Hochwasserhilfe Ahrweiler - Autos statt Geld

ENGLISH VERSION BELOW


Hallo zusammen!



Ich möchte auf diesem Weg zusammen mit meinen Freunden in der Automobilwelt günstige Autos finden, kaufen, reparieren und verschenken. Und zwar an Opfer des Hochwassers in Ahrweiler (und Umgebung). Viele Leute haben alles verloren, auch ihr Auto. Und während viele sicherlich eine Teilkasko haben, über die sie irgendwann von der Versicherung vielleicht Geld bekommen, gibt es auch genug Leute ohne eben diese, die nichts bekommen werden. Sachspenden und Geldspenden gibt es schon immens viele, weswegen ich mir / wir uns gedacht haben, unseren Beitrag auf andere Art und Weise zu leisten. Ich kenne persönlich einige stark betroffene Leute die ein fester Bestandteil der Gemeinde sind vor Ort, und zusammen mit diesen möchte ich im Idealfall auch die Leute finden, die es am nötigsten haben. Das Ziel ist nicht den Leuten das beste Auto für den Rest ihres Lebens zu geben, aber etwas mit dem sie zur Arbeit, zum Arzt oder die Kinder zur Schule bekommen, bis sich ihr Leben wieder stabilisert hat. Entsprechend sollen die Autos die Leute primär erstmal bis nach 2022 hinein begleiten. Viele günstige Autos werden oft verschrottet weil Reparaturen in einer Werkstatt schnell ein paar Hundert Euro kosten, die Teile aber nur ein Bruchteil davon. Diese Art von Auto suche ich, denn um jemandem das Leben zu erleichtern, reichen sie allemal aus. Und alles was ich selbst machen kann an den Autos, werde ich selbst reparieren.



Für Fragen und Feedback bin ich stets offen. Es gibt kein definiertes Ziel, ich sehe schon 1 Auto für jemanden der keines mehr hat und sich keines leisten kann als einen großen Erfolg.



English Version:



Why hello there everyone. This is my plan to collect donations from my friends in the automotive community (and everyone else that wants to help) to provide support to the flooded town of Ahrweiler (not explicitly limited to it) in a way that represents our hobby and passion. Many other places are already taking care of monetary donations as well as all kinds of items for everyday life, to the point where collection stations are already getting too full.

 

Shortly after the flooding in the Ahr-valley that most people are aware, which destroyed many homes and livelyhoods, an idea I had before came back to me, with this new context. As a bunch of you know, I've been doing stupid videos on youtube about cars for a few month, and I can't help myself but look for cheap shitboxes all day long. The problem I always had: There is so many so cheap shitboxes out there that I could buy for next to no money, ... but what am I going to do with them once I fixed them up? A while ago I thought about reselling them, or finding local people in need and giving them away, but I ended up not doing any of that, especially since I also didn't have space to do that. So, now.. now the idea came back, because now there is a whole region, several towns worth of people, that need transportation. And I know that a lot of them will get their money back from the insurance company, eventually. But I also know that a lot of people probably didn't have the neccessary insurance (Teilkasko here in Germany). Those people don't even get to fight the insurance company and wait way too long before they get some money to buy whatever they can find or afford. Those people don't have a car anymore. Period. And probably not much of a home either.

 

So what exactly do I want to do?

 

The idea is to set up a donation/crowdfunding system for the explicit purpose of finding, buying, fixing if needed, and then giving cars to people that need them. I am not talking fancy cars, I am not talking cars that they'll keep forever, I am talking something that will get them into 2022, by which time they hopefully have all their other problems sorted. So lets go through the steps and what my idea/plan is for each of them.

 

1.) Finding them

That is to a degree the easy part. There is plenty around where I live, many things with and without TÜV for 100-500 Euros, often negotiable. Just got to pick ones that are worth fixing for cheap or already good to go with about a years worth of TÜV, just making sure they are not deathtraps. I will happily invest whatever time is needed to look for and at those things.

 

2.) Buying them

Well, straight forward, that is where *you* come in. People have threatened to throw some money at me in order to buy some ridiculous shit, just for the fun of it. I'd rather throw money at cars for people in need. If I proceed with this idea, I will try to spread this in all automotive circles I am in, in an attempt to reach as many people as possible. Because in the end, every Euro adds up and buys maybe an oil change, some brake pads, or new wipers.

 

3.) Fixing them

This is where I need to basically trust myself to find cars that have problems that are easy and cheap to fix, but often not worth people paying a shop to do them. I'd just get the parts needed and attempt everything fully DIY in my garage, now that I have one.

 

4.) Giving them away

This part is actually a bit more difficult. First of all, I need to get the cars up to the affeceted area, which requires either temp plates, or them to be still or already registered. I can't register a bunch of cars in my name on and off all the time, that's just not time and cost effective. Neither are normal temp plates really, since they're car bound and only valid 5 days. I'd either try to get cars that can remain registered until delivered up to the region, or see if I can find a shop with dealer plates, that is willing to lend me those for this cause. Then, I'd obviously try to make sure the car legally changes ownership, although I have yet to run into anyone asking for proof of that when registering a car in the last decade or so. Nonetheless, I'd probably for everyones peace of mind set up sales contracts for 1 Euro. And give them 1 Euro beforehand. I am assuming funds for taxes/insurance will be available, since they are freed up from the car they lost. Initial registration, don't know, that's about 60-70 Euros with plates.. not sure if that is something they'll have to / can pay, or that needs to be donated too?

 

The Goal?

 

Honestly, I'd even consider 1 car found and given away a win. 2, even better. 5? Hell yeah! Don't know. Open end, whatever is feasible.

 

What else?

I intend to film, upload and share at least the part of finding, getting and fixing the cars. I don't intend to neccessarrily film/publish the handover to people, since this is supposed to help people, not to embarrass them.

I am also considering asking local shops if they'd be willing to look over cars that I find for free, basically a "TÜV"-lite check, or PPI if you want. But I don't know if I'll be able to source that or not, just like the dealer plates for moving them.

 

I am also not saying only I can do it. Others are welcome to join in if they have the ability to find, get, fix and deliver cheap cars.

 

I would also very likely try to get Viktoria and Christoph (the owners of Viktoria Station in Kreuzberg, good friends, pillars of their community, and also victims of the flood) to point me at the people in need, and possibly as a "storage" location for ready to go cars. That is so far just an idea, I am not going to bother them with things like that just yet, they are still helping with cleaning up Kreuzberg.

 

I'd also be open for people to find and pick their own cars if they wanted to donate a specific one, as long as it is feasible to retrieve and fix that specific car. Sources are the ussual suspects, ebay Kleinanzeigen, mobile, autoscout.

 

And, I am aware that it doesn't have priority #1 right now, but this will also take a little bit of time (some weeks), after which ideally the basic infrastructure is back.

 

I am open for all questions, feedback, criticism, and whatever else you have.

 

Regards

Thomas Endesfelder