Conference 7.286::digital

    >I am just glad I am getting a new vehicle
    >since my old one has over 60K miles on it.
    
    Dalip, you should consider yourself lucky! There are field service
    types driving around Houston in cars with 80-100K miles on them. One
    engineer had his last vehicle until about 115K miles!
    
    Then there are us desktop lowlifes that can't even be on plan A... ;-)
    
    Harry
    

If a Ford Taurus is considered "old" with only 115,000 miles on it, perhaps we
should be using something more reliable.

My Car Plan C 1986 Honda looks and runs like new with 161,000 miles on it.

Paul

    
    Plan C is, I believe, the unofficial designation of the cents/mile
    plan.  It means you drive an imported car, collect mileage money for
    it, brag to your fellow workers about it, denigrate their American car...
    
    
    
    ...then whine like hell when you get laid off in Mass because 
    manufacturing was moved off-shore.

    I just received, and sent in, my new car order forms as well.  I
    understand what .0 is saying, since I didn't see anywhere on the
    forms that the Dodge Caravan was for "Field Service use ONLY".
    
    While I didn't choose the Van, I did assume that it was available 
    to everyone on Plan A.  I was listed along with all the other choices,
    with no stipulation about having to be in Field Service to qualify.
    

    *Everyone* seems to have different rules. (still!) When I was in the
    field not long ago,I balked at both plan "A" and "B" at one
    point,telling my manager that I'd prefer to just drive an older car and
    take the mileage. He responded by reading me some rule which says that
    as a F/S type eligible for a car,I had a choice of "A" or "B" and
    that's it. If you don't like the rules,transfer to another
    department!(your plan "C" was supposedly only for emergencies)
    
    Ken

      Re .4, Many foreign brands are considered domestic (the Ford
      Crown Victoria is considered an import). And many Honda, 
      Nissan, Toyota and soon to be BMW's and Mercedes Benz's are
      built in America employing Americans.

60K miles? 85K miles? 115K miles?

Gosh - then there are those of us who haven't any sort of a car plan who
acquire used vehicles with 140K miles . . . 

-Jack

    The caviat for vans and wagons is mostly that it requires additional
    approval from your cost center manager and that's usually on the
    assumption that you need to haul product around. I'm not able for
    example to fit a 19" monitor in my Pontiac 6000 without taking it out of
    the box. The 16" just fits but only on the front seat but I can't see
    out the passenger window.
    

>Gosh - then there are those of us who haven't any sort of a car plan who
>acquire used vehicles with 140K miles . . . 
    
    But, does your boss require you to drive 100-350 miles a day in it? I'm
    on Plan B and Digital requires that I not drive a vehicle on company
    business that's more than 5 years old. Part of the reason is the image
    it presents to the customer, the other is reliability of the vehicle.
    Some of our customers require on-site response in 1 hour or less. A
    car that breaks down often can cause us to lose that customer!
    
    I know that there's at least one field service engineer in the South
    Texas District that puts over 50,000 business miles a year on his van.
    
    Harry
    

re:   <<< Note 2897.10 by USHS01::HARDMAN "Massive Action = Massive Results" >>>

>    But, does your boss require you to drive 100-350 miles a day in it?

No - my daily roundtrip commute from home to the office and back is only 90
miles. I only go above that when I have to make a meeting at another site
during the day. Then I add another 12 to 50 onto that. Usually not more
than two or three times a week.

I guess my point was that xx,000 miles does not necessarily an unreliable
vehicle make. And, that if it wasn't a company subsidized benefit, there
might be more incentive to be conservative in replacement cycles.

-Jack

The leasing company determines what the final mileage should be for the vehicle
as a part of the lease agreement with Digital.   Since the mileage has recently
come down, and we all know Digital isn't going to spend more than necessary,
its reasonable to assume that Digital struck a better deal with GE Leasing.

As for the vans (and wagons, BTW) for people in Sales and Support (DC, or 
whatever, these days) the policy requires that your cost center manager 
must approve anything other than a sedan, since it hits his/her cost center 
for a larger monthly expense.

Those who currently have vans or wagons can order them again.   Those without
a van or wagon as their current vehicle must get CC mgr approval.

Bob

Their was also a memo sent out that requested thet those in MCS that
don't need the Wagon/Van to order the Sedans.

    I called to see if sales folk could get the wagons or vans.  The answer
    is no.  You need a business justification, as it has always been.

    I believe that in the ordering packet I received from Gelco they
    said that all vehicles will be ordered from now on at 50K. This I
    assume is because they won't take a beating on the resales as they had
    when DEC wanted everyone driving them into the ground.
    
    And I applaude .4 reply. 
    
    
    mike turro
    Baltimore