The Best of Car Talk - #2669: Pay as You Go

Episode Date: August 29, 2026

Jim sold some sucker his high-mileage Geo Metro junkbox for $250. A little while later, the buyer comes back and Jim is prepared to tell him, ‘No refunds!’ when the buyer hands Jim $100 instead. What gives? Find out on this edition of the Best of Car Talk.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. Car Talk's perks include full archive access, new call-in bonus episodes with Ray, and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tapit Brothers, broadcasting this week from the Department of International Automotive Mishaps here at Car Talk Plaza. We have two interesting stories here. Both actual stories. The first is Dateline London under the heading How to Discourage Illegal Parking. It seems that a London resident annoyed by an illegally parked Alpha Romeo, that's as they call them in London. As we call them, yeah. On his street.

called the police to complain. The police responded swiftly and blew up the car. How's that for service? Apparently, they were concerned about IRA bombings and thought that a $30,000 alpha looked suspicious. But that guy thinks twice about parking illegally again. Actually, it's probably very effective. This way, at least, there's no recidivism.

He's not going to park the same car there twice. That's for sure. Here's the other story. This one is from Moscow. Apparently, some Russian mobsters or underworld figures, as we prefer to be called, set out to assassinate some guy that they didn't like. So they plant a bomb in this poor guy's car, but the fellow walks away, Scott Free. You know why?

Why? The car wouldn't start. Well, they're relying on the fact that you turn the key, one of the thing starts. And the bomb goes off. After failing to get his car started, the owner called, you know, a fellow well-versed in car electrical stuff. He discovered a faulty ignition switch and an enormous bomb. Talk about good luck, huh? Yeah.

Ignition switch chooses to fail on that particular day. You've got to believe in something when that happens. It wasn't his time. Both true stories. Anyway, if you have a story for us about your car or anything, our number is 888-88-227-8-25, a lawyer on car talk. Hi, this is Stephen from San Francisco. Go.

Hi, Steven, with a V? Ph. P.H. Excellent. The good Irish spelling, even though I'm Italian. Oh, yeah, well, they didn't know. Yeah. They don't have pH in Italian.

You use an F. Yeah, well, Sicilian's different. Isn't it, though? Oh, don't get started. What's up? Well, let's see. I've got a 1988-n-eight-nison-two-wheel-drive pickup, And it makes a sound at idle, and it's a very kind of evenly spaced sound.

It goes something like, uh, uh, uh. This is that my brother sounds that he's eating the dish of macaroni. Really? Yeah. It goes away when you stop moving? Yes, yes. Now, apparently it has some kind of special fuel delivery system. injection system.

I know you don't do an adjustment on the carburetor. Well, because it doesn't have a carburetor. Oh, yeah. That would... So I shouldn't be spraying gum out down the throat of my carburetor? You can spray gum out wherever you want, Stephen. Have you ever opened up the hood and stood there while I was doing this? Not that interesting.

Can you hear that this noise is coming from a specific spot? or does it sound like it's coming from everywhere? Just up in the engine compartment. But you haven't opened the hood to listen? No. Oh, you're going to do that, Steve. Okay. Well, he was counting on us.

Fooling that he was. Well, I was going to ask the mechanic, but when you stand in front of some mechanic going like, uh, uh, uh, their eyes plays over. You're embarrassed. It does. Yeah, yeah. It does this all the time the engine is idling, whether the engine is warm or cold?

Yes. And so even when you first start up the vehicle on a cold morning, as soon as it starts up, if you don't drive away that second, you can sit there for a minute or so and hear this noise then while the engine is revving or does it have to be warmed up first? This is an important question. Okay. To the best of my recollection, it does have to be.

be warmed up first. Ah! I wish I knew. Yeah, good. I wish I knew where to go now. All right, wise guy. Go ahead. Ask the next question.

