Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 08:44:28 -0600
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: Buying Vehicles off E-bay Re: The Story Of The eBay Westy
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Ebay sellers are no different that sellers three blocks from your house.
They simply have a van for sale and the fact that Ebay takes them
national improves the chances for a sale.
I wouldn't hesitate to put a deposit on a Ebay sale van if I got final
inspection options to back out.
I'm in Texas and I've never sold a Vanagon Westy to anyone from Texas.
Every buyer has come from 'no closer than 1000 miles'.
Every buyer gave a final inspection and drove the vans enough local miles
to confirm that I wasn't hiding anything.
It is not the sellers responsibility to make an "It's going to fail soon,
list".
I'll be the first one to tell a potential buyer that it is common to
spend the purchase price again on maintenance and repairs within a year.
That excludes any body work or cosmetic repairs.
I often get put out by potential buyers poking at the under side with ice
picks while adjusting their halogen flashlights to weld mode.
I buy vans with a multitude of problems and work through them over a two
to six month period. I always buy at Buyer Beware level and just take
what comes. If you buy with that in mind you can normally justify almost
any repair since almost everybody I know has invested twice the resale
value in their vans within a couple of years.
Stan Wilder
On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 08:12:16 -0500 Eric Zeno <vw4x4@FYI.NET> writes:
> Jeff,
> Very good lesson learned here. "Would I buy another vehicle off
> eBay? NO!"
> Very well put. Simple and to the point. I just can't see being
> able to check
> everything on a vehicle that needs inspected over E-bay. Just
> can't do it.
> This is not to say that some sellers will not tell you, up front, of
> any major problems,
> but most people who let vehicle atrophy badly are not detail
> oriented. You may
> as well consider them to be blind. So "BUYER BE WARE"
> I once went to look at a car locally, that the owner said it had
> "new paint".
> It was new alright. He had just finished it with a roller and
> house paint!
> I once as a guy over the phone if the vehicle had any rust on
> it? He
> said no. When I got there, he had covered it all with bondo! See
> the
> problem? You just can't buy a vehicle without seeing it in person.
> Eric
>
>
>
> Jeff Stewart wrote:
>
> > OK, I've heard this list likes a good road trip story, so here
> goes. First, a little background: I've been a Bay Westy owner for
> the past 6 years, first a '76 then a '77. Both were in poor shape
> when I bought them and needed restoration, which I did all myself,
> evening learning to weld along the way. I sold my '76, swearing I'd
> never buy another-4 months later I bought the '77. Two weeks ago
> today I sold the '77, vowing again, no more VW buses. The following
> Saturday, I received a "favorite search" email from eBay, I have
> searches on "Westfalia" and "VW buses". The first item was a 1984
> Vanagon Westfalia, with a current price of $1,775.00, reserve not
> met. I bid $1800.00, and became the current high bidder, but reserve
> was still not met. For some reason (insanity?), I kept bidding in
> $50.00 increments until I was at $2,500.00 and the reserve was met.
> The auction was to end Sunday at 1:56 PM, and well needless to say I
> "won", but not at $2,500, but $2,952.00. Now I had the dilemma of
> > picking this thing up, since it was in Lancaster Ohio and I am in
> Round Hill Virginia. After exploring several options, my best bet
> was Amtrak. Only problem is Amtrak doesn't go to Lancaster, the
> closest I could get was Cleveland, with a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to
> Columbus, the closest I could get to Lancaster. The seller agreed to
> pick me up in Columbus in the Westy. So, last Friday afternoon I
> boarded Amtrak train #29 from Harper's Ferry West Virginia ( about
> 20 minutes from my house) to Cleveland. I was real impressed with
> Amtrak, about 3' of space between seats (I'm 6'4"), foot rests that
> pop up from under the seats, very nice. ( I could now rant and rave
> about how America has let it's rail system decline, but that's not
> the subject here) I was enjoying the train ride very much, fell
> asleep around 10:00pm, with the Bentley manual in my hands. Around
> 1:00am, I awoke to an electrical smell, something was burning. I was
> about to push the call button when the ventilation system shit
> > down. A few seconds later, the lights went out, and the train came
> to a stop. We were out in the middle of nowhere, and all that was on
> was the dim emergency lighting. A conductor came by and told us we
> were only a few minutes outside Cleveland, but the train had
> electrical problems (duh). Now I was to have a 2 1/2 hour wait in
> Cleveland before transferring to the Greyhound down to Columbus, so
> a bit of a delay didn't upset me one bit, as long as we were in
> Cleveland by 4:30am. We were finally pushed into Cleveland by two
> back up locomotives around 3:30 am, so an hour and half of my lay
> over were eaten up. At 4:35, I boarded the Greyhound to Columbus.
