Re: [T3] Nice Square on eBay

["Mysterious J" <mysteriousj@snet.net>]

Jim,
In this case, I would try and find the woman one of the solar panel chargers
that VW dealers put in their cars when they sit on the lot for extended
period of time.  It plugs into a cigarette lighter, and provides just enough
charge to maintain the battery while it is slowly drained by the security
system and any other electronics that are active when the car is turned off.
Of course, if the car is in a garage with no windows, this will be of little
use, but its been known to help.

Jim (not that Jim)
'68 Fastback...I think


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>
To: <type3@vwtype3.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2004 3:28 PM
Subject: Re: [T3] Nice Square on eBay


> On 26 Jun 2004 at 6:59, Steven Ayres wrote:
>
> > GregM=> Don't forget your time for maintenance.  Time = money.
> >
> > True enough. But let's not neglect the intangible value of direct
> > understanding of what's going on with the car and how to deal with it,
and
> > the resulting empowerment of the driver. That's why I got involved in
VWs in
> > the first place.
>
> Case in point:
>
> Elderly neighbors with lots of money. Wife is a recent widow. 5 year old
> Mercedes in the garage; 4500 miles on the odo. Tow truck on the street. I
went
> over to ask the driver some unrelated questions and found that they called
him
> because the battery was dead (the car never gets driven.)
>
> They called him for a jump, but he couldn't help because the battery was
too
> far gone. She couldn't remember the last time she had tried to drive it.
The
> tow truck driver installed her new plates on the car for her. She called
the M-
> B dealer to have them send out people to install a new battery on a
saturday.
>
> I'll bet this little episode is going to cost them $300, and it will get
> repeated in less than a year. This is the third new battery in this 5 year
old
> car. She has no idea that there might be any cheaper way to deal with
this. I
> went over later to offer to put a charger on the battery overnight, but
all the
> arrangements had already been made.
>
> -- 
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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