Well, it was an important question, though. Yeah. It could have been a very important question. If only you were a follow-up, and besides aha. Well, I didn't

believe that it could happen while the engine was revving. Uh-huh. No, it was cold. I didn't believe it would be. Here's what you need to do. Yeah. Start the engine, get it warmed up, and get it to make the noise, which it does pretty reliable.

Oh, yeah. Then you need to listen carefully, and the easiest way to do this is to get a small piece of rubber tubing and use that as a listening device, like a stethoscope. Uh-huh. You stick one in your ear and you go around, you listen. If you don't find anything out, take your can of gum out. Yeah. And you're going to start spraying the base of that device, which is the throttle body.

Okay. Because I think you have a bad gasket there. Uh-huh. And that's causing a vacuum leak, which is making the idle go up and down slightly, not enough for you to discern it necessarily. Right. But causing the noise. Ah, okay. But it could be happening someplace else.

You could have a... So spray everything. But do it one thing at a time until you notice that something changes. Okay. Like the engine blows up, Paul. Yeah, and have a fire extinguisher handy, but I think it's a vacuum leak. Well, great. Say it, Steve.

Hey, Stephen, it's been a pleasure. Thanks very much. Bye. Bye-bye. 1-8-88-car talk. That's 888-227-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Ian from Fort Collins.

Wait, where's Fort Collins? Colorado. That's right. Oh, yeah? Yeah. What's up, Ian? My fiancé Kathy's got a 96 neon that's having odometer problem. That's Kathy with a K?

Very good. Good job. Oh, man. My brother never misses. And all the years we've done this show, never once. And all the years I've been listening to the show, I've never heard him get one right until that. Maybe that's what it was. I know it was something like that.

I knew we had 100%. It's 100%. It's bat in a thousand, however you count it. And her speedometer doesn't work? No, the speedometer works fine. What happens is when we get it up to highway speeds, the trip odometer starts running backwards, and therefore making the odometer run backwards. When the tripodometer hits zero, they both just completely stopped, so the car never actually gains any mileage. Oh, you kidd off. You can't market this?

Hold on a minute now. This happens only above some speed. Is that what you said? Yeah, like 50, 60 once you get up on the highway and start going. So as long as you're doing under 50 or 60, the trip odometer is operating correctly. At least it's going forward. And so too is the regular odometer. Right.

Okay. And then you get above this speed and all of a sudden you can see the triple odometer going backwards. Absolutely. Well, you know what to do? When it gets down to zero, bring it back to the number. you don't want the car. I bought this here two days ago, and I decided I don't like it. That's right.

I've run out of miles now. I know it's only a 98, but... Well, you know, I mean, it's got to be the speedo head. I mean, I don't know. I would have... I've never, ever seen anything like this. Boy, in fact, I mean, it's more than never seen it. I think this is an issue where someone put you up to this.

No, I'm serious. You are? I'm completely serious. I didn't believe her for a long time, and then we took a road trip to California, and I experienced it for myself. So how many miles does it have on it now? None. Do you think? The odometer, she's guessing it has somewhere between 71 and 72,000, and the odometer actually registers about 65,000. So you're going to keep it up in recently. You've got to keep it a few more months before you traded it. That's right. That's right. No, she says this has been having,

she's had the car longer that she's had me. So she said that this has been happening for quite a while. And even though she's an, an upstanding citizen, she hasn't gotten it fixed yet. Well, she's also a student, so she has no money to get it fixed. And why would you want to get it fixed? That's what I keep asking. Anybody? Yep. And I think it's going to cost big bucks to get it fixed.

What kind of an odometer does this thing have? Well, it's not a physical little wheels turning, is it? Oh, yeah. It's a returning. Oh, yeah. No, no. Oh, it's wheels turning. It's getting a signal from the vehicle speed sensor.

But the head is a physical. little wheels turning around. That's too bad because we might have come up with some plausible answer if it had been an electronic odometer. Well, you remember a couple of years ago, Chrysler got in trouble for turning back odometers. This must have been some of the secret technology they developed so they could do this. They may be doing this from airplanes. That's right.

