Hi,

I bought a van remotely and did not take appropriate precautions.  I
consider myself very, very lucky, now that I know much more about what I
should have had looked at, but didn't.

When you're buying, you generally are looking at reducing your costs since
you have in your head the idea of getting the best price possible.  That can
tweak your judgment with respect to whether to spend the money to get a
competent inspection.

But when you're buying a 20+-year-old car, very, very expensive problems can
easily be overlooked by the novice buyer.  Also, they are long on charm.
 That probably increases the chances that people will be driving them
because they love the concept, and unfortunately don't really know much
about maintenance.  (I mean, think of the demographic that is attracted to
these things--hippies, surfers, dopers, the August Machina cult, even people
with dreadlocks putting Ford engines in them...basically you'll never find a
more wretched hive of scum and villainy.)

It is worth the money to pay a competent, vanagon-experienced person to take
a good, thorough look at it.  If you do buy it, it would have been the first
thing to do anyway, before driving it anywhere, and if it ends up telling
you not to buy it, it probably saved you at least ten times the amount you
spent on the inspection.

mike

On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 11:27 AM, Brad Pauly <bpauly@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I think I'm finally ready to take the plunge. 10 years ago I was
> searching pretty seriously but never pulled the trigger. This time I
> think I'm ready. I was hoping to get some first time buyer advice.
> I've been looking for '86 and newer Westys. Originally I was set on a
> full camper, however, I think I'd be really happy with a weekender (at
> least at first).
>
> I'm not really a "car guy." I'm actually an engineer on paper so I can
> understand most of that stuff. I do like tinkering, but it's been with
> bicycles all my life which are decidedly less complex. I have two main
> questions.
>
> Should I avoid out-of-state vans? Not having experience working on
> cars it makes me a little nervous. If I could find a good local
> mechanic to make sure things are okay I'd feel much better though.
>
> What about older vans? Am I needlessly limiting myself with '86 and newer?
>
> Thanks for any advice or feedback!
>
> Cheers,
> Brad
>