Take coffee, for example. It wasn’t all that long ago that a weary traveller, stopping at the average services, would have been happy with a choice of one lukewarm brown drink, entitled simply ‘Coffee’. Usually hideously overpriced and horrendously underwarmed, it could usually be likened to tar.. although slightly less tasty. If you wanted to spice things up, you could go mad and add sugar..and if you really wanted to mix things up,… you ordered tea. These days though, two steps off any motorway exists the latest crop of coffee houses that boast a drinks list longer than most movie credits and the opportunity to embarrass yourself whilst ordering the world’s most ridiculously entitled Italian beverage. ‘Two doublebubblemochaskinneymegalattefinocinos, please.’ Honestly, some of these places require you to take an Italian degree, just to be able to place an order.

Thing is though, although I’d much rather give it a miss and go and have a cuppa, you have to admit that what Starsucks, Costalot and their brethren have all spotted is that these days, we do expect a bit of a choice in everything we do. And whilst 85 different coffees, 35 toppings and a personally tailored muffin solution seem a bit like overkill, you have to admit, it does allow you to get exactly what you want. And ultimately, this is a good thing..

Sandwiches are another. Gone are the dark mornings when your Gran packed you up with a cellophane parcel, containing last night’s dinner between two bits of aged bread. These days, there’s a sub for that.. And pretty much anything that you can imagine that can be legally inserted into a footlong loaf – and probably a few things that you can’t – can be ordered in the blink of an eye, and the swipe of a card.

It’s nothing new of course. The fashion industry has been doing it for centuries. Here’s one industry that realised almost back in Jurassic times that if all your neighbours were wearing mammoth, then you’d look pretty flippin’ special rocking up in a sabre-tooth two-piece. And so it went on. We’ve all been able to pick our wardrobes to suit our personalities since Mum stopped dressing us (at the age of 27 in my case) and this freedom extends to our homes, where even the aesthetically challenged are free to roam B&Q, picking god-awful combinations of fixtures and fittings. Vive le difference!.. as the French say..

The funny thing is, when you examine our beloved car scene, it’s strange that no-one has ever really taken the opportunity to allow personalisation to accommodate the most minute of details.. until now, that is.  Sure, you can choose which car you drive.. and then you can make it your own with the right suspension, the right wheels, the right accessories. But, the manufacturer still dictates what colour and size you get.. and that’s it. If you want to make it truly personal, you need to resort to doing it yourself – or farming it out to a third party specialist. And then, you can never be sure of the results.

Thankfully, someone at Dotz saw this coming, and knowing what a picky bunch we all are, came up with a cunning plan that should mean, once you’ve exercised your artistic talents, you will be able to create a truly one-off set off rims – and all under the warm, fuzzy glow of a factory warranty.

A quick click to www.dotzmag.com and the Custom Program reveals a world of choice based around 4 stunning wheel designs. The Tupac, Freeride Peak, Touge Graphite and Mugello. Not only are these good-looking rims available in a massive variety of fitments, but thanks to teaming with respected fashionistas Foliatec, Dotz can provide this in pretty much any colour way you can imagine. Over 200 Custom caps, inlays and rims finishes can all be ordered, making for an incredible 2,000 possible different combinations, meaning you have no excuse for not having things exactly the way you want them.

The online configurator lets you have your Picasso moment. Trying out all the different colourways from the comfort of your armchair, before you make your choice. It’s amazing that no-one has thought of it before, really. We spend hours poring over colour and trim charts before we choose our motors and then seem happy to accept our rims in vanilla flavour. But not anymore. Whether you’re feeling a hot-rod vibe, a bit of flower power, or maybe you’re just chasing show and shine trophies or magazine covers. Whatever. There’s A Dotz for that…