did you ever have to make up your mind

oh, goody. the van woes continue!!

Evidently, the van IS a "total loss", based on the estimating powers of the Jim Marsh auto body shop, and the American Family dude.

However, they've given us two choices:

Choice 1) Give up the van, and receive the 80% [grrr!!] of the Blue Book Value (which was five-thousand somethingish), resulting in us getting approximately $4105.

Choice 2) We keep the van, and it becomes labeled "salvage", and we get a reduced amount of money for this - approximately $2800.

If we go with choice 2, we have to get the van repaired, have it pass an inspection from the DMV, and reregister it with them. Apparaently the "salvage" label then gets stuck on the van's title, and it would significantly reduce the value of the vehicle. (Not that it was worth all that much money to begin with...)

Choice 1 would mean we'd have the 4 thousand to shop around for a new (old) vehicle, but the hunting we've done so far has not resulted in a lot of positive leads. If we could guarantee that we could get a vehicle for >2000ish, and that it would not have a buttload of problems...that would be ideal. But, then, life has no guarantees.

And while the van does have ....quirks that bug me, if we were able to get it repaired and back on the road for 1900 or so, then going with choice 2 would be a good way to go, because we know our van does run...

Baaaah. Steph told the dealer to give us a day to think it over, but at this point I still don't know which way I'm leaning. Maybe we'll just flip a coin.