Wait a minute. You said you drove across the country with her? Yes, we drove California. Did you go by Area 52? Or is it 51? 59. 51's good. 51, 52.

That's the difference. Wait a minute. Maybe it's not the old... Dominant that's going backwards. Maybe it's time that's going backwards. Right. You notice your hair getting darker? Did you have more hair...

Did you have more hair after the trip across the country than your head coming back? Whoa. You may be in some... You may be in the Twilight Zone. some sort of time warp. Well, look, I would take it to the dealer in any event and ask them if there's a recall on this. Well, I mean, other than my fiancé's conscience, is there any real reason to get this fixed?

Well, aside from the fact that it's illegal? Okay, well, that too. Yeah. Well, is it illegal if you didn't do anything? It's illegal to tamper with it. Well, here's a... I'll give it an analogous situation. You walk by a department store.

Someone has thrown a brick through the window. And a 27-inch colored TV happens to be sitting there, and you carry it, is that illegal? You didn't throw the brick. That's right. No, but when you sell the car, when you, I guess Colorado has a title law, you've got to sign the title and a test that to your knowledge. There is nothing wrong with the odometer reading, and it is a true and accurate reflection of the number of miles on the car. And you won't be able, she won't be able to do that. But, boy, technically, however, I can't imagine how this could possibly happen.

Things are turning backwards. I don't think it's the odormita. I think it's time. That could be. See it, Ian. How old are you know about seven or eight? Hey, thanks for calling. Thanks a lot, guys.

That's going to be one of the weirdest things. No, it's a mechanical failure. Things don't turn backwards? They can't turn backwards. Gears are meshing. They only turn one way. No, unless something got in, unless a piece, a piece broke and fell in and is making the, you know how you know, when you put your car on reverse? Yeah.

You engage another gear. Yeah. Okay. Something's happening. Like that. You like that. I like your Chrysler theory. Much better.

Yeah, well, I think that's the one. Area 51. Two. 52. Okay. Tommy, look, it's time for your weekly puzzler hints. You ready? I am ready.

Okay, here's the first one. Whenever you get an answer right in this show, it's entirely by what? Cheating. No, by accident. By accident. Next hint. No one at Car Talk will ride with you and your M.G. Because they don't want to jeopardize their blank.

Their lunch. Well, I was looking for safety, actually. But the puzzler was about safety and auto accidents. And we'll have the answer in just a minute. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Collect the Tappert Brothers. And we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's puzzler. This one was from the wonderful world of statistics and academia.

I can honestly say I have no recollection whatsoever ever. In 10 seconds, you're going to say... Yeah, okay. A graduate student at one of the institutions of higher learning in our fair city was writing his dissertation on the relationship between uncontrollable outside forces and automobile accidents. He collected thousands and thousands of accident reports from the state of Massachusetts and correlated the time of the accident...

Oh! Fifteen seconds. I get it now. With all the other factors like temperature, road conditions, automobile size, age of the driver, alcohol usage, speed limits. Color of hair, color of car, all that stuff. After thousands of hours of data input and computer crunching, he discovered an amazing statistic. So amazing that he collected thousands more statistics from neighboring states to see if his findings could possibly be correct. After many more hundreds of hours and seven more years of grad school, he found the absolute safest.

His father was paying for. Of course. He found the absolute safest time of the year to drive an automobile on a public highway, so safe, in fact, that not one single accident had occurred. Really? Still not able to believe his own conclusions, he returned to collecting more accident reports, this time Nationwide. Post-Doc. After many more thousands of hours inputting data and crunching numbers and several more years of grad school,

he found that nationwide there had been only a few accidents during this time, but statistically less than 2% of the number of accidents in any other time frame. The question is, what was the safest time of the year to drive on a public highway and why? That's really the wrong question, isn't it? Now that I think of it. Now that I know the answer. Why is it the wrong question? The safest time of the year.

