Those of us who have mismeasured/miscalculated something in the past - can take heart - hopefully the mistake was not as costly as the one below… 
Another true Timmy story (as the kids would say).
I was always a bit rash when buying S/H cars and never thought things through. After buying a Saab 900 for £750 I proudly showed my father that despite his doubts it fitted it the garage although getting in and out of the driver’s side was tight, after driving it in I looked in the mirror and saw him shaking his head and pointing at the back of the car, I got out and immediately realised what the problem was - the car was sticking out of the garage! The car might have been a bargain but extending the garage cost me £3500, I’ve always bought small cars since.
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They should have had Jim doing their procurement!
Any petrol-head, like me, would be sucking their teeth and “Saab 900? LOTUS. [loads of trouble, usually serious]” Certainly a very thirsty beast and expensive to fix.
My best buy [excluding a sublime Merc Cabrio CLK220 for £3k] was a Mitsubishi Carisma. No car ever had such an inappropriate name. No wonder the model was the Mirage version. I called it ‘The Miasma’.
I bought it sight unseen on eBay on the basis of what I reckoned was a thoroughly honest description, “Much used rather than much loved but drives straight and true”. And it did. It had better a/c than my Jeep Cherokees. The Isuzu main dealer had it steam cleaned inside before handing it over. Dogs, children - it needed it.
Bombproof Mitsi engineering, 40 mpg, minute insurance. All for £353. Sold it for £550 when I bought the Merc.
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