In many cases, it's not even an issue of honesty. The typical private seller is not a mechanic. They've been driving the car, are used to the car, have different standards of what's right and not right, etc. They can tell you it runs great, is in great condition. Then after you buy it, you take it to a mechanic and find out it needs new brakes, a new exhaust, etc. Just because the seller didn't know what' wrong with it, doesn't mean they are necessarily lying or being deceptive, though I'm sure plenty of them do lie or don't tell you about problems they do know about.
The solution to that is to get the sale agreed to, a deposit, etc on the car you're selling *before* you get the new car. And if not, then get new plates for the new car, which aren't that much. IMO trying to sell a used car that prospective buyers can't test drive or drive to a mechanic is a big problem that is likely to diminish the price, increase the time it takes to sell, etc. Of course if you have a car that you know has problems and that you don't want customers to be able to check out, then taking off the plates would be to the seller's advantage. Which is why it might be a good idea to stay away from those.
Clutch for a manual transmission, IDK, but it's probably possible to at least some extent, eg if it's starting to slip. BMW has a fault code in the car computer for the torque converter clutch in the auto tranny. By monitoring abnormal changes in speed between the engine and the tranny, seems the onboard computer system could identify a regular clutch if it's starting to slip. I guess it wouldn't do you much good in terms of it just being 80% through it's life though.
I recently got what is essentially the dealer computer software for BMWs. It runs on a notebook, connects to the OBDII via a USB cable. The things they monitor, the sophistication, is amazing. For example, they monitor the condition of the transfer case oil, to determine if it needs to be replaced. It's also interesting how they do things. I've always known that the typical car computer can detect misfires on individual cylinders. I figured they probably used knock sensors to isolate it. But it turns out they actually do it, on BMW at least, by so closely tracking the crankshaft speed that they can tell the slight difference in speed at the exact moment cylinder X is supposed to fire. And not only can they tell a total misfire, but they actually can judge the quality of the fire, ie was it normal, didn't fire at all, or somewhere in between.
With that software, after it finds the faults, the comnputer will go through test procedures to help tell you what's the cause. At one point, it said to start the car. A min later, it said to continue the testing the car needs to be at 60C, "increasing engine speed". And sure enough, my notebook made the car speed up from
800 RPM to 1500. First time my notebook ever did that! Having that software is a huge plus and almost a necessity if you want to be able to diagnose many problems today.
My 74 Dodge Dart got 10 MPG, often would not start. Especially when it was wet. Needed starter and alternator every 18 months. I really grew to hate that car.
Maybe it varies across the country, but here in NJ, if you took an unregistered, uninsured car without plates out on the road and a cop stops you, you're almost guaranteed to be totally toast. You're going to get at least two tickets, one for it not being registered, one for it not being insured. And possibly more, like it not being inspected. If you put some phony plates on it to try to not get noticed, that's a criminal offense.
And the uninsured charge is worse than a DWI. Automatic one year loss of license, community service, fine, etc.
I agree, the insurance beef may be the worst one and running the wrong tag is close. You are better off running without a tag if you are just taking the car home a short ways. Just be sure you call your insurance company and get a binder first. If you have a fresh bill of sale and you can give them an insurance binder number, you can talk your way out of the ticket 99% of the time. Here is SW Florida they might not even stop you. I see cars without tags all the time.
Can you even get a binder on a car that you don't own, that you don't have an insurable interest in? That isn't registered? I would think the insurance company would have issues with that.
I was referring to getting a car home that you just bought.
If it is still the other guy's car, he is the one who needs insurance. Liability generally follows the car's owner.. If he wants to put another tag on it so you can test drive it you just become Sargent Shultz. You know nothing. Just be sure he is in the car so the cops have someone to arrest.
K, the thread was about getting a used car inspected, how that becomes difficult if it doesn't have plated, etc, so I thought that's what you were talking about.
If you're driving it and wind up having an accident, it's going to be hard to just claim you know nothing. Especially if there are witnesses to it, like the other driver you just collided with. And I disagree that the seller/owner is the only one that needs insurance. If you're driving, have an accident, the other party can come after both of you. And if the seller has the min insurance or no insurance, the claim is worth pursuing, then they will come after you. As a practical matter, you'd have to verify that he actually has insurance at all. An insurance card doesn't prove that it didn't lapse two weeks ago. And I would doubt many folks with no plates on the car still have insurance on it.
