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Here’s mine.. http://imgur.com/a/YjHGG
It’s my old long ago paid for Saturn Wagon. It’s not bad by it’s own right. It can hold a decent amount of stuff and gets pretty good fuel mileage.. 18 to 26 MPG depending on the drive, load etc.
The trailer is the deal of deals. I paid $300 years ago for it. No extra insurance in required, registration is almost free and upkeep is minimal. The nice thing about mine, is that the former owner installed an aluminum deck on it.
A small 4 X 8 foot trailer like this can be pulled by almost any car.
Of course, you have to have a place to store the trailer. Backing and parking can be a chore and it’s not the most convenient vehicle.
For convenience I have to admit a pickup or van is the way to go.
It’s too bad Toyota doesn’t make a Prius van.
What’s you scavenger mobile.
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Yup, I bought the Toyota Sienna minivan as a mom of young kids in August of 2007. Now, its my eBay pickup car. I haven’t had such a large auction purchase that I haven’t been able to fit everything in it.
I once traveled 400 miles to pickup a patio table and 6 metal chairs at my parents house. Crazy what can fit in there with all the seats out (except for the driver’s seat, of course) and some excellent Tetris skills.
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Yes a great vehicle. People are keeping those for years and literally putting hundreds of thousands of miles on them. You scored with that car.
I agree on the Tetris skills. I’ve come home from the auction with my car filled top to bottom. You look at the stuff on the sidewalk and then at your car. There’s no way this is all going to fit. The next thing you know there’s stuff on the floor and the passenger seat and you can barely see out the passenger window, but you’re rolling…. with a big smile on your face.
Life is good.
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I have a Subaru Forester. People are regularly astounded by how much I can squeeze in there! One time I loaded a twin box spring, mattress, and frame; closed the trunk and drove away from the bug-eyed seller! 😀
When I have to load really large stuff, my husband’s Toyota T100 gets called in to help.
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we have a 1996 Acura Integra hatchback about to hit 290k miles! the thing is basically a pickup truck. (although we also have a Toyota Tacoma that is an actual pick up truck, we haul just as much stuff in the little hatchback)
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After hearing you all talking about prepping for a haul in the rain I have to ask…why haven’t you scavenged a topper for your truck?? You can get a camper topper that has an oversize height so you can haul tall stuff. Craigslist and facebook yardsale are full of old toppers. You should be able to get one cheap, then you can have a bone dry all weather truck bed.
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Its a good question. I go back and forth on the camper top. I love the idea of storing stuff back there. Even going camping.
But I use our truck too much like a utility vehicle. Firewood, mulch, flooring. Stuff is just overflowing. Today we went to auction and loaded it up five feet high with straps and tarps. There’s no way we could haul big couches.
I like the freedom of no top.
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Here she is: http://i.imgur.com/uS90Dnx.jpg
The second one in back. LOL
That first one isn’t mine, although they do get close to the same gas mileage.Thinking about getting a small beater for some of the locating, and keeping the other on the sidelines just for pickups.
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We resold 1200 pieces of Vintage furniture in 2017 (local sales), and sold collectibles through eBay. We like using a Grand Caravan and a 6′ x 10′ ramped enclosed trailer for scavenging.
https://imgur.com/a/ecZR6-
Sorry if I forgot your story, but how do you find and sell 100 pieces of furniture a month? That’s a lot of hauling.
Do you buy at auctions and sell out of a warehouse on your property?
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Mainly weekly auctions, but we sweep whole areas during good weather hitting garage sales until the trailer and van are full. Doesn’t take long. We only rent 2 10×20 storage units for furniture for $105/m each, so costs are low. We “clean-up” and list everything within a day, and people line up 5 deep online (Facebook Marketplace) for most things. We set a time for the first in line for each piece to come see/pick-up. Most items sell and are gone within a week. Good solid antique and vintage furniture, value priced, sells quickly. 25,000 person town but the reach is out 30 miles.
We’ve also gotten a lot of furniture for free; people call us when they are moving to a smaller place and they let us take what we want. We don’t take junk, anything seriously broken, or anything upholstered.
The collectibles we find all end up on eBay and are stored in the home basement office. 2500 items.
Side gig for both of us, for fun mainly.
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We’d love to sell more furniture, but its a slow grind for us.
–How much do you pay for the furniture?
