Back in the '50s, prior to those “annoying” government restrictions on falsification of odometer mileage, it was common practice for most Cadillac dealers to roll back the odometer to ZERO on late-model Caddy trade-ins.
I recall a slogan along the lines of…a lightly-used Cadillac is as as good as a new car of any other make.
Ironically, back in those days of excellent Cadillac quality, that slogan may actually have had some truth to it, assuming that the used car in question had been properly maintained. However, the fact remains that the buyer of a used car has the right to know the actual number miles that a car has been driven, as that factor impacts heavily on the price of the car.
“the buyer of a used car has the right to know the actual number miles that a car has been driven”. . .
I agree with you 100%. However, the practice of rolling back odometers was so common back then that we learned to take the odometer reading with a grain of salt. This created a salt shortage and drove up the price of salt.
Rebuilding “totaled” late-model cars is a back-yard pocket industry. It’s not really a business, it’s more like a racket. A red sticker, that’s nice…If they were serious, any car “totaled” by an insurance company after an accident or flood could never again be sold as an operational automobile. In other words, that VIN could never be registered in the United States again…
Todays cars are engineered and built with “Crush Zones”…Areas of the structure that crumple in a controlled fashion during an accident…Once crushed, this structure can NEVER be pulled back into it’s original form. Yes, they can get the alignment points to line up on a frame jig, and then hang new sheet-metal on this “restored” structure, but this vehicle is never going to be the same…
I think it was either Allstate or State Farm that was found guilty a few years ago of laundering thousands of titles on salvage vehicles. They paid a huge fine (30 or 40 million dollars, something like that).
Anyone else would have gone to the slammer.
Oh no!! I’m for total consumer protectionism… I’m not surprised at anything coming from a screwed up state like southern California. The entire country get’s by on three blends of gasoline. I do believe California does have the “as is” contractual window sticker requirement? “buyer beware”?
In retort to political remarks that I must be a “Reaganist” you brought the point up.
AND THAT IS WHY I’LL SAY “PUT A STICKER ON A CAR”… WHO’S CAR and WHO ARE THE STICKER POLICE?
Let’s put a sticker on (in california) if you are a black, white, yellow… Not socially profiling? “pull her over… she’s got a red sticker on her car”… Why not make the shape a red star? or a red square?
I do believe this forum is based upon the show… which is to share humor and help people out with their cars. There are thousands of political forums to voice your more reaction to the current political affairs.
@binkman: “I do believe this forum is based upon the show… which is to share humor and help people out with their cars. There are thousands of political forums to voice your more reaction to the current political affairs.”
On what do you base that belief?
As a longtime user of these forums, I disagree. There is a forum for “repairs,” a forum for “the show,” a forum for “distracted driving,” and a forum for “general discussion.” This thread is in the “general discussion” forum. If you only want to read about the show, I suggest you only visit the forum titled “The Show.” This way, you won’t be bothered by the political talk. Better yet, visit the other three forums, and avoid the “general discussion” forum and you will be a happy man. THERE, PROBLEM SOLVED!
Speaking of politics and humor, I wonder if the folks that scream “no new taxes” are actually employed by the Mainland Chinese government to ensure that several million jobs are eliminated by the end of the year.
You’ve got a point, JT. As long as we refuse to pay our own bills, and avoid paying for our wars as we go, like the Greatest Generation did, we will keep the Chinese government bankers in business.