It is said, that no good turn goes unpunished...but sometimes it goes even beyond that... Three years ago my mothers long time friend told her that her husband was home teaching a woman at a Beehive House care facility, and that they needed a car but could not afford one. She asked my mother if she knew anyone who could help this woman. Of course my mother told me who she was and where I could contact her. So I went to visit her. She explained how badly her daughter needed a car and promised that she could help her pay for one, So I found her an older vehicle and worked out some very very very low payments. After 2 months the transmission started to slip, so I told them to bring it back and I would just trade it straight across for a nice car of similar value. So much for selling a car AS IS... After a year, I got a call, She had loaned her car to some friend who had been picked up DUI and she needed the title to get it from the impound yard...oh and an extra 300 dollars because both she and her mother were short the cash...BUT she promised to pay it back at the end of the payment schedule. Rather than lose the car, I forked over the cash and drove her to pick it up with title in hand. The FRIEND had trashed the car and broken the back motor mount...an easy repair...She took it to some mechanic who told her the car was falling apart, in an attempt to sell her a new one...and in the process told her to report the inspection station that has passed the car for failure to find the broken motor mount...(10 months earlier) She was so angry at ME for selling her a car with a broken motor mount that she told her neighbor in the government housing development of how I had RIPPED HER OFF...so the neighbor, told her she should see the guy she had bought her Jeep from who would NEVER rip her off...they got in her neighbors jeep to go see him and ended up at MY door... her neighbors recommendation was ME...Well I asked her to bring the car so we could fix the motor mount...(at NO cost to her) but she just never came.. and getting the tiny payments was like pulling teeth...but her mother always made sure to pay it even if it was a month or two late...and I had to visit her at the care center to get it.. The daughter drove that car for over 7 months without registration or inspection with the motor rocking back and forth until nearly every system under the hood was destroyed...Finally it just wouldnt run without overheating...it had no power steering, the tires were running on the cords, and it looked like a nuke had gone off in the interior... She brought it to me still owing me the three hundred I had spent on that impound...and needed a better car. She offered me that worthless car on which she still owed ... as a down payment, along with another 300 dollars (almost enough to pay the taxes and new registration)...for a Van she wanted...After about ten calls from her weeping mother pleading for her and promising me everything but her children as hostage/collateral... I agreed to work with them on the van. The down payment would be delivered when SHE, her daughter, her daughters boyfriend, and her daughters ex husband who lives with her against the housing guidelines.. ALL got their government checks...One thing for sure is that the governments money at least for now is still good. So I agreed to wait for 12 days for the cash portion of the down payment....I paid the registration and inspection and she drove away...Next thing I know her mother is calling me telling me how she had been kidnapped and someone had stolen the van...seems she had offered a total stranger a ride home from the Maverick at 3 AM and he had supposedly drugged her... I got a call from the Police asking for details about who owned the van...Apparently she had not yet put the plates on the Van...and they were looking for it... The next thing I hear the van had not yet been recovered...but the daughter had been released from the hospital after she had been found wandering near her boyfriends apartment (does this sound like a fairy tale?)...and all was well except for the van...Then the van was recovered and life returned to normal...just six more days and FOUR government checks will arrive...On the 2nd, I phoned to see if they had yet pooled their funds... a long pause... I didnt want to tell you this...but well...I wrecked the van...uhhh and no, I only got liability... I paused...so where is the van?...Its totaled... and then she told me where they had towed it... I phoned to discover it had been wrecked 5 days prior to my call...40 dollars a day storage plus the tow...350 dollars and 5 hours of my time later and I had the van back in the yard. I had phoned her and she said she would have the money for me THAT day... but she didnt...I got hit for both the tow AND the payment..(of course I didnt really think she would have $650... Im not totally brain dead)...Funny thing...since there was no insurance covering the van...there was no total involved...in fact it needed only a new door, a strut and a straight fender...I had the VAN rolling in a day...and the repairs will be done in two more... I phoned her again to see when I could pick up the money...she informed me that it had come...and she had spent it on a new car... When I saw the car I knew it was one of those that had been destined for the scrap yard but sold to her by some unscrupulous dealer...for five times its value...and ALL her cash... I had decided to just fix the Grand Caravan and have the door and fender painted. I replaced one tire so I can actually SELL it rather than donate it to that family for payments I have to chase...In a few months she will be back begging me for help...and I will have all kinds of sympathy...but of course will be unable to help her. My current costs/losses are 800 with about 300 more to bring it back to excellent condition. IF Karma is real...she will be back for help in acquiring another car before I get it sold...There is nothing like driving a total piece of junk when the nice van you could be driving is sitting there for sale...looking just as good as it did when it was yours... and you need it...but there is no way on earth you can get the owner to sell it to you... OH wait...she did call...asked me If I could help her...you know loan her a little money so she can bail her boyfriend out of JAIL...apparently a warrant for failure to appear...Hows the car running... oh?...it needs new tires?...yes, I do have some of that size...sorry, but I need them for a van I am fixing...
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 16:10:55 +0000
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