–What’s your average profit for furniture?-
About 50% of our sales are dressers, so we hunt for them. Most everyone already has beds, kitchen/dining tables, and coffee tables, but dressers … they put them in closets, in hallways, … great storage. Plus dressers stack well in the trailer. The only real issue is fixing wonky drawers. I’ve become an expert. We have a good following so a good chunk of the sales are to people painting stuff up for resale themselves.
We have a hard time selling any one piece for over $150 in our area, and we look to mark up 3-5 times our cost, so $25 dressers go for $75. We rarely pay over $50 for any piece. Some auctions we make a killing, picked up 18 pieces last weekend and only spent $150 (some are in the attached photos). These pieces are already gone. We aim to move them out quickly.
Gonna load up again Sunday.
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Cool. That’s about the kind of stuff we see at auctions. As you said, it’s easy to buy cheap because no one wants to haul it away. Good for you! Making money where no one else sees it.
Where do you temporarily store it all between auction and selling it? Even if its just fora week, I assume the furniture must be covered.
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Got it. So people meet you at the storage units to purchase. I guess I assumed you stored items in storage, but sold at your house.
What percentage of flakey buyers do you deal with? I know we would tear our hair out meeting every CL person who said they would show up (but didnt).
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Yes, a good number of no-shows and flakes, like 1 in 10. Using Facebook, we send them auto-appointment reminders in the morning and 1 hour before. They need to respond in a message or we wont show up. We move on to the next in line if that happens. Some buyers “F” with us, saying they are on their way when they never even left the house. They get black listed and blocked.
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Just us and a good 2-wheel dolly. Great exercise. We don’t buy anything ridiculously big or heavy. At most we do hutches and armoires. No appliances. We got this 2 weeks ago for $50. Beadboard cabinet. Sold it for $400.
https://imgur.com/a/qcHMn -
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We have a 2011 Nissan Rogue that is our personal vehicle and can handle a decent amount of small stuff but we have two car seats for the granddaughters my wife cares for during the week days. This weekend I found a nice piece of MCM wall art at St. Vincent DePaul Thrift and snatched it up without checking to see if it would fit (the piece is 60″x24″) but I was just able to get it in.
I drive a Nissan NV200 cargo van for work and use it whenever I know I am getting large items or lots of items. I loaded it full at one estate sale auction and another time I drove about 70 miles to pick up a vintage credenza I got from an online auction for $1. That piece is now in my office.
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Im waiting for the first BEV scavenger vehicle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_vehicle).
So far, any all electric car that gets 250+ miles/charge is some sort of sedan. we need a hatchback/van to be all electric.
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Tesla is currently building the Gigafactory up in Reno NV, so it’s probably just a matter of time.
With all the success Toyota had had with the Prius, I’m surprised they haven’t offered a Prius Mini Delivery Van with a Plug In option. Something about the size of the Nissan NV200 with a Prius drive train.
Chrysler recently introduced the Pacific with a plug in hybrid option.
I think we are still a few steps away from a full electric.
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Joe, since the NV200 is my regular job vehicle, and my boss pays for the fuel, I don’t track the mileage. It is a great vehicle for most items and works great for my job. It has sliding doors on both sides and back doors that open all the way. From the front seats to back door is about 7 feet and almost 4 feet wide between the wheel wells.The main issue is inner height. As long as the piece is not too tall, you are good. I have transported lots in it from estate auctions or when I moved from an apartment to my house. I would like to get a used pickup for personal use to be able to get taller pieces.
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I bought 2002 Caravan a couple years ago, I haul the dogs, 8×4 sheets of styrofoam and use it for garage sales and auctions.
I removed the seats but they do take up space in my garage.
It keeps on going with 190k miles.
I lease a new Outlander but don’t drive it much, I’m thinking of replacing both my vehicles with a late model Caravan or Town & Country with the stow and go seats. Such a great utility vehicle.
https://imgur.com/gallery/7a239 -
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2012 Mini Cooper S. I can fit 2 overflowing cart loads of stuff from the bins, plus a little more. I don’t normally buy large items. I did once fit a miter saw with the stand attached in it (the lady I bought it from was shocked). It gets amazing gas mileage and is super easy to park just about anywhere. If I happen to want to go back for something bigger we do have a truck.
