00:00.85 archpodnet Welcome to the show. Everyone joining me today is in alphabetical order Andrew in California Bill in California Doug in Scotland. 00:07.60 Andrew Hey everyone? how's it going. 00:12.58 Bill White Thanks, good morning. 00:15.85 Doug So everyone. 00:19.89 archpodnet And Heather in California all right and I am almost to reno. We're actually at a rye patch dam state recreation area which we stayed here before but we didn't have starlink and so we were totally like disconnected and. 00:21.86 Heather Hi everyone. 00:38.18 archpodnet Because it's like literally drops down into this little canyon and just like no cell service down here whatsoever. No wi-fi know anything but you know today we're living the good life and recording a podcast while seeing deer out my window and just got done watching formula one. So it's ah it's pretty good and it's quiet. It's peaceful and. We can do whatever we want. So it's the it's the new era of technology speaking of let's talk about trucks and new trucks because I tell you what I got a lot to say on the topic of vehicles which is Andrew's baby today so Andrew why don't you bring us in with your ideas on vehicles. 01:13.35 Andrew Sure I Thought we'd talk about vehicles in general and we can go trucks and cars and Suvs and all that kind of good stuff. Um I am a not so secret Gearhead. So I have this need to know this stuff I can't help myself. It's a disease. Um, and so. You know over the years I think we all as archeologists have had varying experiences with different vehicles some turned out to work really well some turned to work really terrible and you know are there themes that we've learned in terms of new cars or used Cars. You know what? what we find works really well for us. 01:44.32 archpodnet So. 01:49.18 Andrew As A Crm professional. You know you're driving maybe a long way to the job. Um, maybe you're in some terrain that isn't the best at the job you know and just the the upkeep of of the car the truck the overall expense. There's a lot there to talk about So I thought we would you know we can just. Open it up with all all kinds of topics there I have a bunch you know so. 02:09.00 archpodnet Oh yeah, well I mean in in terms of type of vehicle too, right? It all depends on where you're at and what you're doing. But for the most part I would say a lot of our experiences with archeology are in areas where that are undeveloped just by nature. 02:13.61 Andrew Little. 02:24.86 archpodnet But it's COrm archeology so you're usually in areas that are undeveloped now there obviously are situations where you're in an urban environment. You're doing you know, archaeology and like you know I know somebody who did ah an excavation up to long ago in New York City because a lot of stuff was put up before laws and regulations said you had to you know monitor and do things in some of these big. 02:41.91 Andrew Yeah. 02:44.80 archpodnet So now they're having to go back and do these things when a redevelopment happens a building comes down or potentially you're doing monitoring I know like you know Heather down in Southern California you probably do a lot of monitoring in very urban environments where you could just drive a sedan to the project right? It doesn't act. You could probably uber to the project. But you know. 03:00.90 Andrew Yeah, ah yeah, ah. 03:03.40 Heather And we've had that happen Actually that's funny. You said? ah. 03:03.98 archpodnet And ah I have no doubt I have no doubt. Yeah, yeah, exactly So you would you're putting your screen and your shovel on the bus. It's just a real bitch but it's possible. Maybe you could put it on the bike rack I don't know. Ah. 03:05.39 Bill White Sure, Yeah yeah, I've taken transit to the project before too. It saves on parking. 03:09.50 Andrew Um, right. 03:10.63 Heather Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. 03:20.89 Heather Um. 03:22.35 Heather Conversation starter. 03:23.60 archpodnet All right? so so what so what do you think? Andrew where yeah. 03:24.71 Andrew Yeah, well I was just thinking in general because even like I have students who asked me this kind of stuff you know Ah which I have for the field and and the the short answer is basically used is beautiful. I would say do not buy a new car for the field because it's just going to get messed up. You know it's just going to get nasty. It's just going to get scratched I would say um, some something around the 15 year age range is what I like because it's bottomed out in terms of its overall cost. 03:38.99 archpodnet P m. 03:40.29 Heather Ain't nothing boom. Yeah. 03:56.65 Andrew Um, you do not need something that's like super off road hard core like that's usually just silly and not worth it in my experience. Um a base model of something is the best with not all the add ons because those just break. Um, the. Best gas mileage you can get so it's always about the smaller engine. Not the big engine that takes all the gas you know and when buying used the what how the previous owner treated it. Um, if it was me and I had to buy a use car of some kind right now. 04:30.72 archpodnet M. 04:32.70 Andrew Um, then I you know I'd get like an some mulder like it like a Nissan x terra that's not around anymore. But those that they're sort of second stringers people kind of don't know him so keep the cost down a Subaru forester an older one. Um. 04:46.68 archpodnet So. 04:49.62 Andrew Something um american that's older of of those years as long as you can get decent gas mileage when in doubt, the japanese stuff is usually the best. Um, the Toyota forerunner is like kind of the gold standard but they're so overpriced these days I actually wouldn't buy 1 so those are. 05:03.66 archpodnet Right? right? right. 