Ever have one of those "Hmmm, was that smart?" moments?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So there’s some sort of problem with my car. I went to start it the other day, and the battery was completely flat. I checked that I hadn’t left the lights on or anything to that effect, and I hadn’t so I was a little confused. Ended up getting a jumpstart from someone in the complex, who recommended that I take it to a nearby battery testing center to make sure it wasn’t defective.

Got there and they said the battery was fine, but that there was a short somewhere in the car. I was there all of 15 minutes - went to leave, and the battery was already completely flat again (though I hadn’t drive very far, so it probably hadn’t rebuilt up much of a charge).

Anyway, long story short, I needed an auto electrician. I was going to take it to one today, but of course, the car wouldn’t start. So I found one who did call-outs, and he said he’d be over in about an hour.

An hour later, he and his assistant show up, and take a look at the car. They can’t easily identify anything on the scene, so the car needs to be taken back to the garage for diagnostics.

Fine, I say, but I don’t have alternate transportation to get back. No problem, they say, they’ll go ahead and take it for me (since there were two of them).

So, I thank them, and they take my car to the shop.

So just a little while ago, the lightning bolt of logic strikes me, and I think… Uh, was that a smart thing to do? I just handed my (admittedly quite old) car and the keys to two people I’d never actually met before. Paranoia starts settling in a little, so I call the shop. Of course, I waited until after 5:00 to think of all this, so the shop is closed.

I asked my husband what he thought, and he just laughed. He figures if the car does get stolen, I win some sort of prize for the least-sensible act ever. Luckily the car isn’t an extraordinarily expensive one, but I’d really rather not have to replace it. Especially since I JUST BOUGHT IT and haven’t even switched the regsitration to my name yet. So even if it did get stolen, I don’t know what recourse I’d even have…

Yeah, I’m bright.

2

What exactly are you afraid of, that some conmen took out an ad in the Yellow Pages, then just lurked in waiting for someone to call with a call-out, knowing in advance, somehow, that you’d let them take the car to the shop without asking to come along?

If you could drop your car and its keys off at a shop, someone could steal it from there, too. (I don’t know about your mechanic, but mine is awfully cavalier about leaving the doors unlocked when the car’s on their lot, sometimes even with the keys in the ignition. I guess they figure they have an eye on things.)

I don’t think what you did was dumb at all.

3

I told myself those exact same things - that it’s no safer to take a car to a mechanic and leave it there… that thieves don’t exactly take out Yellow Page ads. Thanks for the reassurance… I’m feeling better about it, though I’ll feel much better in the morning when I call them and ask them how they’re making out pinpointing the problem :wink:

4

Dumb anecdote: My former roommate had a car stolen by a guy in her neighborhood who said he “fixed cars.” Stupid as she was, she never did anything about it; she just let him keep telling her that it “wasn’t ready yet” for a couple of months. And then she let it go. If she would have gotten the cops over to his house, I think the shit would have gone down. In short, as soon as something looks fishy, go check out the situation, and if things don’t quite jive, call the police ASAP. You’ll probably be fine–best of luck with the new car!

5

It’s not impossible that your car was stolen, but this is one of those situations where actually thinking it was would just be paranoia, and what you did was neither smart/stupid; it was just what is common practice in that sort of situation.

There are a lot of recourses, and reasons why it’s unlikely your car was stolen.

I’m assuming you got this number from the Yellow Pages. That means that if it was a scam, it’s probably gone down before you ever called them, so it’s unlikely the person would still be in business.

If your car did end up stolen you could inform the police. The police would be able to find out who owns the business, who works there. They’d be able to find out who took out the Yellow Pages ad, et cetera. If it is indeed a real business you can go to the Better Business Bureau and smear their “good reputation.” After that, if you were unable to get your car back I’m sure you’d have enough evidence to sue the business for compensation.

6

My friend’s brother once accidentally sold his mom’s car for about $100. The guy who “bought” it talked him into taking $100 and giving him the title and said that he’d be back with the rest of the money. He never showed after that, and the police refused to do anything about it since he’d accepted money for the car and voluntarily handed over the title. His mom was PISSED.

Hmmm. Maybe that wasn’t very uplifting. I’m sure your car is OK, really. :slight_smile:

7

Unless his name was on the title, and he signed the bill of sale, what the hell difference would that make? And if it was, it was his own car that he gave away.

8

I’m a little surprised that they didn’t have you sign a repair order or some other paperwork.

9

Well, they’ve called with the prognosis on my car, so unless they’re really weird cons, I don’t think it’s a problem anymore :wink: