Living Car Free - Need some ideas...

I have had my van parked since the middle of January, the shock absorber has been thrust into the engine compartment, through a rust hole in the wheel well. The battery is dead.

So, is it worth fixing and selling? Or just selling it out right?

I'm planning an extended bike tour so I won't need it. My last tour I loaded up a car with stuff I wanted to keep and parked on a friend's farm. Not an option this time.

Any ideas?

It all depends on how much you want to keep the vehicle. If it is not important to you, junk it. If it is and you can afford to keep it, invest the money or buy one that doesn't needs as much work. I was in a similar situation. Mini van needed a lot of work...blown head gaskets, rebuilt transmission and new sensors for smog to pass. I have spent more on it than I paid but I wasn't going to throw the money out the window and start again. I bought the vehicle so that I can travel with my bikes so for all that I have spent, it has paid off for many nice rides.

Sounds like the van is toast. And I can guess what kind of answer you were really looking for about it, considering where you asked the question.

Have you considered something like a PODS or ABF U Pack container? They should give you about the same amount of capacity as the van. And I know that the U Pack could be shipped to a different location if you didn't move back. I assume that the PODS would be the same. Even a mini storage place wouldn't be that expensive.

I'd like to find a van like that which I could park at work and use as a bike locker.....

I'd like to find a van like that which I could park at work and use as a bike locker.....
That's the first time I've seen that idea mentioned here. Innovative!

So, is it worth fixing and selling? Or just selling it out right?

Realistically, that sounds like a question better asked of a car mechanic. If it's bad enough off that there's a rust hole in the wheel well, my guess is that it's not worth fixing but you can probably get some money for it as scrap if nothing else. I'm no mechanic, though, so I don't know.

Just try to avoid the sunk cost fallacy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy) or "throwing good money after bad". Don't dump money into the van just because you've already dumped money into the van and you don't want the already spent money to be "wasted".

I'd like to find a van like that which I could park at work and use as a bike locker.....


That's the first time I've seen that idea mentioned here. Innovative!

I like this idea. You could buy three old wrecks -- $50 each -- and have one towed to work, one left on the street outside your house and one at a public spot... maybe the mall. Hmmm. Perhaps I should buy some GM after all.