Date:         Tue, 14 Sep 1999 08:16:00 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject:      Warning: '93 EV ad, odometer fraud
Comments: To: Sean Bartnik <seabar@EROLS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <000501befd66$17bd5c50$0200005a@cygnus>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> '93 EuroVan MV, 7-passenger, auto, 50K, 1 owner, dual ac, looks/drives
> excellent, $6990 obo.  703-426-9074.


I have been keeping an eye on Sean Bartnik's helpful posts of Washington
Post for-sale ads, on behalf of my brother in Baltimore who is looking for a
bigger vehicle to transport his growing family. He's had his eye on Passats
or Volvo wagons, resisting the minivan option, and I'd suggested the EV as a
third alternative.  This one sounded too good to be true, so I let him know
about it.

It turned out that the seller is a "dealer" who claims that he bought it
from the original owner a couple of months ago.  Suspicious of the very low
mileage for its age, I arranged for my brother to bring it to the local VW
dealer in Fairfax for a pre-purchase inspection - and also suggested that he
have them run it through the VW computer to look up any dealer service
history, to see if mileage during the warranty period was consistent with
the low mileage claimed now.

My brother left me a message last night. Volkswagen's service records
indicate that the van had about 30k more mileage on the odometer a year ago
than it does now.  Just thought I'd post a warning just in case anyone else
had considered this vehicle.

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