Rent, Lease, Sell, or Deport: 2002 Chevy Tracker 4WD

Like small SUV’s, the small towns of the South have a bit of a split personality. On one side of the brain are the transients. They generally don’t care who you want to marry, whether you own a firearm or not. Or what political party you favor. They are here for the (few) jobs and the cheap real estate.

The you have the Bible belt ‘conservative’ with a big old silver confederate belt buckle in the middle. The ‘Good Old Boys’ liked things just fine before their town became known and sure as heck don’t want anything to change now. Their ideology is right wing, family focused, and you can take it or leave it.

They are genuinely nice to you.. so long as you’re not too weird.

But if you’re too much of a drag on business, weirdo, the door does swing both ways. Much the same way as the door ended up swinging both ways for this Chevy Tracker.

Rent: The Tracker was to Chevy what an unemployed transient is to the ‘traditional’ south. A challenge to assimilate. But a welcome addition if it finds it’s niche. Unfortunately the Tracker stood out in a traditional Chevy showroom in 2002 about as well as a gay pride parade did back then in Cumming, Georgia.

Dealers hated the thing. It was small and expensive in a market where customers still wanted ‘big’ along with a volume discount to boot. By the late 90’s, the Tracker’s sales had nosedived more than three quarters from their Geo peak and never found a second wind.

If I rented this vehicle it would be $175 a week. That sounds good in theory. But I wonder if I can do better.

Lease: Financing this vehicle may be a more secure investment. A $700 down payment and $65 a week for 24 months may add up to less than a long-term rental status. But then again you have a solitary owner with a financial stake in the vehicle instead of multiple bodies hammering away at the powertrain.

Sell: A ZR2 model with 4WD and 105k would go for around $4500. Maybe even $5000 if I find the right buyer in the mountains of North Georgia or Tennessee. Small SUV’s tend to do very well in that region and based on my Autotrader results, there doesn’t seem to be many out there to choose from.

However there’s a reason for that.

Deport: A 4WD compact SUV is pure gold in Costa Rica along with a few other Central American countries. Tariffs are stiff. But a small, well kept Tracker with all the options and reasonable mileage would still sell for around double the price it gets in the states.

Then there is another recent purchase to consider. I just happened to find a 1st generation Toyota RAV4 with 90k miles the other day. It’s also a clean compact SUV. So why not take the family on a ‘selling’ vacation? I still can speak Spanglish quite well after all these years and nothing would be better for the Lang Gang than fleeing from this endless gray winter.

So what should it be? Rent it to some good old boys and their progeny. Finance it to someone who will hopefully turn out to be a saintly soul behind the wheel. Sell it for the quick buck. Or take it out to a place that plays limbo with the equator.

What says you?