To turn up in old car to posh place?

[Ribrabrob]

I have an interview later at quite a high end health club type of place regularly frequented by millionaires. The job is a fairly basic admin type role.

I was planning to get the bus however this isn’t possible now so I’ll need to drive my car... a very old tired rusty KA which I just noticed has bird poo allllll over it (not enough time to clean it). the job ad made a point of saying that appearance is very important.

I really do need some kind of job right now - would I be unreasonable to turn up in this car? Should I cancel? I feel embarrassed. One side of me thinks I shouldn’t be and that it’s just a car, but then the other side of me is unsure.

Just to note it’s gated and they will see my car on the camera at the gates.

Just bob outside with a bucket of soapy water and a rag and give it a sloosh round, get the bird poo off, chuck a clean bucket of water over it and rub it down with a dry rag, 10 minute job.
Good luck at your interview

Yep! Genuinely posh people won't give a shit about your car.

I’ve got friends work at glen eagles. Nobody expects the staff to arrive in a helicopter.

Park round the corner or drive through a car wash.

The really posh usually have cars that are held together by mud and dog hair so I wouldn’t worry too much

If they're going to be fussy about what sort of cars their staff have, then they should provide one or give a car allowance.

They can hardly expect someone in a basic admin role to come in a new Beamer!

The richest couple I know live in a beautiful country estate, and outside they have an absolutely battered Landrover type thing for driving round their land, a giant ugly Volvo that's used for shopping etc and is full of old carrier bags and a very unremarkable Ford Fiesta. The husband plays golf and they are into the country club type lifestyle, so they're obviously taking these cars to some posh places without being shamed for it. Go to a petrol station and get the cheapest car wash just to get the poo off and you'll be fine.

All of the rich people round here drive old cars. Flashy cars scream new money or debt to me.

As everyone has said, the smartest people often have the messiest cars. My old boss had more money than Croesus and was an aristocrat, but drove absolutely batterd and filthy cars....and at boarding school, we were always wary of the shiny new car
Most people were in battered Volvos.

Good luck!

It doesn’t matter that it’s old, but I’d definitely clean it.

If you don't have time to clean the car, drive but park outside/away from the gates and walk in if that would stop you worrying about this issue.

Good luck, hope you get the jon.

I went to a party at the rac club in Epsom in my rusty old Corsa. The carpark was full of millions of pounds worth of sports cars and luxury cars. Why should I care. Just parked next to them.

As PPs have said, new, IME shiny, expensive cars in genuinely rich environments are often nouveau or tryhard. Usually the ones who are picky about old cars and appearances are those nouveau and tryhard, desperate that no one calls them out for not fitting in so picking on others proactively. The distinguished usually don't care what anyone thinks about them.

@Anordinarymum I couldn’t agree more with you.

One of the richest people for miles around, and a hereditary peer, used to rock up at Tesco in the shabbiest, filthiest Escort estate I have ever seen.

Lady [County Name] once turned up at the yard where I kept my horse in the oldest of Volvos, mainly held together by baler twine and gaffer tape. She was parked in the most annoying place for access and I sort of considered asking her (v politely) to move it when she said 'I can't turn the engine off dear, it will never start again'.

Of course leaving the engine on would not have negated her moving it, indeed it made it significantly easier, but I just couldn't deal with the situation and opened a different gate instead.

And good luck OP!

One if the richest men I know ( sadly died now) used to drive round in an ancient old Ford which seemed to be mainly held together with duct tape, he dressed in old saggy cords and comfy jumpers but sent all 4 of his children to.very posh boarding schools, had a huge house with an annex for his MIL which alone was bigger than your average home and owned God knows how much land.

Hope you get the job OP.

Clean the outside - but it demonstrates your common sense and frugality! Nothing to be ashamed of there!

I once drove my 16 year old hatchback into the Harrods underground valet car park. Only 'black card' members can park there. I could see the attendant inwardly groaning as I approached in my knackered old car, thinking he'd need to get me to reverse out (it's an awkward space and I've seen others trying to reverse when they went in by mistake).

He looked positively delighted when I flashed my black card, hopped out and handed him the keys to go park it. They're so used to flashy cars I think he and his colleagues found it hilarious that a normal looking person driving a knackered old car might spend loads of money in Harrods! I just happen to hate changing cars - it's not because I can't afford a new one, I just get attached to them and can't let them do until they actually die of natural causes.

Outing and stealth boasty, but I know quite a number of millionaires and mix with them quite a lot. I have 2 Mercedes, both older cars, and I much prefer the 20 year old one to the 8 year old one. It is often a bit grubby looking. There are circles where people can be very insecure and nouveau riche and worry about these things, but wasting money on flashy cars, often on credit, isn't really a great trait even amongst millionaires (unless you like that sort of thing of not owning outright).

go not do

Clean it and definitely go. It won’t be the most tired car there, in fact it will fit in with the old Volvo’s and land rovers a lot of really wealthy people drive. They simply won’t care.

I wouldn’t because you’re applying for a job there. You’re not an eccentric member who is a millionaire. Just drive to a nearby car park, park and walk the rest of the way. Even a nearby church car park would work.

Vair posh (aristo owning half a county) person I know once told me that the only person he knew driving a posh car was Prince Charles (not said in a good way). Having said that his idea of exercise was riding across the ancestral acres and he probably wouldn't have known what to do in a health club.

I used to work for a millionaire, he thought people in shiny new cars were very naff. There is some reverse snobbery about these things sometimes. Go and face it out.

Have you got time to go through a car wash if you are worried about it being dirty, doesn't take long.