Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:36:49 -0500
Reply-To: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
Subject: Re: buy a daily driver or press the syncro into service?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
It always fries me that you pay for the number of cars, not the number
of miles you drive. My wife and I can't drive three cars at once!
Woody
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Felder [mailto:felder@KNOLOGY.NET]
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 12:31 PM
To: Woody Halsey
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: buy a daily driver or press the syncro into service?
When I used Allstate for insurance, they had some complicated
scenario where you could insure for part of the year and not for some
other part of the year. Since ice and snow are not an issue around
here except rarely, there was never a reason not to drive either of
the vanagons because it was "put away" for the winter. So, I ended up
wanting to drive the camper when I was working on the Carat, and vice
versa, or for some other reason. So that arrangement didn't work out
for me as it might for others. I solved the problem (sort of) by
switching to Geico, saving so much money that it didn't really
matter. All that being said, I'm still paying to insure a third car,
so I could save $240 a year by dropping one or the other, but the
convenience of having a spare car when you only drive vanagons and
the savings of driving the diesel over the waterboxer seems worth it
to me.
Jim
On Jan 29, 2007, at 11:26 AM, Woody Halsey wrote:
> That's what I have done this winter, purchasing a 1987 Jetta for what
> has amounted to about $1,650 after repairs. Now the question is: Do I
> keep the V'gon registered and insured? When you factor the
> insurance in,
> the cost/benefit analysis gets a little trickier. In other words,
> saving
> the wear and tear on the beloved V'gon doesn't come for free!
>
> Of course, my plan was to have the V'gon in the body shop all winter,
> but know shops around here wanted to see it until spring.
>
> Woody
> 83.5 V'gon
> Haverhill, MA
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf
> Of Jim Felder
> Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:52 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: buy a daily driver or press the syncro into service?
>
> Sounds like you've made your decision and are awaiting conformation,
> so here goes: If you want the syncro to last (practically) forever,
> then get a third car as a daily driver. If you choose wisely, you can
> always sell the third car for what you've got in it with a little
> luck, and in the end may be financially and trouble ahead in that
> maintaining the syncro the way you want it will probably cost much
> more than doing so on a more ordinary car.
>
> I think about that with my westy and regular vanagon. Which do I
> drive? The easy answer is whichever one will be cheaper and easier to
> repair in the future (if the westy stays garaged, the longer the
> poptop seals and so forth are going to last). The tough answer
> involves the imponderables like which engine, the diesel or the
> waterboxer, is going to give up first. It would be an easier decision
> for me if one of the cars wasn't a vanagon. That's what makes it so
> easy to advise you!
>
> Jim
>
>
> On Jan 29, 2007, at 9:50 AM, Aaron Pearson wrote:
>
>> my wife and young son and i have done fine until now with one daily
>> driver
>> and one vanagon. I only used the van occiasinally around town and
>> for
>> trips. now, our commute schedule changed, and we both need to
>> drive ~10
>> miles every day. i'm fond of the van and i don't want to sell it,
>> but i
>> also don't like the idea of the added wear and tear of driving it
>> everyday.
>> i want it to last forever. plus, a few times a year it needs
>> repairs/upgrades that keep it out of service for a few days.
>>
>> so... should i buy a 3rd car (an older golf or something) for
>> commuting, or
>> keep that money for additional van repairs and the occasional
>> rental? the
>> 3rd car would have the bonus of better fuel economy, but only for a
>> few
>> thousand miles per year.
>>
>> i can't decide.
>>
>> aaron
>> '87 syncro westy ej22
>>
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