05:08.60 Andrew That's where I'm coming from. You know you want a basic car that's is that is cheap as you can buy it. 05:14.79 archpodnet Bill. 05:14.85 Bill White I I got a question. Do you do you think a car that old though is just going to be like buying someone else's problems I don't know I mean my whole life I had Junkers until recently so I know that I know the the lifestyle of constantly having to deal with. 05:26.67 archpodnet More. 05:27.86 Andrew Right? ah. 05:32.96 Bill White Broken stuff and fixing things and all that stuff. Do you think that buying some that old though 15 years old is just going to fall apart and. 05:41.51 Andrew Not necessarily I think Bill brings up an excellent question. Um, yeah, that depends on the previous owner right? if you have a what's great for us is there's the SUVCraze of like fifteen years ago or so where everyone bought them and then they just drove to the mall. 05:56.30 archpodnet M. 05:57.64 Andrew You know if you can find one that's been well maintained of that age range I think there's still it's still a pretty pretty good deal. You know, especially if you know know what you're looking for but bill does bring up a important point unless you're a total car guy like me. 06:08.44 Heather At. 06:14.60 Andrew It's better to go 10 years old than 20 years old if that makes sense. Yeah. 06:18.77 Heather So so Andrew just you know I have two I have ah a 21 year old and 18 year old and just knowing at this age you know people that are entering the field. They're younger may not have had parents walk them down the road as far as what it takes to buy a car. What are you looking at. 06:34.45 Andrew Yeah. 06:36.57 Heather How do you know that that car's been maintained properly. So maybe I think you're the gearhead I would say just for me. But I'm sure it could go a little bit. You know much further than that is you know when you're talking to somebody about buying a car asking for their maintenance log asking for proof that they have maintained. Um if they have done it at a you know. 06:46.90 Andrew Um, ah. 06:56.36 Heather Like ah at a dealer. Whatever do they have proof of that I always I my personal was if you can ever buy from a fireman that's like the best or fire person because you they really take very good care of their vehicles. But that's you know like a. 06:59.47 Andrew Yeah, yeah. 07:09.82 Andrew Ah, right. 07:14.35 Andrew Right. 07:14.66 Heather You know, unicorn or whatever. But I think maybe you could go down and talk a little bit about how do you know that the car's been maintained. 07:19.91 Andrew Sure Sure that's I think it's a great question. So First off when you first get there to look at it. How does it look does it look bad if it looks bad. It's bad. You know and it's you'll have this little voice in your head. Even if you want it see you're gonna you're gonna find something online. You'll be like yeah love a Jeep Wrangler which are terrible by the way. Um, but you you go and and see it. You're like I want it I want to I want it but it looks horrible. Let it go right? There will be another One. You'll see some deal that's too good to be True. It's too good to be true. Let it go right? Yes, and. 07:50.33 Heather And don't fall in love with an idea of a certain kind of vehicle or a vehicle you see online? Yeah yeah. 08:00.90 Andrew It's so true. That's probably that's almost the number 1 thing I'd say to people because we have this idea in our mind and archeology that we need the hardcore 4 by 4 you know, but like you don't I've seen people do amazing things offroad with a Honda accord you know. 08:07.20 archpodnet M. 08:13.71 Heather I had a Toyota echo. It took me. You would not believe where it took me I had a couple bumpers that fell off in the field but you know what I there was always somebody in there that could put it back on from me and eventually I learned how to do it myself that to you. 08:17.71 Andrew Yeah. Right. 08:27.69 archpodnet Yeah. 08:31.35 Andrew And it's exactly and it started in the morning because it was a Toyota you know like and again looking for you know what to buy besides the all um how it looks like you said do they have records. Do they understand cars. Do they know cars. 08:31.49 Heather Sort of echo was amazing. Okay. 08:35.54 archpodnet Right. 08:47.25 Andrew You know is one of the owners in the family you know they they they got oil changes every three thousand miles or whatever can they talk about that if they have no idea about cars. That's you know that's a bad that's a bad sign. You want a knowledgeable person I would say first and foremost and yeah anyway I think Doug you have something. 08:56.77 archpodnet So yeah. 09:04.30 Doug And yeah, actually it's going me like a scatter gun because there's ah, a couple of comments. Um one was just like this is it goes back to the whole like um if you've ah kept the car maintained. But also another thing to think about is the weather of where the car was um so this is going to pretty much only affect people on the coast but ah Salt Water Salt water is going to rust um your vehicle pretty quickly or being near it. Um, so like it's It's just one of those things. 