Where can I get a necklace with a "T" on it?
I don't consider myself a very religious person and most of my friends know this. At the same time, my car has always had a rosary hanging from the rear view. Not because I feel safe knowing that God's watching over me, but I used to work at a movie theater, found it cleaning up one day, and decided that it could be a good-luck talisman of sorts. I have not been in an accident since I have had it in either of my cars, and have only been ticketed once (and that was after I bought my new car and had forgotten to hang it up yet). So, no matter the method of its power, it has worked.
Fast forward to today. I had my buyer come down to check out my car. I've had the car for about a week since all of the work has been finished on it, and I have beat on it, had friends check it out, had it inspected and absolutely zero problems. Buyer shows up, I take him for a drive in it, he drives it himself: NO PROBLEMS. As we get ready to head to the bank to have the title signed over to him, I clean out the final remnants of the car that are mine including the rosary. Less than 10 minutes after that, the car blows an intercooler pipe off the car. No big deal, that's happened before. I ride back with him to my house for tools, jack the car up, lay on the blacktop for 30 minutes, burn my hand on the downpipe and get it fixed. We drive to the bank, title is put in his name, and drive back. On the drive back the car starts to run a little warm, not overheating to hte point where the light comes on and all that jazz, but warmer than it should. I turn the heat on and it cools down some. We get back to the house and I try to add some water to it, but idiot me forgets about how much pressure that coolant is under so of course it boils out everywhere and scalds my hands. Then, he turns the car on and the battery light comes on and power windows/locks/A/C anything that would require power is not working which is real odd because the battery and alternator were replaced literally two days ago. After running a bit, those problems go away (probably water in the connections) and he drives off. I get a call 5 minutes later saying that the intercooler pipe came off again. This time, the section of pipe blew itself off the car and bounced across the highway. They find it, stand back while I drive out, lay on the blacktop again, this time remove the radiator fan so I can get better access to it and proceed to clamp the shit out of it. They drive off hopefully for good. I'm kind of getting nervous as I drive around, anxiously staring at my phone awaiting the blaring "Final Countdown" ringtone. Sure enough, 20 minutes later I get a phone call.
"Hey man, something is really wrong with this car. The engine is making a terrible noise, it's blowing smoke out the exhaust, I opened the hood and there was coolant burning everywhere."
No, it's not covered under warranty.
Now, they are up the interstate from my house with a brokedown car. I don't know what to do. Insert my ethical dilemma for the day. The title is in their name. I have almost six grand in cash sitting at my house. They have signed a "bill of sale" which proclaims my no-liability powers toward anything on the car and states that they accept the car as-is. Should I laugh maniacally and yell, "Sucker!" while I hang up and drive back toward my comfy house? Probably not, karma is a bitch but I'm gonna have to wait to fuck her. I call him back, tell him I get 100-mile tows for free on my AAA service. I arrange that. End of the story is, I gave him 2 grand of the money back with the stipulation that if it's more than that to repair the car, he'll have to eat the cost and if it's less than that I hope he will reimburse me for that money. Sure, I wasn't a hardass and I probably could have legally gotten away with doing nothing, but now I can sleep at night. I probably could have been a real gentleman and offered the rosary for a small fee, but I'm keeping that shit with me so I don't get mugged in NY.
Muggers and buyers beware!
Fast forward to today. I had my buyer come down to check out my car. I've had the car for about a week since all of the work has been finished on it, and I have beat on it, had friends check it out, had it inspected and absolutely zero problems. Buyer shows up, I take him for a drive in it, he drives it himself: NO PROBLEMS. As we get ready to head to the bank to have the title signed over to him, I clean out the final remnants of the car that are mine including the rosary. Less than 10 minutes after that, the car blows an intercooler pipe off the car. No big deal, that's happened before. I ride back with him to my house for tools, jack the car up, lay on the blacktop for 30 minutes, burn my hand on the downpipe and get it fixed. We drive to the bank, title is put in his name, and drive back. On the drive back the car starts to run a little warm, not overheating to hte point where the light comes on and all that jazz, but warmer than it should. I turn the heat on and it cools down some. We get back to the house and I try to add some water to it, but idiot me forgets about how much pressure that coolant is under so of course it boils out everywhere and scalds my hands. Then, he turns the car on and the battery light comes on and power windows/locks/A/C anything that would require power is not working which is real odd because the battery and alternator were replaced literally two days ago. After running a bit, those problems go away (probably water in the connections) and he drives off. I get a call 5 minutes later saying that the intercooler pipe came off again. This time, the section of pipe blew itself off the car and bounced across the highway. They find it, stand back while I drive out, lay on the blacktop again, this time remove the radiator fan so I can get better access to it and proceed to clamp the shit out of it. They drive off hopefully for good. I'm kind of getting nervous as I drive around, anxiously staring at my phone awaiting the blaring "Final Countdown" ringtone. Sure enough, 20 minutes later I get a phone call.
"Hey man, something is really wrong with this car. The engine is making a terrible noise, it's blowing smoke out the exhaust, I opened the hood and there was coolant burning everywhere."
No, it's not covered under warranty.
Now, they are up the interstate from my house with a brokedown car. I don't know what to do. Insert my ethical dilemma for the day. The title is in their name. I have almost six grand in cash sitting at my house. They have signed a "bill of sale" which proclaims my no-liability powers toward anything on the car and states that they accept the car as-is. Should I laugh maniacally and yell, "Sucker!" while I hang up and drive back toward my comfy house? Probably not, karma is a bitch but I'm gonna have to wait to fuck her. I call him back, tell him I get 100-mile tows for free on my AAA service. I arrange that. End of the story is, I gave him 2 grand of the money back with the stipulation that if it's more than that to repair the car, he'll have to eat the cost and if it's less than that I hope he will reimburse me for that money. Sure, I wasn't a hardass and I probably could have legally gotten away with doing nothing, but now I can sleep at night. I probably could have been a real gentleman and offered the rosary for a small fee, but I'm keeping that shit with me so I don't get mugged in NY.
Muggers and buyers beware!
posted by Hoss | 6:25 PM
2 Comments:
We should sue his ass, then mace him and punch him in the face. :) That's my thought.
That was nice of you -- of course, the buyer should have had a mechanic they trust look at it before they bought it -- so you really didn't need to do it, but it was a good thing for you to do :).
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