As the original list owner I don't really like to see disputes on-list. There was one thing that ocurred to me; regarding A/C work. When my own A/C went bad (blown high-pressure flexible hose) in San Antonio, I went to get a quote from the place several owners recommended. I nearly passed out when I got the estimate. The cost of the Freon alone was sky high! Of course I could not resist mentioning that I could easily buy all the Freon I needed for the repair 'over here' at a fraction of the price, whereupon the guy completely freaked out at that idea. However. . . I would definitely not, myself, risk buying a used Aerostar in the US, if I intended driving it anywhere that an AC is essential, simply because of the extravagant prices demanded for repairing that item. (I simply had the A/C repaired over here in Monterrey; the repairer made up a replacement hose, evacuated the system and charged it with the oil and refrigerant, and it has been running perfectly ever since. The cost of the job was about $200 including labour, the San Antonio A/C guy quoted me about 5 times that, for a van worth only about $2000 with a working A/C!) This of course is fundamental to the US's 'disposable' economy. Due to extravagant repair costs, quite decent vehicles are routinely junked. Over here they'd be running for ever. Best wishes Clive

Recharge in my area is about $75 if no hoses are blown but then we have only about 4 months of AC season compared to the sun belt areas that run all the way up to 12 months in some places. >