaving the real estate office, or more likely a lawyer's office, with cash. The police caught the men and retrieved the cash. That fact is more astounding than that the couple were carrying cash after selling their home but it is not the point of my story.
For purchases except at retail where they take credit cards, either money is deposited directly into a person's or firm's bank account or cash changes hands. Or both. That is how we bought our car, for example. Kia Motors gave us an account number good for two days into which we were to deposit the purchase price of the car. We took the receipt from the bank to the dealership and proceeded from there.
When Tanya and I bought her Ex's share of the house we were directed to deposit half the money into his bank and bring the other half in cash. We had a wad of $100's that would choke a horse and made me very nervous.
While mortgages are available I have no idea how one would get them following these business practices. To me it made sense to borrow the money to buy out Tanya's Ex by taking out a mortgage for his share, using her share as security. Wouldn't happen, Tanya said. No money no signee.
I tried to buy Lingvo dictionary on line to down load. I wanted to buy it as of Ukraine, not Canada as the cost was half and it came with Ukrainian in the bundle, not just Russian English. I wanted to pay for it with my Canadian credit card on line. That too was a non starter. Only credit cards from Ukrainian banks were accepted. We found a shop that carries ABBYY products in Dnipropetrovsk and we'll buy it there. For cash.
We live in a country where fraud could be an everyday occurance and property rights and contract law are pretty hazy concepts; with outcomes by no means predictable. Cash is safe.
For purchases except at retail where they take credit cards, either money is deposited directly into a person's or firm's bank account or cash changes hands. Or both. That is how we bought our car, for example. Kia Motors gave us an account number good for two days into which we were to deposit the purchase price of the car. We took the receipt from the bank to the dealership and proceeded from there.
When Tanya and I bought her Ex's share of the house we were directed to deposit half the money into his bank and bring the other half in cash. We had a wad of $100's that would choke a horse and made me very nervous.
While mortgages are available I have no idea how one would get them following these business practices. To me it made sense to borrow the money to buy out Tanya's Ex by taking out a mortgage for his share, using her share as security. Wouldn't happen, Tanya said. No money no signee.
I tried to buy Lingvo dictionary on line to down load. I wanted to buy it as of Ukraine, not Canada as the cost was half and it came with Ukrainian in the bundle, not just Russian English. I wanted to pay for it with my Canadian credit card on line. That too was a non starter. Only credit cards from Ukrainian banks were accepted. We found a shop that carries ABBYY products in Dnipropetrovsk and we'll buy it there. For cash.
We live in a country where fraud could be an everyday occurance and property rights and contract law are pretty hazy concepts; with outcomes by no means predictable. Cash is safe.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
We Buy a Car
The Kia Carens station wagon has almost 30,000 km on it. We bought it in February. #1 and # 2 sons said that Kia was OK and #2 is going to buy a Kia Sorento in spring. Standard transmission is the only thing I hate about it. That and the price. $25,000 USD.
Needs sparkplugs every 20,000 kms because of the gas. Gives us good mileage, compared to my vans over the years. 10 litres per 100 kms. Comfortable. Tanya likes it and wants to take driving lessons. I am all in favour of that. Then she can see for herself avoiding ALL the holes in the roads is mission impossible.
I’d have been happy with a Lada but there are appearances to keep up, you know. From the bottom on up Lada, Daewoo (built in Zaporizhzhia) and Chevy Aveo. I would have really liked a Fiat Doblo or one of its close mini-minivan cousins, too. They are as popular here as the minivan at home. But they look somewhat boxy, pretty cheap interior in the Renaults and Peugeots we looked at so passed on it. My brother-in-law in Siberia drives a Volga, which is a Russian built sort of Crown Victoria heavy tank. I loved it but Tanya says it is very hard on gas.
Buying the car was an experience. Absolutely no prep work done in the show room. We had to remove all the protective plastic in order to drive it out and WE had to drive it out. We went to the bank and had the money transferred from our account to the dealers. No cheques in this country. They put a red dealer licence plate on it and off we went. I have no idea if we had insurance or not as we drove home from Dnipropetrovs’k.