Well, it's not the safest time of the year. There is no time. It's just the data happened to show it because he was a moron. And all those jerks in academia kept paying for his research because they got no more brains that he had. Well, I bet it took a long time to figure out. It's a while. Because there is a phenomenon that occurs, I think, the first Sunday in April now, where we turn our clocks ahead. And it occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning.

So if you were a police officer at 2 a.m. when you're supposed to change the clock ahead, You change your watch to three. So it is impossible for an accident to be recorded between 2 and 3 a.m. On that one day a year. And that is indeed the safest time. And of course, nationwide, there were some accidents when he did the nationwide investigation because there were a couple of states of the Indiana and Arizona that don't do that. Daylight savings time.

To the best of my knowledge. Wow. Do we have a winner? Yes, we do, and quite a little puzzle of that was. And congratulations to Doris Bailey from Burlington, Burlington, Vermont. Isn't that one of my favorite places? We know. I know.

Everyone I know went to UVM. Everyone. Burlington, Vermont. Anyway, Doris Bailey from UVM and Burlington and all those places, for having your answers selected at random from the trunk full of correct answers that we got this week. you're going to get a $25 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at the Car Talk section of Cars.com. And with this $25 gift certificate, you can get a Best of Car Talk or second Best of Car Talk CD. Okay, are you ready for this?

It's time for a brand new segment of our show. Huh? Yeah, it's time for where are they now, Tommy? Hey, if this is about both of my cheeks, I did find them both in the shower this morning. I know where they are now. What is this? No, where are they now, Tommy? It's kind of like stumped chumps. You know, where we go back to a previous caller and find out if our answer was right or wrong? Yeah, so how is this different?

Well, it's just like stumped chumps, except we couldn't care less what the answer was. Excellent. We can't be wrong. Is this just an excuse to talk to some of the previous rock jobs we've had on the show? Exactly! I love it. So who's the first contestant? It's faith from the great frozen state of Alaska. If you remember, Faith had just moved to Alaska from the great frozen state of Maine. Where in Maine?

Bangor, Maine. To Anchorage. Yep. I mean, if you wanted to just freeze your butt off, there are plenty of places in Canada to which you could have driven. There are plenty of places in Maine. Bangor, for one. So what happened? Maine was just too crowded and hectic for you, huh?

Well, I came here for the winter. I mean, I love winter. I loved growing up in Maine and having all that snow. What a nut. And then we can't... I hear that the government's looking for people to spend four years in Antarctica. Faith, are you there? I sure have.

What's going on? How long have you been in Alaska now? I've been here, I think, like nine months now. So how many toes do you have left? Oh, it's been all. It's a miracle. You have them all? Yeah, we didn't get any winter here.

What? It didn't snow? It snowed a little, but not enough for me. You know, you know what? They've got a ton of snow this year? Where? Maine. I know.

Don't rub my face in it. They're buried. They're still digging out. They still got snow. I know. My mom's like under five feet of snow or something like that. So, but how did you pass the winter? I mean, how did this feel?

Well, you know, it felt pretty weird. It felt like I was in Maine on an open winter, you know? It just, I mean, it would rain and it would ice, and we got a little bit of snow here and there, but how is it? And, and you didn't see the sun. Well, the smallest amount of sunshine that we get here, Anchorage, on December 21st, I think it gets down to like four and a half hours, five hours, something like that. That's when they come to everyone's house and remove all the sharp instruments.

Medicine chests. Oh, yeah, come on, give us, come on. Give us your knitting needles, too. You may have to go further up. I know. Well, I was thinking about moving up to Fairbanks. So did you meet anyone there? I mean, did you make friends?

Yeah, I've made a lot of cool friends. And canines don't count. Did you make human friends? No, they all have two legs. They do. Funny-looking talks. Well, I think you may have to move further north. I think so.

Yeah. Well, we're counting on speaking to you again next spring. Cool. I have to let you know, Faye. Yeah. The idea that somebody would go someplace to find more cold and more snow. It's so alien to us.

