August 11, 2003
Goodbye old friend
It's an oldie but a goodie -- a 1987 Dodge Ram Van, 3/4 ton, V8, auto, ps, pb. No air, no radio. It's been mine for 10 years, give or take a little. They are taking it away and giving me an '02 Chevy van. They will be selling it off at an auction as surplus junk.
They discourage techs from trying to purchase their own vans back. Only dealers are allowed to bid at the auctions. Seems that some people, in the past, have stuffed new engines, transmissions, brakes, etc. on to be surplused vans and then purchased them. Other spew was people could complain about a company agent bidding to raise the sell price. That's from the people in St. Louis. My best bet is seems is to try to buy the van from whatever dealer wind the bid, probably for a couple of hundred dollars more than he paid for it.