On Mon, May 5, 2008 12:23 pm, Andy Levy said:
>
> Honestly, I think it's worth a second look.
Norah says, "PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE INDECISION MONSTER. Thank you." :-)
It is pretty tempting to go with the "Bic lighter" model... drive it until it
doesn't drive any more, then strip it for parts and get another one just like
it. My biggest concern with that car is that it hasn't been evaluated for the
Ontario safety certification. They only require this when vehicles change
hands, so it's always a crap shoot how much they've deteriorated in the mean
time. The guy selling the Escort said that his mechanic told him there
"shouldn't" be a problem, but he wasn't willing to get it done before the
sale, preferring instead to sell it as-is (and at that price point, I don't
blame him).
I don't have much experience with the certification, but it's apparently
pretty Draconian. From what I hear, if they discover anything major (like a
rusted out subframe) they're required to mark it as unfit in the government
database before even notifying the owner. This means that car is never again
allowed to drive on Ontario roads, no argument, discussion, or recourse. That
particular Escort has 15 years of rust on it. It didn't look too bad from
what I could see, but it's still a concern. I haven't seen any cars that are
already certified for under $1500, most of them start around $2000.
> The insurance would cost next to nothing over & above the Dak, I
> imagine. Might even drop, if you tell them you're not driving the Dak
> regularly but keep it on the road (I have no idea how insurance works
> in Canada).
Insurance in Ontario is a racket. It is a horrible, expensive, greedy,
opportunistic blood-sucking racket (and don't ask me how I really feel,
because I might actually tell you). There's no way I could afford to insure
three vehicles, even with the Dakota in "storage" mode. I've already been
through every scenario I could think of with a couple of different companies.
I don't know if you remember a few years ago, a guy I know in the area wanted
to give me a Plymouth Breeze for next to nothing if I'd fix it up. At the
time I was unwilling to get rid of the Dakota, and the lowest I could get the
increase was an extra $110 per month. There go the fuel savings right there.
Oh, well. It's all a big conspiracy to prevent people from owning any evil
hydrocarbon-emitting cars, so there's not much to be done about it. I'll just
go watch "V for Vendetta" a few more times until I feel better.
-- Jason Bleazard http://drazaelb.blogspot.com Burlington, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black
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