It's so completely alien and foreign to me. I can't even conceive of someone doing it unless that person were a complete whack job. Well, here you go. There you go. Hey, thanks for being on Where Are They Now? Hey, thank you. Tommy.

Bye-bye. Bye, guys. Hey, look, it's time for us to take a little break so that local stations can identify themselves. And station managers control the circuit breaker And pretend to having a rolling blackout. Anyway, we'll be back with a brand new puzzler in just a minute. Ha, we're back.

You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Collect the Tappert Brothers. And we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Okay. This was sent in by Frank Jaskolka. Where is he from? We don't know, really. Is he proud of it? Is he proud?

The puzzler? Yeah. Well, he writes, I recently received this question on a job interview for a software engineering position. I finally figured it out, but it took me more steps. I didn't get the job. Maybe this puzzle will have some other poor unemployed software engineer get a job with the sick and twisted manager that gave me the test.

And here it is. He was supposed to get it during the interview? The guy says, oh, by the way, what's the answer to this? Exactly. He's expected to just work it out. Work it out. You got five minutes. I'm going to go get myself a cup of coffee.

If you have the answer in five minutes, you got the job. If you don't, then we're going to throw you out in the street with the other applicants. And here's a hint, working out with logs. A lot of pressure here. Yeah, okay. Give it to me. I'll try for five minutes. You have a four-ounce glass.

Oh, one of those. And a nine-ounce glass. And you're going to make 45 ounces out of it, and you're going to drink half of it. And you have an endless supply of water. Okay, so you have a tap from which you can draw water. Yeah. You can fill a dump either glass. You can dump one, fill of the other.

You can dump one into the other. You can dump them together. You can throw them over your shoulder. You can pour them in your shoes. Whatever you want. Do you have a plastic bag in your pocket? No. Okay.

Yeah. Is it possible to measure out exactly six ounces of water? Well, we know it's possible because Frank did it. Yeah. But it took them too many steps. Took them too many steps. So the question is, how many steps does it take? Got it.

Why would you want six ounces of water, but that's what you want? So if you think you know the answer. It doesn't matter. Your boss wanted it. Your boss wanted it. And that's it. And these are the kinds of problems that software engineers are called upon to solve every day. So if you can't do this, then you're out in your keyster, so to speak.

Yeah. Anyway, if you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard or on a pair of single camber, 210-centimeter, atomic beta-ride, TM24, Fibberglaz-Cap, telemark skis. All we ever get is... Doug Mayor must have been behind this. All we ever get is fruit. Atomic beta rye, TN24, fiberglass cap... You must be reading the robber report every week.

And send them to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Cambridge. Oh, our fair city. Matt, 02238. Or you can email your answer from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-8-8-8-288-2-7-8-255, a lawyer on Car Talk. This is Sherry from Waldorf, Maryland.

Sherry? Yes. You know, the Waldorf salad was invented in Waldorf, Maryland. Did you know that? You know why you didn't know it? Because I just made it up. You did. Well, I even know that the Waldorf salad was invented at the Waldorf Hotel.

in New York City. Yeah, we don't eat Waldorf salad in Waldorf. I'm 41st Street. We eat crabs in Waldorf. Fifth Avenue. You're trying to get a free room? I think they tore it down about 15. No, no, it's still there.

Anyway, Sherry, what can we do for you? I have a 1995 Hyundai. It's an accent. Accent. You know, it's funny, whenever I read that name written on the back of the car, it seems to me that they took great pains to make it appear affluent.

Really? There's some subliminal message going on here. The car does not, is certainly not screaming affluence at you. Maybe it's effluent. Effluent would be better. Yeah. Well, it's been too much so much.

It's been a great car. But just since Friday, I started getting a noise that sounds like this. Punk, punk, punk, punk, punk, punk. And it happens when I shift, go from first gear into second gear. it doesn't seem to happen when it's sitting on neutral or if it's just starting out.

So you must be moving to get the noise. You have to be moving. Yes. And when you say when you move from first to second, so if you start off in first gear, and you drive some number of feet, say 50 feet, 20 feet, during that time there is no noise. Yes, that's right.