> 85% of the passengers on the Greyhound looked like they were going
> to an "Americas Most Wanted" reunion, and the bus smelled bad, too.
> It was 2 1/2 hours of pure Hell. We finally rolled into Columbus at
> 7:00am, right on time actually. I called the seller, who told me he
> was on his way. At 7:35am, I saw my new Westy for the first time- I
> > was not a "happy camper". The seller had "forgotten" to mention a
> few things in his eBay listing, like a cracked windshield, sliding
> door handle missing, door handles on the cab doors broken, at least
> 150 chips/scratches in the paint, no radio-just a big hole in the
> dash, and as I was to find out later that day, the dash lights don't
> work. I honestly thought for a few minutes about telling him to
> forget it, and I wanted my deposit back. But, I'd come this far, so
> I decided to give it a chance. We drove back to Lancaster, about a
> 30 minute drive. It ran well, and at least the interior was in good
> condition. We got the DMV in Lancaster, ands it was time for me to
> make a decision. I went for it (obviously,or I wouldn't be writing
> this). So now it was mine. I hit route 33 out of Lancaster, scanning
> the gauges-wait a second- no gas! I quickly called the seller and
> asked "Does the gas gauge work!" (Remember I owned two bays) and he
> said "Oh my God, I forgot to get gas, yes it does work".
> > Luckily I was only a mile from a Sunoco station, where I pulled in
> and got gas. I also discovered the coolant tank was empty-not good,
> I thought. I then called a listmember in Chillicothe who offered
> assistance if I needed it. He told me to come by his place and he'd
> check it out for me. I had brought a gallon of VW antifreeze with
> me, so I mixed it and topped off the coolant tank and headed for
> Chillicothe. Listmember Stephen Steele met me in Chillicothe, where
> I followed him to his house. He checked out my Westy and couldn't
> find anything seriously wrong with it. So, at that point I went on
> my way down route 33 to Athens, Ohio, where I picked up route 50
> east. Route 50 through Ohio was great. I was happy when I finally
> crossed over into West Virginia because I felt like I was making
> progress. I stopped in Parkersburg, W. Virginia at an Advanced Auto
> store and bought a set of wheel covers (it had no wheel covers, just
> bare rims, making it look really trashy, IMHO). I continued on
> > through W. Virginia, and route 50 got real ugly. 50 takes you
> through every little town, so you have to watch your speed. And it
> gets very mountainous, steep grades of 9% for as long as 5 miles at
> a time. I do NOT recommend route 50 through W. Virginia if a) you
> are in a hurry, and b) you've only had 3 hours sleep in the last 36
> hours as I had. It is, however a beautiful drive that I would have
> enjoyed under different circumstances. It was now around 4:00pm, and
> I passed a sign that said "Romney 88 miles". Romney is not too far
> from my home, but at this point I was fading fast, and thought about
> stopping for the night. I had been passing dozens of dead deer
> carcasses, and with night fast approaching, I did not want to use my
> new Westy as a venison tenderizer. I should mention at this point
> that the Westy was running flawlessly, never a hiccup, and the temp
> gauge was staying low, not even close to the midpoint, even up the
> steep mountains. OK, how many new Westy owners have glanced
> > down at the temp gauge and mistaken the minute hand of the clock
> for the temp needle as it passes by the gauge? Made my heart skip a
> beat or two. Despite Romney being only 88 miles away, it took me 2
> 1/2 hours to cover that distance. It's not easy driving, especially
> at night. I finally made Romney, and from there on to Winchester
> Virginia and then to Round Hill. I was never so glad to be home. I
> fell asleep within an hour of getting home. Sunday I washed and
> waxed the Westy, and started touching up all the nicks in the paint.
> I even have a radio installed as well. All in all, it's not in bad
> shape. Had this not been an eBay purchase, I would have used the
> defects as a bargaining chip. Would I buy another vehicle off eBay?
> NO! I feel I was lucky this time, but wouldn't do it again. As for
> the differences between a Bay and a Vanagon, well the Bay is like
> Motel 6 and the Vanagon is the Hilton. I also like the fact that 18
> wheelers didn't blow me into another lane or make my life flash
> > before my eyes like they did in a Bay. And heat! Wow, I never had
> that in a Bay. Well, I'm hooked, obviously, and regret now not
> buying a Vanagon years ago when I shied away from them due to all
> the horror stories about the heads leaking. Well, that's the end of
> my story for now. If you want a look at my Westy, I'll be at
> Everybus in a couple of weeks, close to the Canadians. Jeff
>
>
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