Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

What dealer sells a new vehicle without fileing the paperwork to get the new owner the title?

How many miles were on the car when you took posession?

In most states, when you 'buy' the new vehicle and drive away, you haven't actually bought it and the dealer won't file the paperwork until the down payment has been processed and financing agreements have been finalized, which can take a day or two. Technically, you are being loaned the vehicle until that happens. The only way in which you actually fully own the vehicle and the dealership immediately sends the runner over to the titling authority (or submits it online or whatever) to file the paperwork is if you pay by cash or other instant funds transfer.
 
What dealer sells a new vehicle without fileing the paperwork to get the new owner the title?

How many miles were on the car when you took posession?

90 miles on the odo. Car was 4 months old when I bought it. Compare that to 167 Fiesta, which sat on the lot for 14 months.

But I've also seen a 2 month old Challenger with 350 miles that allegedly wasn't a demo so I wasn't too concerned. Plus the dealer gave me 1000 miles extra on my warranty when I asked for 90.

When I did hear that story, I became worried that the guy hooned when he found our he had to return it to the dealer, and that would explain some of the issues I had early on, but oh well. I heard that story about a year and a half after I bought the car, and there would be no way to prove that the story was true.
 
Yeah, in that situation the buyer clearly has the option of returning the car, but the dealer is betting on him being emotionally/financially/practically committed by that point. I.e. selling the car it replaced or having traded it in.
Yeah, I'm lining up the financial decks for that possibility because, practically speaking, we are completely and irrevocably committed.
I've also primed the legal cannon, and these guys have written down a lot of shit that they really should not have.

If that's what's going on, they didn't pick their mark very well, because while she's got crap finances, I decidedly do not play.

I'm fairly certain it's just good old fashioned incompetence, though.
 
Yeah, I'm lining up the financial decks for that possibility because, practically speaking, we are completely and irrevocably committed.
I've also primed the legal cannon, and these guys have written down a lot of shit that they really should not have.

If that's what's going on, they didn't pick their mark very well, because while she's got crap finances, I decidedly do not play.

I'm fairly certain it's just good old fashioned incompetence, though.

As I get older, it’s really disheartening how incompetent so many people are given the stuff they’re responsible for.
 
From my roadtrip 2 weeks ago.

1JjoV9O.jpg


:(
 
The problem is that the people running GM rarely change and on the rare occasions someone is replaced, they are usually quickly indoctrinated into the GM management culture, which is the same from when Perot fought it.

This was the biggest problem and lost opportunity of the Express Obamaruptcy bailout of GM as opposed to a normal bankruptcy - they had a figurehead change but the leadership otherwise remained the same. There was no wholesale deck-clearing of management as would have happened in a normal bankruptcy so the same people that got GM into the hole were left in charge of it to continue making the same bad decisions. And now GM’s looking unhealthy all over again...

If you haven't read Lutzs books I highly recommend them, any engineer with a sprinkling of common sense can see what is wrong with that company. When a non exec CEO has to ask the question why their wheels offsets are so bad compared to their competitors and the answer is well we had an issue on the line OVER 70 years ago and no one thought to improve it over the decades should send anyone with half a brain running for the hills.
 
If you haven't read Lutzs books I highly recommend them, any engineer with a sprinkling of common sense can see what is wrong with that company. When a non exec CEO has to ask the question why their wheels offsets are so bad compared to their competitors and the answer is well we had an issue on the line OVER 70 years ago and no one thought to improve it over the decades should send anyone with half a brain running for the hills.

Yeah, read Maximum Bob's books - and it's amazing just how much everyone at GM seems to totally ignore it.
 
Last edited:
Welp. Apparently I have an open Chase account for the lease. That's a good sign.

Of course, the way I found out about it was that it magically appeared on my existing Chase login. With a due date that's EXACTLY what I said it was going to be, not what the dealer invented last week.

Gonna send the lady over today to literally stand in the dealership until they sort the final paperwork items (notably, whatever the fuck it takes to get real license plates and fork over all the carbon copies of the signed articles).

And then we can proceed with complaining to SOA about incompetence and then never speak to this damned dealership again.
 
Standard practice for closing a transaction at a dealership.
I have quite excellent relationships with several Subaru dealers.

One I buy parts from set me up with a shop account and sells to me at a steep discount.

The one closer to home that I buy cars from is pretty no nonsense when it comes to sales.

Their finance guy is a fucknugget though. I bring my own.

And then there's this new place in California. Fuuuuck them.
Paperwork retrieved. Never goin' back.
 
Last edited:
I want to find whomever designed the interior fuse box for the Ford Taurus and do something to him that can only be described as violently pornographic.

The panel is on the driver's side, inside of the fender, half way up inside the dash, L-shaped and partially obscured by other equipment, and uses the smallest fuses made. To access it, I have to do some sort of yoga move to hold one shoulder on the door will, while supporting my body in a bridge with my feet, and somehow grow two new reverse elbows -- and then the electric seat started to move to Kiki's driving preset and tried to crush me in the process.

Why a simple fuse panel cover on the lower dash like everything else wouldn't have worked is beyond my understanding.
 
I want to find whomever designed the interior fuse box for the Ford Taurus and do something to him that can only be described as violently pornographic.

The panel is on the driver's side, inside of the fender, half way up inside the dash, L-shaped and partially obscured by other equipment, and uses the smallest fuses made. To access it, I have to do some sort of yoga move to hold one shoulder on the door will, while supporting my body in a bridge with my feet, and somehow grow two new reverse elbows -- and then the electric seat started to move to Kiki's driving preset and tried to crush me in the process.

Why a simple fuse panel cover on the lower dash like everything else wouldn't have worked is beyond my understanding.


Erm, isn't that platform still based off of/developed from a Volvo? Is it anything like this?
 
The panel is on the driver's side, inside of the fender, half way up inside the dash, L-shaped and partially obscured by other equipment, and uses the smallest fuses made. To access it, I have to do some sort of yoga move to hold one shoulder on the door will, while supporting my body in a bridge with my feet, and somehow grow two new reverse elbows -- and then the electric seat started to move to Kiki's driving preset and tried to crush me in the process.
Mustang ain’t much better the box is on the passenger side under the dash (above where your feet would be) so you gotta basically be upside down in the footwell to get to it
 
DAMN

The price is about triple what I'd pay though :D

Something something, can’t have everything for the price of a 1st gen neon.
 
Top