I took the minibus back to four days latter to pick up the documentation so we could register it and buy insurance. You can’t buy insurance until it is registered and you have to register it in your hometown. It takes four days for the dealer to prepare all the paper. They wanted to know where their dealer plate was. I said they got it back when I got my own plates.
We took the papers and the car to be registered. Four hours later and several offices back and forth, we went to the bank wicket to pay the taxes on the car. Several, not sure how many and we got receipts for them all. Not a lot of money. Much cheaper than Saskatchewan but they got most of their tax as import duty which was in the purchase price. Then the man came out to double check the numbers on the motor, the body and the frame. No match. Dealer had left a digit off the documentation. Back to Dnipropetrovs'k on the minibus.
This time it matched. We got our plates and all the correct documentation which we carry at all times. Registration card is a little plastic credit card. Tanya is the owner; Andrei (#2 Son) and I are the recognized drivers. Anyone else drives it; one of the three of us has to be in the car. We go to buy insurance. He wants to know how many years I have been driving, as it is not marked on my Canadian licence. I said legally about 44 years. He should have asked how many accidents in the last five but as Tanya said, we’d never get insurance.
Needs sparkplugs every 20,000 kms because of the gas. Gives us good mileage, compared to my vans over the years. 10 litres per 100 kms. Comfortable. Tanya likes it and wants to take driving lessons. I am all in favour of that. Then she can see for herself avoiding ALL the holes in the roads is mission impossible.
I’d have been happy with a Lada but there are appearances to keep up, you know. From the bottom on up Lada, Daewoo (built in Zaporizhzhia) and Chevy Aveo. I would have really liked a Fiat Doblo or one of its close mini-minivan cousins, too. They are as popular here as the minivan at home. But they look somewhat boxy, pretty cheap interior in the Renaults and Peugeots we looked at so passed on it. My brother-in-law in Siberia drives a Volga, which is a Russian built sort of Crown Victoria heavy tank. I loved it but Tanya says it is very hard on gas.
Buying the car was an experience. Absolutely no prep work done in the show room. We had to remove all the protective plastic in order to drive it out and WE had to drive it out. We went to the bank and had the money transferred from our account to the dealers. No cheques in this country. They put a red dealer licence plate on it and off we went. I have no idea if we had insurance or not as we drove home from Dnipropetrovs’k.
I took the minibus back to four days latter to pick up the documentation so we could register it and buy insurance. You can’t buy insurance until it is registered and you have to register it in your hometown. It takes four days for the dealer to prepare all the paper. They wanted to know where their dealer plate was. I said they got it back when I got my own plates.
We took the papers and the car to be registered. Four hours later and several offices back and forth, we went to the bank wicket to pay the taxes on the car. Several, not sure how many and we got receipts for them all. Not a lot of money. Much cheaper than Saskatchewan but they got most of their tax as import duty which was in the purchase price. Then the man came out to double check the numbers on the motor, the body and the frame. No match. Dealer had left a digit off the documentation. Back to Dnipropetrovs'k on the minibus.
This time it matched. We got our plates and all the correct documentation which we carry at all times. Registration card is a little plastic credit card. Tanya is the owner; Andrei (#2 Son) and I are the recognized drivers. Anyone else drives it; one of the three of us has to be in the car. We go to buy insurance. He wants to know how many years I have been driving, as it is not marked on my Canadian licence. I said legally about 44 years. He should have asked how many accidents in the last five but as Tanya said, we’d never get insurance.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Banking in Ukraine
We set out to buy a car in January which meant transferring the last of my cash to Tanya’s account at Privat Bank. In three tranches so as not to attract attention by being over the $10,000 limit on any one transaction. We had been transferring money several times so my branch of the Credit Union knew the routine by heart. I could check on line to see when the money left my account and after three days it would be in Tanya’s account. Except it wasn’t.
Tanya had lost her bank card in Canada some place and got a new one. And a new account. Who knew? The money was transferred to her old account number. So we go down to Tanya’s branch where her account is and up to the third floor where people deal with such things. The dingy hallway/waiting area looked like a cross between a bus depot in the slums and a doctor’s waiting room in flu season. Full of rank and file mostly middle aged and old people. No receptionist just closed doors the length of the hall. And a computer terminal which gave you a choice of 8 problems and then a number. Two screens flashed numbers periodically and people got up exited to "The Room" which seemed to have people behind it doing something.
