Date:         Thu, 2 Mar 2006 12:16:32 -0800
Reply-To:     Jeffrey Schwaia <jeff@VANAGONPARTS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeffrey Schwaia <jeff@VANAGONPARTS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Beware of Vanagon mirror problem
In-Reply-To:  <007b01c63e2b$3902f9d0$0a0ba8c0@RON>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I concur.  The difference in my cost on the two mirrors from Hagus is only
.24, and I've yet to have them mis-boxed.

Cheers,

Jeff
www.vanagonparts.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of The Bus Depot
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 10:57 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Beware of Vanagon mirror problem


> actually its a supply and demand thing..
> most people break off their passenger side
> mirrors rather than the drivers side ones..


True, although driver side mirrors tend to sell a little better in urban
areas, where parallel parking is common and they sometimes get smacked by
passing traffic.

Still, I have never paid more for one side than the other. Then again, I get
my mirrors directly from Hagus/Germany, not from VW of America.  Through the
manufacturer, I have not had any supply problem with passenger side mirrors,
and the price has been the same for both sides (relatively cheap).  Also,
while there have been very isolated cases of them mispackaging a left as a
right or vice-versa, it's rare (maybe a couple a year) not 50% of the time
as is apparantly the case with the ones packaged by VW. So all of these
issues (price, mispackaging, supply issues) are a VW problem, and do not
extend to mirrors imported directly from Germany.

I have not found an appreciable difference between the Hagus branded mirrors
and the VW branded ones, other than price.  Both tend to get a bit floppy
over time ; it's a design flaw that they share (as do the various non-German
aftermarket copies, some of which are pretty poor). Sometimes you can
tighten the nut under the mirror to resolve this, but if you tighten it too
much the stud may snap. (Hagus did have a bad batch once where the nuts were
loose from the factory and needed to be tightened a bit before installation,
but that was long ago ... although every once in a while I do come across an
isolated one that needs this.)

The real difference is that you could buy 2 to 3 German Hagus mirrors for
the price of one VW branded one. (I charge $29.95 for the stock mirrors, and
also have optional convex ones for $49.95.)  I'm sorry, but $80 dealer
retail is just absurd for a cheap plastic non-power mirror that probably
cost $10 to make.  At least for $29 if you DO smack your mirror on
something, you won't be crying as hard as if you just busted an $80 mirror.
:-(

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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