We got up really early again as is often the case after getting back from a winter in Indochina. There's not a lot of activity at 5:00 am. However, it gave us plenty of time to get going on accomplishing our British Columbia 'Scrap-It' funding on the 1996 Ford Ranger. The main provincial incentive on a 100% electric vehicle is $5,000 and that is taken off the price before purchase. I paid for my new Kona Electric on Tuesday but knew that I'd get an additional $CA 6,000 for giving up the Ranger for scrap.
The Lower Mainland drop-off location is not far from where we live. It's just across and a few kilometers up the Fraser River. First, we had to clear out the truck which had also doubled as a storage area. For example, our big picnic cooler used to ride around in the back. Also, some camping equipment was stored under the pickup canopy. Some items had to be moved to a dumpster at our building.
The company called, Schnitzer Steel, was really hard to find. Along the river, a new highway cuts off easy access. We had to take a meandering route and it took at least twice as long as needed, perhaps a half hour. When we got there, a little sign said to go to the scale. We drove through several times before stopping and entering the public end of the building. It seems we needed to stop at the dump truck service window although it was a few meters higher than we required.
Damn. I didn't have all the paperwork required. I was supposed to bring along an emailed approval for BC Scrap-It. We needed to drive back across the Pattullo Bridge to get home to print a copy. We found a preferred route which was much quicker. At our building, I temporarily used a neighbour's parking space as it had no car.
We repeated the process and found everything in order this time. I was instructed to go to an area near the entrance so my vehicle plates could be removed. They provided them to me and I went back in the public office for the final paperwork. It took only a few minutes. We then had to park in a designated area. I remembered all the times it had got us places. In the slight drizzle, my Ranger looked much too good to be scrap.
We then had to wait for a free taxi ride to get us back to the Scott Road SkyTrain station. Unfortuantely, it took a half an hour for one to show up. The first SkyTrain stop, on one short trip back over the river, got us home. I had the plates which I needed to request the rebate on my seven months of auto insurance. We did this chore in the late afternoon too. So, now my truck is only a memory.