10 Mar 09
Whether it's vicious kerbs, cavernous potholes or incompetent drivers, escaping a drive in London unscathed is quite an achievement.
You're not even safe once you reach your destination. Coming back jet-lagged from the Detroit Motor Show we were greeted by the sight of 'our' Fiesta in its parking bay with the driver's door mirror smashed up and dangling by its wires.
Once the echo of our screams had finished bouncing away into the next postcode we began dialling to find out how much somebody else's dreadful driving would cost us.
We rang around for a quote and after getting prices from four London dealers, the repair bill came to £120 - especially galling since that's precisely twice the amount it costs to park outside our house every year. At least it only took 20 minutes to fit.
