Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:20:44 -0400
Reply-To: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Subject: A Friday Tale of Woe and a Request for Info
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The Good, Bad and Ugly of my last two weeks...
Right here and now I will preface this tale with an acknowledgement that all
of this is about cars, conveyances, transports; NOT flesh and blood, true
crimes and/or national treasures. But I need to ramble a bit and get this
whole thing off my chest. If you are pressed for time...delete this... if
not... read on 'til you become pressed for time and THEN delete this.
The Good:
I have been able to drive my wonderful 1989 Westy a lot in the past two
weeks. I really enjoy it for all the reasons that we put up with our
Vanagons' idiosyncrasies. It purrs with that resonant engine tone that can
only be acquired through years of VW van knowledge and/or a lot of money.
Normally, it would be in my garage out back; maybe waiting for that last
campout of the year and being readied for winter storage in a nearby rental
garage in November, perhaps to be brought out for a late winter trip to the
Southlands along about March. I would love to do the southern route to the
Left Coast before the 5yo has to go to "real school" next year. I digress.
Normally, we would be in the middle of a beautiful Southern Ohio autumn with
bright reds and yellows basked in sunshine days and brisk nights with stars
that take your breath away. Normally, I would be packing up to go to a
Central Ohio Westies or a Ohio Valley Tribe campout this weekend. This year
November came early. Cold rains, dull vistas appeared overnight with muted
gray, brown leaves flying in the chilly winds. Most days the skies are
sullen and somber. I try not to be.
Normally.
The Bad:
"I can't believe it!"
I stood there with my keys in my hand and my mouth dropped in that slack jaw
look that pervades these hinterlands and most of the W*llmarts that I've
ever visited (and those of you that know me, know that that's damned few).
Anyway. There, where my daily driver NORMALLY sits nightly, off and on, for
seven months or so, every year; sits, while my Westy occupies its place in
the garage next to Wife's Jetta wagon. There, where it should be, it isn't.
The leaves swirled in a spot so empty that it sucked the thoughts from my
brain. In an instant I went from my so-called normal life to a head-shaking,
numb, Kafka-esque, Sisyphean existence. My white 1991 VW EcoDiesel Jetta,
with a Yakima rack system and a trunk full of everyday tools and usable
stuff was G-O-N-E.
Two nights before someone had entered my unlocked EcoDiesel and rifled
through it (lightly) and found my spare key hidden under a bunch of gum
wrappers and toothpicks in the ash tray. I discovered it was missing while
in a hurry to get my 5yo to school and to a "stop, drop and roll dog and
pony show" that I was doing for his class. I had forgotten my regular car
keys back in the house and dug for the spare. Not finding it, I grabbed my
fire gear, the boy, his book bag, his car seat and threw them all in the
S-10 parked next to the '91 EcoDiesel Jetta daily driver, humble servant.
Now right about now is a good time to interject the reason why this humble
servant, 50 MPG, well loved beast was sitting there, where it should be,
unlocked for the thieves of the city to have their way with it. We have had
several, actually six, A2 based VWs in the family. Somewhere along the way a
local thief learned how to gain admission to them without making too much
noise or mess and thereby relieving the wanted contents of my and mine and
enjoying them for him and them. After four or five radio thefts, several
broken windows, replaced trim pieces and a slightly long learning curve, all
such vehicles were subsequently left open with nothing of value in the
passenger spaces and the trunks locked. For about four years now the thief
has moved on, knowing that the factory radio isn't worth the time to remove
it. OR so I thought.
I finished up with the dog and pony and returned home to really look for the
key and spend some time with my trusty daily driver steed.
Upon further inspection I realized that the car had been entered and the key
was really gone, not just under the seat or laying under the car or in a
nearby trash can. It was gone. I spent the rest of the morning cleaning up
the everyday mess of using, really using my daily driver. I swept out the
car and cleaned the windows. I separated a lot of papers and books and the
trivia of life, taking quite a few things inside to the garage where they
belonged, including plumbing and electrical toolboxes. And here is where I
made a real, hind sight is 20/20, mistake. Instead of putting the Jetta in
the garage and keeping the Westy outside, I removed the door handles, took
them to the local very competent lock smith and had them re-keyed. Stupid
move.
The night before the theft I locked it up and walked around checking the
doors like I had never done before.
The evil-doer must have been/knew the above thief and knew how to get inside
easily. Once inside he drove away with the spare ignition key.
The Ugly:
The short of it is, after refusing to let the insurance company dissect my
life for signs of previous perfidy or reasons to falsely claim the theft of
my daily driver (Have you tried to sell the car recently? Do you get along
with your neighbors? Will you let us run a credit check? Your policy states
that you WILL cooperate with us in filing this claim. ad nauseum) I was
offered about half of what I think the car was worth. More on that later.
I haven't even gone to my homeowners insurer for the trunk contents yet...
Oh boy that's gonna be a blast! Snap-On tools and all!
At least once a day I get to discover yet another little item that was in
the car and is now unavailable to me, the rightful owner (the insured).
It's still a bit more than a little unsettling to go out back to the garage
to the vacuous spot in the driveway and see that the thief has yet to return
my EcoDiesel to it's right, natural position in my life.
After thoughts and such:
€ Don't leave spare keys in the car! Duh!
€ Take pictures of your vehicles and keep them in your files. I have a
gazillion pictures of my Vans and none of my daily driver.
€ Don't keep repair/maintenance receipts in your cars' glove box... I have
no way of verifying that my trusty EcoDiesel was in GREAT shape and well
maintained. (I hope that $700 R-32 is freezing the thief's cajones off!)
€ Consider stated value insurance... even though the stated value is for UP
TO the stated value...read the policy.
€ Older vehicles are subject to theft...despite the typical reaction of
"Why would they steal THAT car?!" "But Mr. Steele, just because you value
that car so highly doesn't mean it's worth that much." Adjuster says,"If
you put a $2K stereo system in it doesn't mean it's worth $2k more". I say,
"It does to the person that wants that system and is willing to pay for it.
There are people willing to pay what I'm asking for this car in this
condition because they value it for its utility and practicality."
€ An engine like that from my faithful friend is fetching well over $1500 on
eB*Y. Parting out the car, like parting out our Vans, can be very
profitable. And that thought brings me to...
Request:
Anybody have any impressions on what a no rust, second owner, 207K car as
above would be worth?
IF I wanted to sell it, I wouldn't part with it for less than $3500, without
the $500 rack, to anybody other than a family member or friend. I was
offered by the insurer an opening $2000 bid today.
I know that I need to run a bunch of comparables and reproduce documents
from the local shops that did work on the car (I did most of it myself).
BUT, a little info/feedback on dealing with these companies would be
helpful.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Stephen Steele
Chillicothe OH
'89 Westy no name yet
'91 Caravelle "Hans"
'90 Carat "Parts"
'74 MGB My first car...yep, I've kept it since '74
'93 Chevy S-10
'91 Jetta Diesel My daily driver
'02 Jetta Wagon VR6 Wife's car
Ex Vans/VWs:
'81 Vanagon from 1985-1990
'84 Westfalia "Fritz" 2000-2004 now with Son #1
'87 Westfalia "Franz" 2002-2005 now with Son #2
'88 Jetta GL 1990-1992
'92 Jetta GL 1992-1998
'90 Jetta 1999-2003
'81 Rabbit diesel 1999-2003
'82 Caddy VW Diesel P.U. 1999-2004
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