Sure would help if you'd say WHERE WHERE WHERE this vanagon is, in terms of
parting it out or whatever.
WHERE something is to me makes a HUGE difference.
Like if it's west coast, east coast, etc.
I definitely buy vanagons parts n' stuff, but without knowing WHERE
something is..........you know ?
Thanx,
Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Neale Pickett
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 5:28 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: What to do with a crash survivor

It's funny, I was working on a message to this list asking for opinions
about whether I was cut out for owning this vehicle.  Last night as my
wife and I were discussing that very subject, someone failed to yield
pulling out onto the freeway and we T-boned them at 55MPH.  My wife,
daughter, and I are all bruised but not broken, amazingly.  The
windshield landed 15 feet ahead of the bus.

I was mostly focused on the people but here's what I took away about the
1989 7-passenger Vanagon:

 * It went from 55 to 0 awfully quickly
 * The cooling system now has a very fast leak :)
 * The windshield is gone
 * The front end is pretty banged up
 * My feet are fine

We decided this was our cosmic invitation to acknowledge we're not
Vanagon people.

I'm guessing from having read this list that the insurance company is
going to want to total it.  There's a good chance the frame is bent, and
in their book the vehicle's probably not worth that much.  I happen to
know that the parts on this thing are worth quite a bit.  We have:

 * A 2.3L GoWesty engine, still under warranty (about 7,000 miles on it)
 * New Nokian snow tires with reinforced sidewalls, about 100 miles on them
 * A Gary Lee rack
 * A Gary Lee rear bumper with trailer hitch
 * An unused Bus Depot awning
 * Two new GoWesty rear seat belts (weren't in use during the crash)
 * A whole van full of parts in good shape

The question is, how much of a pain is it going to be for me to recover
some of the money we put into the bus?  The engine alone was around 5
grand.  But I don't have the equipment to tear the thing down and sell
the parts out.

Any suggestions as to what to do?

Neale
who has a sore chest and a newfound love for Ralph Nader