On Thursday, we gained control of one of the most dangerous Israeli weapons in the rather wide arsenal. No, we don’t have shwarma breath… We got a car.
Or, at least, we’re babysitting one for a coworker for the next month until we begin leasing one of our very own from my company. Either way, a fresh, new freedom has been born with this addition to the family and its name is: unlimited petrol.
In the States, I never explored the topic of ‘company leasing’; I always assumed company cars meant your company gave one to you and covered the costs.
Here, it means you have the option of leasing through your company with certain benefits. They may cover your petrol and take care of your insurance. But you do pay towards it out of your salary and it definitely adds up. It all depends how far you have to travel for your job.
I was on the phone to my dad the other week, telling him about this deal. He asked what kinds of cars were offered. I excitedly told him we were going with the smallest (and cheapest), the Hyundai Getz, but for the next month – for the move – we’d have access to a big, bad Ford Focus.
He started laughing and when I realized why, I joined in. Here I am, American born and bred, boasting about a Ford Focus to help us move apartments. I guess that’s some kind of absorption/integration hurdle I’ve passed.
The actual driving in Israel hasn’t been as much a challenge as I had anticipated (tfu tfu tfu). Then again, I haven’t been up North yet.
Sharing a car with someone is actually harder. But we’ve got big plans for traveling to the far corners of this land for as long as we’re lucky enough to afford this luxury.
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I don’t know if its too late, and if you do get paid for petrol this is moot, but I would strongly advise against a Hyundai Getz. We got ours with ten thousand km’s on the clock, 6 months old, from my in laws. This car eats petrol for breakfast lunch and supper. It doesn’t matter the driving conditions, it doesn’t matter what you do, though if you put the aircon on it really really eats petrol. Its ridiculous. We get just under 400 km’s per tank, although that can drop to 300 if we use the aircon or drive in traffic too much. In comparison our 4 year old Fiat Punto was getting over 600km’s per tank. This might be useful to know given that at some point you might not have the company paying petrol and then you will be crying! And I presume the efficiency will get worse as the car ages. Our car is an automatic 1.6, so I suppose the efficiency might be better if you get a manual. I don’t know. Good luck!
Thanks, man. It’s not too late. I’ve actually only heard good things till now; too good to be true. But we aren’t paying for petrol although I feel bad being wasteful.
You are so lucky! I want a car! And, wow, now you’re a real high tech worker – company car! Now you’ve made it!
Haha… Thanks!
yeah about the petrol thing, we did some googling, and found many many unhappy people on forums talking about the getz. A lot of people had approached the manufacturers and been told there was nothing wrong with their cars, the fuel efficiency, even for brand new out the box, is just really low. What is good about the car is that it is quite high in its class for safety, which is obviously good for you, and if you’re planning on kids soon.
That’s awful. Well, good news about the safety. It’s not a done deal so we’ll see how it goes…
Heee, great thanks alot