Then you step on the clutch, you take it out of first gear, hasn't started making noise yet? No, only after I've gotten into second gear. You get it into second, and as you're letting the clutch out in second gear, it starts making this noise. Glom, clon, clon, clon, cologne, cologne. Actually, it makes the noise after I've disengaged,

and then into third, and then all the way to fifth, if I continue on. She's going to be a tough nut to crack. Maybe it's just a tough nut. How about this? I was going to take the approach. Yeah. That the noise is also there in first gear. She just doesn't hear it.

I'm not hearing it. You just not hearing it because the engine is relevant. up so hard. Yeah. Is there a chance of that, Sherry? Yes, there's a high probability of... I hope so. Because without that, we're done.

We have no ready answer for... If you said that it made it in second gear only, for example. Then we could live with... We can live with that, right? I could live with that. But the fact that it makes it in... Third, fourth, and fifth... No, I can't live with that.

How about reverse? No. I had not noticed it in... Well, again... Again, the engine's revving... so much. I think. Here's the common thread. You're not going fast enough in first gear to hear the noise, but in the other gears, you are going

fast enough. Well, that could be. And I'm going to suggest what you have is a bad... Wait a minute. Is rubber involved? Yes. Yeah, rubber is involved. I think you have a bad tire. I do too. Really? Now, we could ask you, if the noise

speeds up as the car does. the frequency of it. No. We could ask you that, but we won't. Okay. We won't ask you that. Okay. Yeah.

Wait, wait a minute. What do you mean? It doesn't... Of course it speeds up. In second gear, it's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And in third gear, it's not boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And fourth gear, you go fast, it's not... B, b, b, b, b, bo, bo, bo, bo, boom.

No, it's actually... Bunka, bunk, bunk, bunk, bunk, bunk, the whole time. So, Nguyen, he's two, too. Take it all back. It's not a tire. It's not a tire. A wheel is falling on. It's not a tire.

Oh, man. Any idea what part of the car is coming from? It's almost like I can feel it from the dashboard. Who put you up to this? Who put you up to this call? No, I know. Someone paid you off. Sherry, sherry, sherry.

You're the greatest guys. We listen to you all the time. Well, you won't be listening anymore. Sherry, Sherry, Sherry, Sherry. Could you think something's loose? Yeah, yeah. Something's loose. It could be something even like your bumper is loose,

or there's a caliper that's loose. And those things wouldn't necessarily be, but it wouldn't be regular. It wouldn't be regular like that. It would be an occasional sometimes it would do it, sometimes not. Because think about it. If the car has to speed up from zero miles an hour to some other speed,

then all the pieces, including the engine, which make the car speed up, speed up. If one of those were bad or making the noise, it too would speed up. Right? For example, if it doesn't. But it doesn't. Or a bad axle or a bad tire, let's say you had a bubble on your tire, which is our original assumption. Then as you sped up, the noise would go from bum, bump, bump to bump, bum, bum,

until finally it would be so fast that you wouldn't be able to tell, but there would be a noticeable increase in the frequency of the bumps. But you don't have that. Permission to treat the witness as hostile. Which tells us that you're a lion. How about this? Consider the heating system and a pneumatically operated door. Oh, flap.

Boom. Flap. I like it. Okay, Sherry, see you later. You'd have to be moving. Why? Because you got plenty of vacuum. If you're not moving.

This is pretty bold. Oh, I'm stretching, but just... This is bad. Work with me here. Work with me. I can't. I can't. Work with me.

It's bad. I like it. I mean, what I don't like about it... It's a loose antenna. It's something like that. Well, how about I drop you all a postcard and let you know what I find? Oh, man. That would be great.

You're going to send us a 20-page document. No, she's going to have to... She's going to just say you were right. It was the door. No, it's the door of the car that's loose. Yeah. We have no idea, Sherry. I'll still listen.

