My daughter broke down in her 14 year old VW Golf which she's had for 10 years and which has behaved perfectly. It has 60,000 miles on the clock. She called out the RAC. He managed to jump start it quite easily. Their conversation went something like this.

My daughter: That's great thanks. What was the problem?

RAC: The battery failed.

My daughter: But it's new. It shouldn't have failed.

RAC: Yeah. Well the car's knackered.

My daughter: It's just been serviced and passed its MOT.

RAC: Yeah. Well it's knackered.

My daughter: Any particular reason?

RAC: You don't drive enough.

My daughter: So I'm not charging up the battery?

RAC: Something like that.

My daughter: But I've been driving quite a lot lately.

RAC: Probably not enough.

My daughter: Perhaps the battery's faulty?

RAC: No. The battery's fine. The car's knackered. You'll need a new one soon.

My daughter: There must be a reason why the battery's not charging.

RAC: Like I said, the car's knackered.

My daughter: It's OK. I can handle bad news. There must be something specific? I know about generators and transmission and carburettors so you can be technical if you want to. If you write it down I can get my boyfriend to translate if it's too complicated for me.

RAC: Nah. It's nothing like that. Like I said, you haven't got enough mileage on the clock. Cars need to be driven.

My daughter: So you're telling me the car's knackered and I need a new one.

RAC: Yeah. That's what I'm trying to tell you.

My daughter: Many thanks. I really appreciate your trying to explain it so clearly. You probably find it easier talking to men about cars.

RAC: Yeah. That's right. I try to keep things simple.