As you can see from my previous posts, I almost gave up on the Hertz Rent2Buy program. But I did call Colleen back on Monday morning - she had said that she KNEW she could find me a car. We talked about the fact that I was looking for a VW Routan, and that I wanted the SE model that came with 2 packages, key among them was the towing package which allows you to tow up to 3500 pounds. It included air shocks in the back and an automatic leveling feature that helps accomplish this. Without this package, you're limited to 2000 pounds, which means a Class 1 hitch, and only the ability to tow a small utility trailer.
She had found one in Boston - and I was willing to go to Boston to get it, but she was trying to get the car closer to me. She ran into a lot of the same troubles that I had run into myself, but she had the clout to move past those problems... Long story short, she had found the car I had tried to rent the week before - it was in a holding lot, had NOT been rented, and had the same mileage that I had been quoted. They couldn't get the car closer to me, but were definitely holding it for me if I wanted it.
I arranged to drive up with my brother in law to pick up the car. When I got there, they had never heard of me! Par for the course. I gave them my reservation number, and they said that I was 3 weeks early! They hadn't prepped the car, but would do so and in short order, the car was ready for me. I finally took delivery on it.
The car was what you'd expect from a rental... it was clean, but had some minor dings and smudges on the bumpers. There was a stain in the back seat carpet. But this is a minivan - it was to be expected - and I have no doubt that I'll put another stain right on top of the one that is there! The seats were uber comfortable. The Routan is a rebadged Chrysler Town and Country. In fact, my new name for it is the Grand Caravagen. It's tweaked a little from the standard Dodge/Chrysler faire... some reviews say it's suspension and steering are much tighter. I'm guessing the tweaking made little to no difference in this area. But it does sport some nice VW type interior items and probably most importantly, they DO NOT have the Stow 'n Go middle seats. The VW seats are removable but not stowable. The bins that they fold into are still there, and these are spacious and will get use. But most importantly, the seats are COMFORTABLE... it's like a Lazy Boy... The front seats are heated, there are power windows everywhere, including the vents in the back... The rear seats have the same Tailgate seating option, and the cargo room behind them is amazing... A trip to the warehouse club with a full cart equates to filling up the bins the rear seats fold flat into... TONS of room. I'm very happy with the van. But back to the test drive...
I picked the car up on a Friday, and it was raining, so I got to see if there were any leaks, and how well the wipers worked. All good. The next morning, I took the car to my mechanic. They checked the car out for free. They said that everything was good - brakes, hoses, belts, tires, etc. They only found one thing... the gasket around the transmission pan was leaking - weeping really. It had covered half the pan, but they couldn't measure the level as the new Chrysler transmissions require a "tool" to check it. So I took it around the corner to the VW dealership to see if they would check it out, and see if the leak was covered under the powertrain warranty.
I made an appointment for the following Monday, and brought it in, but that skips Sunday... On Sunday, the family piled in and took a beautiful ride through the Berkshires to look at the foliage. Everyone was impressed with the van, and all agreed it was a great car. So the family gave it a thumbs up. I averaged 23 MPG on that cruise, which was probably the best it will ever do... Few stops on the back roads, but the top speed was around 50mph, so this was as good as it was going to get. Fairly impressive for such a big and heavy van.
I brought the car in on Monday, and picked it back up around Noon. I had checked with co-workers who were mechanically inclined. Most said a leaking transmission pan gasket was no big deal. I tended to agree. When I got the VW place, they said that it wasn't covered under the powertrain warranty. The service advisor made a big deal out of a small scrape on the pan and undercarriage. He kept pointing it out as if it was really there... the tech shook his head... I asked if the pan had the original gasket and the tech said no. And it was also clear that the main procedure for changing the transaxle fluid was to drop the pan. It looked like they had used some kind of black goop as a gasket, or on the gasket when they put that pan back. They said the level was full. So I'm pretty sure that the fluid was changed - not sure why - but it was no matter. It wasn't leaking enough to care about, and I'll be changing the transaxle fluid in a year anyway, so the leak will get fixed by default then. And the nice thing is that I can go to a Chrysler/Dodge dealership for that, or the VW dealership, and bid them against each other on it!
Anyway, I decided that the car was a good deal, and when I got back to work, I pushed the Buy button on the website, and called Colleen to let her know that she had made a sale. The next part was the actual purchase part... at least two more entries on this process, and another glitch in the system. But you'll have to wait for that one!
TTFN
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