All right. Thanks, anyway. Call us. Let us know what you find. I will. God. See you later. Bye.

1-888-car talk or 1-88-227-8-255. Hello, you're on car talk. Hi, this is Jim from Southern Oregon. Hi, Jim. Southern Oregon. Yeah, it's actually a town called Tikilma, but nobody can say it or spell it. Southern Oregon's good with us, Jim. All right, good.

What's up? I have an ethical dilemma. I had a 1989 geometro. I bought it used. I put 100,000 miles on it, and I sold it for 250 bucks. The guy says, Why so cheap?

I says, because it's got a new radio, and it's the only thing that I think will still be working tomorrow. So he buys it. How many miles it have on it when you sold it? About 150,000. Wow.

Boy, that's pretty good for a car that, I think, if you bought it new. You paid $4,000. You would have expected it to last $75,000. Right. About six weeks later, the guy comes back, and he gives me $100. It says, what is this? He says, I put 10,000 miles on it, and it didn't break down.

I figure out of you money. Well, this has happened five times now. Really? Every time he gets another 10,000 miles without a major repair, he brings me $100. At first I was just ecstatic and delirious, and now my conscience beginning to net. I figure there's no way it will go another 10,000 miles. It's happened how many times? Five times?

It's got over 200,000 miles on it now. No kidding. Yep. So he's essentially paid you $750 for the car. Yes. Well, I mean, it's wonderful of this guy to do this. Yeah, he's a twin-heart. He is a sweetheart.

I wish I had another car to sell him. See, now, if you compare that to that, what would happen in this part of the country. Yeah, because it's... The buyer would make up some story that the car broke down, he left your house, he needed a new alternator,

the transmissions fell out, and he wants his $250 back, or he's going to hang a beating on you. Well, a similar thing happened to me once. When I sold my wonderful Renault-Dauphine, it hardly ran. I mean, it was four cylinders that was running on, I think, one.

Is that the one where you're you gave the guy the case of fire extinguishes? That was the one. I mean, I happened to be mentioned, talking to some guy that I worked with, and I told him that I had to get rid of the car. He said, I'll buy it from you. I said, no, no, no. I said, I can't sell you a car. This car is a death trap.

It bursts into flame. It doesn't run. It needs a valve job. It's worth nothing. He said, I'll buy it from you. I'll give you a 50 bucks for it. I said, I can't take it. These are the days when new cars cost like a hundred.

And he finally insisted. And I said, well, look, take the car and I know that as soon as you try to drive it, you'll change your mind. Never hurt from him again. I would have expected him to come back the next day and give me back the car. At gunpoint. At gunpoint. But he never did. Because I guess because I was so honest about what kind of shape it was in.

that he felt an obligation. Maybe your buyer felt the same way. Well, that's what he told me. He said, I feel you sold this under false pretenses. It was in much better shape than you thought. And he said, oh, no, I didn't. I think you and he should collaborate on your favorite charity and give the money to that charity.

From now on. That's right. I could give it to our local Jefferson Public Radio. There you go. That's the best thing. Yeah, well, you don't have to give him the whole 50. I'd give him a hundred. You don't have to give him the whole hundred,

I'd give him 50. That's the ethical dilemma. He wants to know. Should he give him the whole hundred or split it with them? I'd split it with them. You know, the ethical dilemma, the lawyer is sitting in his office with his client. And after a little consultation, the lawyer says, okay, well, you owe me a hundred bucks.

The guy gives him $100 and leaves. And the lawyer notices that instead of $100 bucks, there were $200 bills stuck together. And he is immediately faced with an ethical dilemma. which is, should he tell his partner? See you, Jim. I'd buy a used car from you anytime. Thank you, gentlemen.

Take care. Bye, bye, bye. Well, it's happened again. You've wasted another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug, the subway fugitive, Bongo boy, Berman. Our social producers are Louis Cronin, the Barbarian. Hey, what happened to Mone and Grownin' Gronin'n? Oh, no, that's going to stay.

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