There's MORE???

Just when I thought my car problems were leveling off, I stumbled upon some new information.

The 187 Suzuki I bought that had 79,000 miles really has $150,000+ miles. How did I find this out? Oh, I bought a carfax report.

I realize I should have done this before, but it didn't occur to me to ask the seller for the VIN before purchase. According to the carfax mechanics records the mileage was at 102,000 back in 1994! Then it mysteriously rolled back to 72,000 in 2001 before being reported as 87,000 in 2008, and then mysteriously rolling back again to 76,000 in 2009. I bought it at 79,000.

I was poking around the other day and noticed that the plastic odometer cover on the dashboard was missing. I called up my mechanic who had inspected the vehicle before I bought it and asked him if i was like that before.

He said that he had noticed it while he was test driving it and thought the miles were innacurate, but he didn't want to dissapoint me by telling me not to buy the car. In other words, had he done the job I HIRED him to do (inspect the car and tell me what was wrong) I wouldn't be in this mess. I wouldn't have bought an '87 Suzuki that couldn't pass a smog and had an innacurate mileage.

And then ANOTHER thing I just realized is the name on the title doesn't match the name the guy told me. So either he gave me an assumed identity to protect himself and he really is the guy on the title, or the vehicle isn't his and he forged someone's name.

But that doesn't even matter. If doesn't matter if the vehicle was stolen. The police can come pick it up tomorrow and junk it for all I care. All I know is, I paid $2,750 for a car I'm not legally allowed to own. I'm not legally allowed to own it because according to the DMV it is classified as a "gross polluter". It's illegal to sell gross polluters. The DMV will NEVER let me put the title in my name. Meaning that it's going to forever remain in the sellers name and then once July comes the registration is going to expire.

I don't care what happens to the seller. Maybe the DMV will go after him for selling a gross polluter. Maybe the police will give him a ticket for expired registration on a vehicle he doesn't care about. Maybe he will be charged with odometer tampering (a felony). All I care about is my $2,750.

What if I never find him? I will forever have thrown away $2,750 and I'll be stuck with a car I can't own. What happens then? Does the DMV buy it back? Do I drop it at a junkyard and it becomes someone's parts car? Or do I just ditch it on the side of the road for it to collect parking tickets in the other guys name?

Come to think of it...if it turns out the guy on the title really is the guy who sold me the car, I might just dump it on the side of the road during street sweeping day...see what happens then. Let those tickets and fines accumulate. Then maybe there will be justice.