| Yesterday I went to finalize the purchase of a 1996 Toyota Camry for my mother. It has 144K miles on it and it was too far to get our mechanic to look it over before we bought it but since my mom really needs a car, we cast the dice and went for it. She got rear-ended in her 1998 Corolla about a month ago and has been without wheels ever since. Being without a car in Michigan is a drastic thing. You really can't do anything. We wanted to find something newer but this is all that came up in the private party ads. This one came up on the Detroit Craiglist. We don't like dealing with dealers. Too much hassle and marked up prices. Hopefully it will be okay. It seems to be in good shape for a 10-year-old car. The owner claimed it had no problems and was only selling it because they got a new minivan. He gave me his major maintenance records. He didn't have the oil change records, though. Anyway I went to pick up the car on Wednesday only to find that the guy had neglected to get proof that his lien had been taken off. Kind of annoying since he lives a little ways away, in Belleville. But it was an honest mistake. In fact I realized that I was in the same situation. I paid my car loan off in December but they never told me to bring the title in and never sent a statement noting that the had released the lien. So the lien was still noted on the title. Yesterday morning I stopped by the credit union with my title. All they did was check that the loan was paid off and signed off on the title -- with no official stamp or anything. Seems like a process that lends itself to fraud. When we went to the Secretary of State office to register my mom's car I asked about mine and she said the signed title was all I needed. I could get a new, clean title but it would cost me $15. So I elected to leave it as it is for now. After that was stopped at Bakers Square for lunch. I don't usually eat dessert but I left room for a piece of their famous pies. Yum. |