Efficient? No. Some people picked two or more problems and got two or more numbers to see if it would speed up their waiting time. Sometimes the machine spit out two numbers at a time. A young lady from inside “The Room” spent most of her time in the hall sorting out the mess. Another young woman in tight Dolce & Gabbana jeans and above-the-knee red Italian-leather stilettos clattered up and down the ceramic tiled floor, moving VIP (Very Important Paper) from room to room through the hierarchy for approvals and the all important stamps. We waited. And waited. An hour!
Finally our turn came. We entered “The room” which had about 18 people at desks rowed down both sides of the room. Depending on the problem you picked, you were sent to the desk of the person(s) who would work on it. We found ourselves with a young man who actually was keen and wanted to help. He had one chair in front of his desk. Tanya sat down and began to explain the situation. This was going to take time, I could see so I looked for a chair. There was an empty chair right across the aisle in front of a hard working woman displaying cleavage normally associated with the Oscars or New Year’s Eve parties. She was not working with clients so I asked politely if I could borrow her chair. She point blank refused.
I don’t know if she thought I was going to sit and stare at her or what. I know I find décolletage interesting but now that I am an old man, I cannot remember why. I just wanted to sit down. At any rate, Tanya intervened and I got the chair. The young man understood the problem and was certain it could be solved. He checked Tanya’s old account number. No money there either. Oh, cool. We gave him the details of the transfer, all relevant numbers, Tanya’s internal passport and he left. Another girl came in with some documents which Tanya looked at. She left. Thirty minutes later the young man came back. Money was now in the old account. Transferring it to the new account took another thirty minutes, more VIP to be read, signed and stamped and much more rushing too and fro but it happened.
We should have known this was just a warning of things to come.
Tanya had lost her bank card in Canada some place and got a new one. And a new account. Who knew? The money was transferred to her old account number. So we go down to Tanya’s branch where her account is and up to the third floor where people deal with such things. The dingy hallway/waiting area looked like a cross between a bus depot in the slums and a doctor’s waiting room in flu season. Full of rank and file mostly middle aged and old people. No receptionist just closed doors the length of the hall. And a computer terminal which gave you a choice of 8 problems and then a number. Two screens flashed numbers periodically and people got up exited to "The Room" which seemed to have people behind it doing something.
Efficient? No. Some people picked two or more problems and got two or more numbers to see if it would speed up their waiting time. Sometimes the machine spit out two numbers at a time. A young lady from inside “The Room” spent most of her time in the hall sorting out the mess. Another young woman in tight Dolce & Gabbana jeans and above-the-knee red Italian-leather stilettos clattered up and down the ceramic tiled floor, moving VIP (Very Important Paper) from room to room through the hierarchy for approvals and the all important stamps. We waited. And waited. An hour!
Finally our turn came. We entered “The room” which had about 18 people at desks rowed down both sides of the room. Depending on the problem you picked, you were sent to the desk of the person(s) who would work on it. We found ourselves with a young man who actually was keen and wanted to help. He had one chair in front of his desk. Tanya sat down and began to explain the situation. This was going to take time, I could see so I looked for a chair. There was an empty chair right across the aisle in front of a hard working woman displaying cleavage normally associated with the Oscars or New Year’s Eve parties. She was not working with clients so I asked politely if I could borrow her chair. She point blank refused.
I don’t know if she thought I was going to sit and stare at her or what. I know I find décolletage interesting but now that I am an old man, I cannot remember why. I just wanted to sit down. At any rate, Tanya intervened and I got the chair. The young man understood the problem and was certain it could be solved. He checked Tanya’s old account number. No money there either. Oh, cool. We gave him the details of the transfer, all relevant numbers, Tanya’s internal passport and he left. Another girl came in with some documents which Tanya looked at. She left. Thirty minutes later the young man came back. Money was now in the old account. Transferring it to the new account took another thirty minutes, more VIP to be read, signed and stamped and much more rushing too and fro but it happened.
We should have known this was just a warning of things to come.
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