

| Subject: | Re: My first visit shopping for a Vanagon |
| From: | David Hicks |
| Date: | Wed, 12 Aug 1998 20:40:06 EDT |
Terry, Price, I discovered while shopping for my own 1st van over the past three or four months, is largely determined by location. So, where are you located? Second, turning back a speedometer is not an unheard of practice. The things you look for are very much like the things you found. Does this person have service records? If so you should always look at them to see the prior mileage. If not, you should be cautious of buying a vehicle that looks to be in bad shape anyway. I looked at one vehicle that was advertised as being in "excellent" shape. It had been re painted and the paint was peeling near the right front. There was rust on the right rear. There was a dent near the vents in the back on the left. The engine had 130,000 miles and looked like it was leaking oil. It was advertised as having a new engine and recent transmission. The transmission it turns out, was done at 93,000 miles. AND, there was no paper work for the engine, it just looked like it had been steam cleaned! I drove a long ways to look at this. After that I learned to ask specifics about the condition of the vehicle. The more detail you can get, the less needless driving you may have to do. I was fortunate to talk to some repair people who gave me great advice when they said, be patient, there are fewer for sale during the summer weather months. Wait and get what you want. If you find one that needs some work and the seller is asking a good price, okay. Just budget for the repairs. Good luck, David 91 Multi in great shape. :-) p.s. It's been interesting to watch the add for that vehicle that I looked at. The price has dropped a little, but it's now advertised as being in "mint shape". HAH!
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