RVing

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Expanding the Search Radius

I’m rather kicking myself for buying a plane ticket to Calgary before looking at the options in Edmonton. I just found a 2000 Ranger with less than 200,000KM at a dealership in Edmonton. Fully inspected, with a one year warranty and listed at $3,000, which is a steal. I’d probably still have an independent inspection done, but the warranty tells me the dealership would stand by their own.

I sent an offer. Maybe it could be delivered to me closer to Calgary. Maybe I’d lose $120 on the hotel in Calgary and pay a little extra to leave the rental car in Edmonton. Maybe I’d get to meet up with Donna and Ken in Red Deer for lunch on Monday. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

If not this one, then I have decided that if I haven’t found anything in Calgary by Tuesday I’ll leave for Edmonton first thing Wednesday.  The more I search, the more I know I will not settle for anything less recent than a 1998 or with more than 200,000KM.

My insurance broker neglected to mention a little thing called an insurance inspection for vehicles older than 12 to 15 years. It’s not required by all insurance companies, but if I can eliminate some hoops, that would be good.

At any rate, I wouldn’t expect to hear back from the dealership in Edmonton until Monday anyway, so I might as well get to Calgary and hit the ground running. The right truck is out there for me!

Now, I need to go pack. Note to self: grab the GPS, too!

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Frustration

In the last week, I have sent seven replies to truck-for-sale ads, following up with phone messages when I could. No one has responded. Four of those messages were, “I want to buy your truck, get back to me so I can schedule an inspection.” I guess no one really wants to sell. That or people don’t like the idea of the inspection without meeting me first and are too rude to let me know.

I’m leaving for Calgary tomorrow (!) and my confidence is shaky that I will be able to purchase something quickly since sellers can’t be bothered to respond to to queries about their ads.

Returning from Calgary without a truck is not an option, but I have to remain smart in my decision-making process. More than 250,000KM is out. Rust is out. After comparing bed dimensions, flareside is out (painful since there is a gorgeous 2004 flareside with a topper and almost no mileage at a good price on the market). And spending more than $4,000 is definitely not a smart move. Now that I know so much about the Ford Ranger I’m leery about expanding the search radius to its rival, the GMC Sonoma, but I may not have any choice.

If I don’t find any more decent trucks online tomorrow night, Monday is going to have me starting a tour of all the used vehicle dealerships in the Calgary area. I find that painfully inefficient when an online search tells me that what I want is available except that the sellers are impossible to reach.

Moya is out there somewhere, I know, but she sure is being furtive!

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You Snooze, You Lose

I sent the seller of the white 1998 Ranger an email and left a message both at home and on a cell and haven’t received a reply. Maybe it’s not the right truck.

Even though this makes me a little nervous, I increased the price criteria to $5,000 and spotted a 2003 with 167000KM and a topper. It’s a bit bigger than what I want since it has an extended cab (four doors), but it looks great, is only about 3,300lbs, and it’s my favourite colour of all the Ford Rangers, dark green.

I just emailed the seller (no phone number in the ad) and made a conditional cash offer pending an inspection. The truck has been listed for a month and revised a few times, so I low balled and offered $3,500 to be reviewed upwards or downwards based on the results of the inspection. I really don’t want to go above $4,500, but since the tow package isn’t going to be as costly as I had budgeted, I’m willing to stretch. Plus it’s fairly recent and has relatively low mileage.

Whichever Ranger my toad ends up being, it’ll essentially be an RV once I’m through converting the back. It’s going to have a bed, desk, potty, rudimentary plumbing, and a 12V electrical system (deep cycle battery connected to truck alternator for charging with both a 12V outlet and an inverter for 120V power).

I’ve had the name of my next RV in the back of my mind for a while now, but I’m sure I won’t be replacing Miranda or RVing beyond her lifespan. So I’ve decided to use that name for my new truck and that has completely changed the search.

Just as I wasn’t looking for an RV back in 2008, but ‘Miranda’, I am now not looking for a truck, but ‘Moya.’ This green Ranger looks more like a Moya to me than did the older white one…

I can’t believe that I have less than 48 hours to go before I leave for Calgary and the pickings are so slim! I still have the topperless ’94 at the dealership to fall back on, but it’s less than ideal.

Appendage crossing has resumed!

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Scary Mail

Jody emailed me tonight to let me know she got some mail for me from “Government of Alberta, Driver Fitness and Monitoring, Edmonton” and that it was probably my stickers for the license plate but did I want her to open up the envelope and check?

I quickly Googled Driver Fitness and Monitoring because it didn’t sound good and the results caused me to reply with, “Yes.”

It took about an hour for her to get back to me while I fretted. Did someone report me for dangerous driving? Was I ticketed for something and never informed? The best case scenario I could envision was that I needed to get my eyes tested since they didn’t do that when I got my license here (wearing glasses or contacts is a condition on my license). I kept telling myself, “Calm down. Whatever it is, you’ll deal with it. No sense working yourself up over nothing.” But you try to get a letter from a place called Driver Fitness and Monitoring without knowing the contents and not fret over it!

Jody’s next email had the subject line “Mail is OK” with a scan of the letter. I just laughed and laughed and laughed because the letter basically said what the lady from Service Alberta told me yesterday.

Here’s the letter:

The highlights:

-Your Accent has been reported unrepairable. It cannot be registered or put on the road. It can only be sold for scrap or dismantled for pairs.

-If you still have your registration and license plate, you can transfer them to a new vehicle.

-If you don’t have the registration and license plate, advise a registry office so that they can be cancelled.

I am once again thankful that Jody reminded me to go grab my license plate off the car. I am certain I would not have thought to do so myself. I am really fond of that license plate because it is just one number off from the motorhome so I only have to remember which is the 6 and which is the 7. It’s like having a matched set, which is what my rig might look like soon if the seller would only get back to me! 🙂

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Compromises

I’m so excited! I think I found my toad!!!

This morning, I subscribed to a Ford Ranger forum and got the lo down on the whole 3L versus 4L debate. It turns out that the 3L is NOT less reliable than the 4L. People say it is garbage because it is less powerful. I don’t want a truck-truck. I’m not going to be towing or hauling with this thing. The 3L is the perfect compromise between a car and a pickup and has therefore put the otherwise near perfect rig back in the running.

I just emailed someone in Canmore to ask if he would be agreeable to having Smart Auto Check do an inspection ($200) on his truck tomorrow or Monday. If that comes back positive, we just need to make a deal and I’m buying it! It’s a 1998 Ranger with just over 200,000KM and service history from 100,000KM onward. It has the topper I want with a little extra headroom at the back and, get this, it already has a platform in the back for sleeping on with room underneath for storage.

Please cross all your appendages for me! 😀

(Am I going to look silly with my 1997 white Ford motorhome if it pulls a 1998 white Ford truck?!)