back to purchasing 87wedgie
April 2006
Spent a good bit of time trying 'on-line' insurance companies but in the end we went for an 'all-in' deal with Adrian Flux. The deal was fully comp and breakdown for approx £211.
So insurance in place we collected the van. This involved a demo on how (not) to use the canopy! The result was our first repair!
We'd already made contact with our local VW club and arranged to have our first outing in the van to a barbeque arranged in a nearby beauty spot. The weather was poor but we had a good chat. It was looking as though our £3700 investment was already showing promise. It was suggested we'd underinsured our purchase! You should have got cover for £6000 - GOOD start!
We had a few things to do so off we went feeling rather smug :-) Last thing before going home we stopped and made our first coffee. We sat in the comfort of the van chatting about this and that and our plans for the van and holidays. Coffee finished off we set for home. 1 mile and 5 minutes later we were calling out the breakdown people! We'd lost all power. It transpired the carb was clogged up with 'crud'. We felt frustrated at the poor start but the breakdown man was well pleased. He was happy to fix our problem, working on a real engine. Normally, he said, 'we just have to get people back to base and/or the main dealer. We're not allowed to touch new cars for fear of invalidating any warrantee. It's that or we can't help because of the reliance on electronics in modern cars'.
So... First trip ended not a sweetly as it had started! We had a list of things to sort and a reality check had hit as we started working out what additional costs we were in for before we could actually stay over somewhere
So... Things to do/arrange:
The following weekend we decided to take another trip out and... you guessed it we came back on the back of a breakdown truck! This time the 'man' just wanted to get us back he was not interested in trying to 'fix' the van. One did have to ask could he have?
Two trips both ending with calling out the breakdown people! Now I've always been of the opinion it takes a number of months to get used to a vehicle and its 'odd' ways. This was testing, to say the least. Our confidence was shaken. We now realised what had been meant the weekend before 'you'll need to be prepared to spend money on keeping it going'. RIGHT, but so soon?
So arranged for the van to go in for fixing.
So first repair bill was to sort the carb, which also required the diaphragm be replaced, as it turned out. While in we decided it prudent to get the flexible brake hoses replaced, Nigel (SVWOC and the Air Cooled Workshop, Ninfield fame) had said on our first outing "always a good idea to replace these if you don't know there history" We also thought, from an economy point of view it a good idea to sort the oil leak from the left hand rocker cover. Carb sorted, hoses replaced and an expensive repair (replacing the rocker cover £25 for the garage to get it from VW! Could have got it for £5 plus carriage from Just Campers - another lesson learnt!)
Once back we gradually went out and about in the van. With confidence growing we made plans for our first outing.