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I have a black Town & Country minivan with the stow and go seats. Her name is Stella. She’s a beast. It’s astonishing what I can pack in her. Another feature I love is that I can open the side doors and the back hatch with my key fob or buttons by the rear view mirror. I took her on a 13-state picking trip a couple of summers ago and brought back over 1000 items in her, including 46 vintage hats.
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What a variety of cars and vehicles. Great responses by everyone.
I considering getting a used van and am thinking about an old Ford Aerostar van, strictly for hauling.
Around here they are pretty cheap.
They have a 6 cylinder engine, so the fuel mileage won’t be horrible. They are rear wheel drive drive, so they should be more durable and cheaper to repair. They also seem to go last long time if treated right.
They are a tad bigger than a lot of minivans, but not quite a full sized van.
I’m probably keeping my station wagon, so I don’t need the perfect everyday vehicle.
Do any of you have any experience with this van. They were last made in 1997. Most of the information online has been positive. The biggest complaint has been ride and comfort. That’s not a big deal to me.
Thanks
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Steve, I have a 2013 Chrysler Town and Country. That’s my scavenger-mobile. Stow and Go is the reason that I bought it over buying a Sienna or a Odyssey as I really wanted to fold down one center seat to make it easy for my little kids to get in and out. I really didn’t want an American car due to the reputation for maintenance issues. Good grief, I should have stuck to that thought. I can say without reservation that this car is a piece of junk! I bought it new, so I didn’t buy someone else’s headache. It’s been in the shop five times in the past 6 weeks, each time with them telling us they’d fixed the issue…nope.
Last Sunday I had to limp it to the dealership, as it was overheating. It’s just non stop issues. We have a case open with Chrysler corporate so at least the dealership has been forced to cover the repairs thus far (the first issue 6 weeks ago was under drivetrain warranty, the rest of the issues were caused by that “repair”). I would not in a million years buy this vehicle unless you could get an extended warranty on it. There are other minivans with much better repair records. Yesterday’s repair would have cost us nearly $800 if Chrysler corporate hadn’t agreed that we had a good case and assigned us a case manager who advocated for us with the dealership. Too bad some other brands don’t adopt the stow-and-go idea…it’s really brilliant.
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Those sto and go middle seats are painfully uncomfortable. Really, all the seats in the Chrysler suck. Go sit in the back seats of a Honda Odyssey and you’ll see the difference. I have an Odyssey and it’s pretty easy for the kids to get into the back row with the slide forward middle seats. They even changed the design a few years ago that makes the middle row middle seat full functional for an infant car seat or even an adult. We comfortably go on trips with 3 adults and 4 kids regularly.
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I have a Kia Soul. People are always surprised by how much junk I can cram in there. I can’t haul large furniture, but I have shoved big coffee tables in the back and closed the hatch, (to the great surprise of the person giving me the tables).
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I, too, have a Kia Soul. It’s a 2014 base model. Manual transmission, which is what I wanted. It has a tow package, but it would be hard on the little buddy if I ever used it, but it may come in handy one day. It gets 30+ MPG most of the time and can haul a ton for it’s size. I got a great deal on it and though I miss 2001 barebones Honda Civic, this dude is worth the hauling space!
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Another vote for the Odyssey. This is my dirty 2010. My future death pile free self will enjoy taking it to estate sales.
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I still use my Honda Fit, lol. The seats are permanently down in the back and for all intents and purposes I use it like a truck. I have got insane amounts of stuff in it, e.g., a pallet with a coffee machine, huge auction hauls, a glass table and chairs… and I can always tie stuff to the roof.
I have thought of upgrading to a truck (wife wants me to for road safety), but this is such a great commuter car. If I ever needed to rent a truck it’d run me about $100/day which is acceptable compared to the purchase cost, insurance cost, and gas cost of a truck.
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You’re car is a candidate for a trailer hitch.. You can buy a used 4 X 8 foot trailer for $500 or less.. or rent them with a daily rate (no mileage charge).
Of course, pulling a trailer with a Honda fit will require caution and lots of adult common sense, but I’m sure it’s being done.
That’s a great car.
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Ok.. turns out the manual says you cannot tow with a Honda Fit and you’ll void the warranty.. blah blah blah.
I see everything including Smart Cars towing trailers.. Again it’s matter a safety, common sense and your comfort level…
Either way, it’s a great car and a truck rental once in a blue moon may make the most sense.
Good Luck.
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