09:23.74 Heather Yes, yes. 09:25.29 Andrew Right. 09:35.50 Heather Ah, Doug yeah that that actually applies in places with snow too because you have salt so it actually will eat up in the midwest I'm from Chicago you can tell a car that's from the midwest even quicker. 09:42.30 Andrew Um, yes, um. 09:43.33 Doug Um, yeah, flip. 09:45.68 archpodnet Oh yeah. 09:51.60 Heather Then some then the salt that it's exposed to on the coast because they put salt on the road. So it's actually even worse. But yeah, it's actually a really good point. The salt will eat up the bottom of your car. Yeah. 09:53.11 Andrew Um, definitely. 10:00.48 Andrew Yes. 10:01.45 Doug Yeah, I'm actually just thinking about people I know in North Dakota and stuff where it eats that as well. Yeah I was I was actually just thinking Uk where we don't actually get that much snow so they don't salt that often. But if you're near the coast. Um, your car is going to even even if it looks good. 10:08.70 archpodnet Um. 10:11.18 Andrew Um, right? yeah it. It's usually right. 10:15.39 Heather Yeah, yeah. 10:18.60 Doug Um, and it's been cared for and has like twenty thousand miles after like 10 years or something like that. Always check the yeah sort of weather stuff because that corrosion you're not going to be able to see easily. 10:26.87 Andrew Yes, and but but Heather's right but you can see the corrosion. You just got to get down and look at the car right? So rust is the great enemy rust is the number 1 thing you don't want the number 1 thing if it's Rusty walk away. 10:33.36 Heather So undercarriage. Yeah yeah. 10:40.31 archpodnet So. 10:43.45 Andrew But like Heather was saying you have to get down on your knees look under the car spend some time so many people won't even do that you know you're you're about to drop thousands of dollars on this go underneath the car and look up bring a flashlight. That's another thing at least most our phones now have flashlights on them which is great look under the car if it looks all Rusty. That's. 11:00.77 Doug So. 11:01.31 archpodnet Um. 11:03.70 Andrew Bad Great right? Another great one? Yeah I've done that for friends before. 11:04.18 Heather Don't be shy about it like don't think you're hurting The guy's feelings or the person's feelings or bring somebody who does know cars with you If you don't know him? yeah. 11:06.30 archpodnet Ah, yeah. 11:12.16 Bill White And you know another another thing too that I've watched for for especially things like suvs and trucks is modifications and stuff because it's 1 thing if they have like a new stereo or something like that in there. But if they've put a lift kit and a whole bunch of other stuff I mean that's like aftermarket parts that. 11:12.81 Doug Fort. 11:19.20 Andrew He yeah. 11:31.30 Bill White You don't know the warranty on that and they're not covered by the manufacturer. So sometimes when stuff breaks on a car that was original parts Even if it's a long time later, you might be able to get it replaced because you know it was faulty or something like that and so you can get it replaced. You know at cost or free or something like that. But if somebody's. 11:46.50 archpodnet In here. 11:50.40 Bill White You know, put a lift kit and a whole bunch of other elaborate stuff and winches and all kinds of other stuff like a couple things. First of all, they could have done it themselves and like think about the people you know and then think about how many people you know that are competent enough to put parts on a car and have it not fall apart and then second of all they could have. 11:52.44 Andrew Um, ah yeah. 11:58.65 Andrew But you. 12:04.41 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 12:05.98 Andrew Um, yeah. 12:07.82 Bill White Had it done at a place professionally but now none of that stuff's covered by warranty and it's also not. You know it wasn't put on by the manufacturer. So the parts aren't all the same and if something breaks you might end up having to fix that yourself and. 12:19.18 Andrew Yes, great point Stock is your friend stock is your friend. You don't want that extra crap. It's always bad I've I've I don't think I've ever had an experience where I'm like thank God they put these wheels on this you know. 12:20.38 archpodnet But you know yeah. 12:33.70 archpodnet That right right? You know the other thing too. Andrew you mentioned if the car looks bad like that's a then it's probably is bad but you know sometimes you you really have to look to see that kind of stuff and it's like when you go get a. 12:43.10 Andrew Um, yeah. 12:48.70 archpodnet It's like when you go rent a car and you walk around with the rental agency and you're looking at little scrapes and dings and stuff like that. You almost have to just kind of pay attention to that minutia because if you're buying from a dealership they're going to detail the car before they put it on the lot right? So they're going to try to wipe away all that evidence of bad behavior If you're buying from a. 12:51.50 Andrew Right. 