It's worth HOW MUCH?

I always knew the air cooled VW crowd was a little, uh, different. This week I had the displeasure of getting an insurance claim on a 1987 Vanagon camper at my drive-in. The reason it's a displeasure is that a 1987 anything is a PITA when you've got a 30 minute window to deal with it, and this one was in some kind of windstorm in the Dakotas with a laundry list of cosmetic ills I needed to address. Upsides: it's from California, so it's not rusted to E36 M3, and it's a Syncro. Downsides: it's no prize in the cosmetics department and the owner (who we'll just categorize as a friendly but typical surfer dude) is picking out a litany of things that allegedly happened to it during this storm. I've owned a few air cooled VWs in my day and I respect them, but I don't understand at all the rabid following they have with the True Believers of the VW world. As I'm looking at this thing and writing my appraisal, I'm deeply worried that this thing is going to total out (not to mention half the parts come up as discontinued). Photo of a similar/slightly nicer version of what I was looking at: Our computers are set with a threshold to warn us when it may be a total, and sure enough with multiple windows, paintwork and a hole in the fiberglass roof I hit it in no time. So I have to run a value on it, at which point I find out it's not considered a Vanagon but a camper, and thus gets valued as an RV, which takes an extra day. The whole time the owner is telling me how valuable these things are, telling me restored ones go for 30 grand and there's no way his is worth only around 5. I've heard this line before on just about every car from starry-eyed fanbois and shrug it off. I send him on his way and await the verdict. Which, after a few emails, turns out to be....

$22,000.

I'm sorry, but a box on wheels that can only do 50 mph built of parts you can't buy anymore should not be worth 22 large looking like this one did. You could buy a real motor home (with an actual toilet and shower!) for that. Am I wrong in thinking this is nuts? Is the stereotype of VW bus owners really this true?

No. No, you're not.

Yeah I've thought the same thing for a while, but they're right unfortunately. People will pay upwards of 6 figures for a sorted, diesel-swapped Westie. A stock one can go for 30-40 thousand on a bad day.

I'm just surprised they've duped the insurance companies into believing they are worth that amount. I suppose the car is worth what someone will pay, and somebody will indeed pay that much for these buckets.

And then again, if you want a small maneuverable camper that's good on gas and can take you into remote areas, what else is there out there? A Land Rover Dormobile sure, but those are not cheap either. Unfortunately I have yet to see a Mitsubishi or Toyota 4wd Camper Van make it stateside.

That sounds like a candidate for an agreed value policy.

...frantically searching Craigslist for a crappy Westie...

Sadly the synchro westy camper is the golden fleece of the air cooled VW camper world. Back in the day (early 90's) my dad had a non synchro he bought in NC drove to Colorado when he moved and sold for a tidy profit after several years of ownership just becuase it was in Colo instead of NC. Go figure.

Its kinda hard to understand the value of a vehicle that can leave Saskatoon with a fresh engine, drive into a western Canadian headwind at 38 mph, and arrive in Calgary needing a new engine, but the beetlebus people are bent.

I also don't understand the diesel Land Cruiser prices.

In reply to bastomatic:

its not a question of duping insurance companies. its my industry too. Its a question of fair market value. nothing more, nothing less.

Even a 2wd westy usually goes for $7500+ in not real impressive shape. The worst is a syncro DOKA crew cab flatbed version, more like $80k for one of those.

Wow, after all the issues my parent's 83 Westy had (not to mention the 77 or 78 that burnt to the ground), it amazes me people pay that much for them. Hmm - just looking at it from the outside, couldn't the Ford Transit make a good mini-camper?

Doesn't surprise me a bit. I learned during my time at the VW place that the van people get all weird about those things. You couldn't pour one on me.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I also don't understand the diesel Land Cruiser prices.

Because they're the perfect vehicle. Duh!

So this is a good deal then

synchro - meaning its 4wd? part of their absurdly hight market value is that there are not many synchro westfalia campers in the first place, and the ones that are out there don't change hands often.

there was a story a guy had posted a while back where he detailed exactly how he dealt with his insurance company in order to get 18k for his, and buy it back from ins so he could use the wrecked one for parts. that was several years ago and insurance companies weren't as familiar with them and offered him like 3500 for it initially.

to think my parents almost bought one new...

I want one...

My buddy daily drives an ej22e swapped westie. I wonder what it's worth.

I'm just embarrassed (I'm a VW guy) that I never knew there were air-cooled Synchros.

honestly, I don't think there were

An older, restored VW bus went for almost $220k at B-J Orange County. Now that was puzzling.

Link

At a VW show a while back, I saw a B3 Passat Wagon TDi Synchro.

Talk about the perfect vehicle!

Maroon92 wrote: At a VW show a while back, I saw a B3 Passat Wagon TDi Synchro. Talk about the perfect vehicle!

from Canada eh!

Next you guys will be telling me Aztek prices are soaring.

AWD, Camperish...you may have a point.

In reply to ddavidv:

so are you going to berkeley him on this or what? remember, you are an ambassador of your industry, an industry that most people lump in with lawyers...