
Nearly ten years ago, I drove from the North Oxfordshire countryside to Prague, in order to begin my new life here in the Czech Republic. I drove in my right-hand drive Renault Scenic, first registered in March 2000, which has belonged to me since February 2004. I explained my reasons for bringing my car with the steering wheel on the ‘wrong’ side, to the Czech Republic, in this blog post from June 2009. Then there is a further post asking you to ‘Check this Czech car out!‘ 🙂
The ‘Carly’, as the Renault Scenic has become proverbially known, took Sybille and I all the way to Turkey and back in October 2009. In October 2015, it took us all around Poland. In between those trips, there have been various visits to Croatia, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as to many different places within the Czech Republic.
The ‘Carly’ has also taken me back to the UK on three occasions, the first of which I wrote about here, explaining all that is involved in a drive across five countries to Dunkerque on the French side of the English Channel. The last time I undertook the trip was in December 2017, in order to spend Christmas with my children and grandchildren, the first Christmas in 28 years when I wasn’t working!
However, despite my strong affection for the ‘Carly’, back in June, I came to the sad conclusion that the time had come to part with it and buy another car. There were three main reasons for this. Firstly, it has 217,826 miles / 350,000 kilometres on the clock. Secondly, the bodywork is beginning to go in several places, especially around the rear wheel arches. Thirdly and most significantly, various parts of the ‘Carly’s brain’ are no longer functioning. Whilst it would, at considerable expense, be possible to replace the ‘brain’, the Renault dealer in Prague told me that there would be no guarantee that a new ‘brain’ would talk to other parts of the ‘Carly’ and would thus render it immovable!
Having many times driven past Gregi Auta in Ústí nad Labem and seen their wide range of second-hand cars, I decided it was the place to start looking for another car. I visited on the afternoon of Tuesday 19th June and two hours later, I had become the owner of the blue Volkswagen Golf that you see in the photograph at the beginning of this post and below.

Whilst it is sixteen years old, it had only 140,000 km on the clock and the bodywork is in excellent condition. Likewise the engine seems fine. Buying it hasn’t put a major dent in my bank account so, if it lasts the next three to four years, I shall be more than happy. Interestingly, it had been imported from Germany, the previous owner being a resident of the Spreewald area, south of Berlin. Therefore two days after I purchased the car, I had to visit the town council offices in Decín and apply for a Czech registration document and number plates.
On a couple of occasions when in France, I have previously hired a left-hand drive car, therefore driving one is not a totally new experience. But it does still take some getting used to. Even now, nearly three months after purchasing it, I still sometimes open the wrong door to get in to drive. I also often look over the incorrect shoulder to find my seat belt. And I have, more than once, tried to change gear with the door handle 🙂
When I posted a photograph of my new VW Golf on Facebook, I did raise the question of what it should be called. I had a few suggestions and my favourite was ‘Nový Carly’ which is the one I’ve adopted.
I also have one other problem – how do I dispose of an eighteen year old, right-hand drive Renault Scenic, in the Czech Republic?
