Posted on 03/29/2017 9:08:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I never minded it in the past, but in the last few years, Albuquerque has become the stolen car capital of the U.S. (highest auto theft rate in the country). So, the odds are pretty good that one may be targeted when meeting private parties.
With one exception, I've always met in a public place that I know has cameras (Walmart parking lot). I have a 20-year-old CR-V that will likely best be sold on the private market, rather than traded in, but I'm getting more and more wary about crime here. I don't live in Albuquerque proper, but I do live close enough to it, that we get a good bunch of their criminals coming here, too. Plus, we have our own locals to deal with.
For me, the problem is something breaking right after I sold it and they think I did it on purpose. That happened to me twice.
Heck, in both cases the reason I sold the car was that it was old and I was afraid something expensive was going to break.
***You really have to watch your back in this world. The system is corrupt.***
How true!
Man in Missouri buys truck, gets loan from his credit union.
He makes NO payments on it. moves the truck down into Arkansas and for $50 gets a new clean title on it, puts it on a car lot to sell.
Along comes a buyer who borrows money from his Arkansas credit union and takes possession of the truck.
Truck is then “stolen”(repossessed), by the original credit union in Missouri, and the new buyer is left with debts to his Arkansas credit union, and no truck.
It is not just cars.
A man bought a hunting rifle from a private individual.
Many years later he goes hunting in Canada, and upon return the rifle is confiscated at the border as “stolen Property”.
It seems the man he bought the rifle from was later burglarized and when he filed for insurance he added that sold rifle to the list of stolen items.
I know what you mean. I'm going to drive the wheels off my CR-V, lousy fuel mileage for what it is, but the insurance is cheap, and I only have a 20-mile round-trip twice a week, the rest of the time I can work from home. So, I put 40 miles/week on the thing, and can go a whole month without filling up.
The A/C sucks, cuz it doesn't blow, and when it does blow, there's a weird smell that only occurs when the auxiliary fan kicks in (actually, it doesn't matter if the A/C is on or not, it's only when the car gets hot enough to kick on the aux fan). Smells like ozone, so I may need to replace that fan. I can do both the regular and aux fan for $80 total. So, I may do that. It's not in the ducts, as I smell it worse when I get out of it. Definitely in the engine bay. It's paid for, and runs without a hitch.
I actually learned this from something obvious that happened with my brother. He had the “big” accura that he drove for over 200,000 miles. Every year it would cost him $300-$500 in repairs, but he said that is less than one car payment and he really liked the car.
That is how we felt about our 2001 Chrysler 300M. But at 190k miles and the AC dead, transmission throwing a code, engine developing a few leaks, getting seriously sideswiped by a deer, seven days after I cancelled comprehensive insurance, it was time.
My wife still misses that car. Real wood. Real leather. I had it at over 140 mph in Montana and it saw most of the US. What a great cruiser...
My brother-in-law and sister never bother transferring title to at least 2 vehicles they had. I know as I bought a old car from him and found out it belonged to the past owner for at least a year. Never in my in laws name.
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