At the age of 43 and with a full driving licence 26 years old I decided it was the right time in my life a buy a car that would by my ultimate choice.

I spent may months scouring through websites, magazines and dealerships before making a final choice of a Citroen C6, this car was everything I had ever dreamed of in design and comfort.

I then spent more time choosing colour and trim and decided on Storm Grey exterior with Wadibis Vitelli leather inside, the perfect combination (in my eyes). Now to find the car! I again had to trawl through dealerships and websites until I finally found the combination I was looking for.

A 2006 2.7 Exclusive with the optional Lounge Pack at Charters in Aldershot for £14.5k with 26k on the clock. I phoned them and bought the car over the phone in under 10 minutes, I hadn't even seen it yet.

The guy on the phone told me that it had a slight dent on the front bumper but otherwise in A1 Perfect Condition, I couldn't wait to pick it up...

I drove it home to Colchester and was feeling extremely proud, I was amazed at the looks the car was getting from other motorists, I felt like I had a beautiful lady on my arm and everyone was looking at her, it was great...

...as we arrived back in Colchester I noticed an unusual noise coming from underneath the car, not knowing what it could be I took it to Roy Tolley Citroen in Colchester (they really are the absolute best in customer service and I would highly recommend to anyone with a C6), they advised me that they had a specially trained C6 mechanic and that he would be straight out to take a look.

Minutes later he came out, I explained the noise and that I had just purchased the car with a full Citroen Inspection. I was told that the anti roll bar linkage needed replacing but not to worry as it was covered by Citroen Guarantee.

A couple of days later it went in to be repaired and was back within a couple of hours. All sorted...or so I thought!

The slight dent on the front bumper was my next challenge to sort out, Charters told me that I could get it fixed for £80 and threw in a tank of fuel to cover it, how kind.

I took it to 5 car body repair specialists who all quoted between £350 and £600 to repair it properly, one of them also pointed out a scuff on the offside rear corner and that the nearside rear wheel was unlacquered, their total price was £400 for everything so I booked it in for a fortnights time.

As luck would have it that very next weekend I drove to Great Yarmouth with my wife and family for a day out, I parked it safely and legally and off we went for the day, upon my return I noticed something on the windscreen, my first thought was a parking ticket but as I got closer I realised it was just a piece of paper.

An elderly couple in a C4 had scuffed the offside rear corner and had left their details as there were witnesses, how lucky was that...needless to say all of the bodywork was paid for by Saga.

That's why old people drive cars, I knew there was a reason.

Personalised plates are the order of the day now, another stroke of luck here my initials are RB and my wifes are GB so I thought something to show my love for her as I'm sure she thought the car had come between us, and I found this...




Next on the agenda is the family holiday to Spain...by car, I couldn't wait. The MOT was due before while we were away so I booked it in at Roy Tolleys so that they could give the car a once over before the 3000 mile round trip.

Now for the shock, I returned to Tolleys and was duly handed the MOT certificate but with it was a separate sheet of recommendations, what's this I asked. Apparently it needed 3 new tyres, new front brake discs and front brake pads at a cost of around £1500. I was gobsmacked, but Tolleys being Tolleys advised me to seek compensation from Charters as it should have had all this carried out before it left them.

I phoned Citroen UK for advice and they told me to write to the Dealership Principal, which I did. To cut a bit of a long story short and after a fair few phonecalls and emails between me and Charters and between Tolleys and Charters, Charters finally agreed to pay in full all the work that had to be carried out...RESULT

The Holiday...what can I say. It didn't skip a beat, 3000 miles through France, Spain, Monaco and then home through the French Alps and I only saw 3 other C6's. She drove like a dream.