12:59.59 Andrew Um, yep, yep. 13:04.72 archpodnet Person off of Craigslist or Ebay Motors or something like that they may not have had the car detailed. So I feel like I mean personally I feel like when you look at somebody's car. It's like looking at their desk at work right? If the desk is messy I feel like they're probably not a super great project manager that's not always true. It's not always true, but I just feel like that's true. 13:15.49 Andrew Are. Right? yeah. 13:22.86 Bill White I Yeah hey come on. Ah ah, wait eight way wait. Yeah, its an archaeology place and there's actual artifacts on the desk and there's dirt then that might mean they're actually a real archeologist. 13:24.33 archpodnet Ah, me yeah right bill He's taking personal offense to that. Ah, but. 13:28.13 Andrew I Yeah I think. 13:34.87 Heather Um, and but yeah. 13:37.93 archpodnet It might it might be it might be but here's the thing though like I was you never can tell even what the cost of the car I was looking at sometimes I just do this like it's my evening pastime I was looking at this ah Rv on rv trader last night a two hundred and eighty thousand dollars diesel pusher nice ah rv night 13:38.11 Andrew Um I. 13:51.62 Heather Cheese. 13:54.78 archpodnet 2019 this thing is beautiful, but there was 164 pictures and I started looking through these things and I'll tell you what the scrapes and stuff I saw on the doors and the sides and on the bumpers that they the the dealership definitely took pictures on on purpose I'm like I've had my rv for over 2 years I've never. Hit anything How do you hit something when you're you're driving at a half a mile per hour through a park and it's just like you know what? who knows what other kind of care this person took and when you're talking about all those systems. That's 1 thing with a car. It's a little different but you just look at the little stuff look underneath that skid plate. 14:12.48 Andrew Um, yeah. 14:12.86 Heather H. 14:28.96 Andrew Yep, totally. 14:29.91 archpodnet How it's the how does the skid plate look underneath in the front the air dammp you know, like if that thing's all jacked up what else did they do to it. You know what? I mean they're taking speed bumps at full speed. 14:34.58 Andrew Totally Yes, totally when when you're looking at like use car dealerships. It's open warfare. You know it's you against them and that's all it is They are lying to you always know that everything's a lie. You know. 14:42.43 archpodnet Yeah. 14:49.62 archpodnet Um, I and I looked at a car 1 time and and it had a small drip of just like an occasional drip underneath it of oil I could see this tiny little puddle I don't know how long it'd been parked in that spot. But it's added dealership. It was a little older car I think it was a can't even remember what kind of car it was and the guy was like oh well this is a. 14:59.73 Andrew Um. 15:07.34 archpodnet Car it had like one hundred thousand miles on I was even looking at it seriously I was just curious because it looked interesting and I had so many miles on he's like oh when it gets as many miles on it like that's just natural like it's just going to have a little bit of an oil leak and I was like no, that's that's bad like it shouldn't have an oil leak. Yeah. 15:10.87 Andrew Right. 15:19.87 Heather Um, a. 15:20.45 Andrew No yeah, that's idiotic. Yeah oh that's natural. No, it's not. There's seals for that? Yeah, ah oh right? Um I just saw. 15:26.18 archpodnet Um, yeah, exactly yeah, something's failing. 15:32.25 Andrew In the comments Heather as as we're talking you know, looking up the if the vehicle's been in an accident. Yeah, the carfa there's carfax on so many vehicles right? now you want to look at that and it'll say likes been accidents been reported. You know it. 15:42.10 archpodnet Um, yeah. 15:43.88 Heather And so how how does that happen I mean that happens just so for those that don't know if you've been in it. It doesn't mean it covers every accident I mean if somebody didn't report it um to insurance and they just fixed it on their own that that would not be triggered. You know the Dmv wouldn't know about it. But that's. 15:48.83 Andrew Um, no. 15:58.37 archpodnet Right. 15:58.89 Andrew Um, ripe. 16:01.47 Heather Those records are pulled from the Dmv so that's definitely another another thing you want to know? Yeah yeah. 16:04.84 Andrew Yeah, and and ask them. You know again when you're going to the seller. It's like oh I see that this has been an an accident. What happened how was it fixed where is it where was the accident. You know? yeah absolutely and and again like you said before. 16:06.12 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 16:14.19 Heather And verify and verify trust but verify. 16:21.37 archpodnet Yeah, you must forever. 16:21.98 Andrew Yeah, like you said before Heather like that they may act like oh I can't believe you've hurt my feelings asking me that so what you know tell me about your car. Yeah, right, totally totally. 16:28.83 Heather You're never going to see these people again. They're not going to care about your feelings when you break down on the side of the road because they didn't tell you everything. So. 16:28.89 archpodnet Um, yeah, yeah, all right? so. 16:36.11 archpodnet Ah, yeah, all right Guys. Let's take a break and come back on the other side and I want to talk about actual vehicles that you could Choose. We've talked about a lot of the criteria for choosing a vehicle and what you should look for. But. Now we need to talk about Well what kind of vehicle. Do You think you need and maybe so offer up some options. So Let's do that on the other side of the brake.