On Thu, 4 May 1995 William R. Kennedy, NJIT CIAT, 201-596-5648@lenti.med.umn.edu wrote:

> Date: Thu, 4 May 95 09:30:55 CDT
> From: William R. Kennedy, NJIT CIAT, 201-596-5648@lenti.med.umn.edu
> To: Multiple recipients of list <vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu>
> Subject: Re: German Wants To Join!
> 
> I can give you a piece of a theory on why we don't have a lot of Germans
> on the list:  Because of TU:V, the only old cars in Germany are very nice,
> very original, and very expensive.  TU:V is a killer inspection process,
> nationwide not local, that fails cars for things like rust holes above a
> certain size, seatbelts don't retract, etc.  So keeping an old VW alive
> is much less likely to be part of the student or newly-employed experience.
> 
> And the good public transportation means that it's easier to live a full
> life in Europe with no car, or with one car for a family of four, than it
> is in most of the US.
> 
> We've got a rich man's hobby.  I wonder why the neighbors aren't impressed.
> B.
> 

Hi y'all and William,
I totally agree with you. I grew up and lived in germany until 3 years 
ago. As a student I was never able to afford a car. Just to get a drivers 
license cost you about $1000, depending on how many lessons you need. 
Around 20-30% fail their first drivers license exams and then it costs 
you another $300 to repeat it! The two cars I currently own would never 
pass the german inspection of the TUV.
You're also not allowed to perform certain work by yourself for your car, 
like major welding and brake jobs etc etc. All that sort of stuff must be 
done by a certified mechanic who charges $$$$$/hour. It's in general 
less common to do major maintenance work on cars on your own.
Regarding Busses/Vanagons, I noticed during my visit last Xmas that you 
can see tons ov Eurovans/Vanagons on the roads, but only a few pre '79 
busses and the few I saw were terribly attacked by the "rost devil".
The VW friends I have over there can hardly believe when I tell them that 
you can find here busses with almost no or only minor rust damage.
Just my 2 Pfennige

Stefan
'76 Camper Bulli (LILA)
'78 Rabbit Diesel