Not having insurance is not just a paper work issue. If you get stopped and can't produce an insurance card, even though you really have insurance, that's a paper work violation. Talk about extreme, the penalty for just not having that insurance card with you is around $150 and a mandatory court appearance, to show proof that you actually had insurance at the time. Oh, and if you don't have your driver's license, and registration with you too, they are similar fines. So, if you get stopped and just forgot your wallet, it's a mandatory court appearance and ~$500 fine/court cost. And of course the cop who pulled you over can instantly check the drivers license and registration part from their car. Welcome to the Peoples Republic of NJ.
I've never bought a car without driving it, on the road, not just a driveway. They've all had fairly low mileage. One Chrysler had had the odometer and speedometer, and it was indicated by a light or led, and I was so proud of myself for remmebering what that light meant that I announced I'd noticed it in front of my then-girlfriend, and alas, the seller. Probably offended the seller who told me the next day it was sold.
In the earliercase it was also complicated by the fact that he needed the money before he could sell the car, because he still owed money on it, so we had to go to the loan company and pay it off, and then he sold it to me.
He too had a strange story. The car was driven by his teenage son mostly, but his daughter and he and his wife all wanted to drive it. But they had 5 cars for four people and had to sell one, so they were selling the one they all wanted to drive. ?? I woudl sell the one they didn't want to drive.
But it too required no repairs for 2 years.
Maybe that's why the car that didn't accelerate had no plates. And then I put him i a corner by being willing to use my plates. Yes, you can't accelerate to 80 in a driveway. (Even if it's illegal to drive
80, if I can get to an xway, I do it when buying a car. If a cop stops me, I'd tell him the truth, if a car can't do 80 I shouldn't buy it. (100 really but I don't drive that fast, even test driving.) If he still gives me a ticket, so be it.
One reason for them to be tougher than that is if they've been told, I'm driving it to a mechanic, only to learn that they weren't. If that happens enough times, maybe only once, they won't believe it even when it's true.
I got stopped once in suburban baltimore and I'd forgotten my whole wallet. He gave me a ticket for driving without a license and unlike some other states, it wasn't enough to show later that I had a license. Maybe in court a judge would have left me off but it wasn't like a bad taillight where the ticket only requires you to show up at hte police within ??2 weeks and show a cop that you've fixed it.
Although in my opinion, the major purpose of tags is to identify the car and thus the owner when the car is in a hit and run, or when bank robbers run out of the bank and drive away in the car. No tags means no identification, but my old tags are just as good as any new tags will be at identifying me, if get photoed by a speed or redllight camera, or hit someone and run.
There are some government offices in Maryland, not all surprisingly, where the government trucks and cars have the name of the office covering the left 2/3rds of the plate and the right one third has a number in small thin writing. Well I haven't seen this for a long time but when I did I was going to note the department and then try to get the legisltature to outlaw this. The purpose of plates is to identify the vehicle and by putting the numbers so small, they're encouraging hit and run, doing a favor for some buddy, I'm sure.
The name of the department is also too small to read.
Interesting. I"m going to visit my brother in SE Florida soon. I'll check there.
Well that means a third trip. One to look at it, then after thinking about it, one to pay, and one to pickup. If the car were close I would do that.
Good story about the only car I've bought that was fairly close. I bought it from a girl and there was some vague mention about her boyfriend. I eventually got the idea he was registered as a dealer just to get some financial advantage when he bought a car for his girlfriend, his parents etc. Maybe he owned them all and had "fleet insurance". I'm not privy to all these clever games.
So I called up a day after looking at it and said I wanted it, and she wanted me to pick it up 10 miles from where she lived, on the other side of me fwiw. I get there and pay, pay a dealership I think, in fact maybe I was at a used car lot -- it's been a long time -- and the car has plates already, and it's registered in almost my name. I only gave her my name once and she got the first name wrong,
I decided I'd correct it at the DMV, but I was never there until once I think my wallet was stolen in France, while I was white-water rafting and thieves knew cars parked along the small river would be unvisitied for hours. So I come home and tell the DMV the name on my registration is wrong, but since I had no drivers license, (no social security card??) and maybe I didn't bring my passport, or maybe the passport wasnt' enough because it doesn't show one's USA address, they would only give me a duplicate, with the name still wrong.
Now I figured they were as guilty as I was, so I didn't do anything until the end of 7 years total, when I got a new car. I don't think I got stopped by the cops in all 7 years.
I got junk mail in the name of the non-existant car owner, so I know the DMV was selling my address. .
32 cars and 6 motorcycles in 47 years. I've almost always owned at least 2 vehicles at a time.I think the cheapest car I owned was the $25 '57 chevy that I ownwd for about 2 weeks and sold for $30(for scrap!!! - Only 2 of the rest ended up as scrap when I was finished, Only 1 was purchased new, and over half were 6 or more years old when purchased - a few of them significantly older. I've owned several of them for over 10 years, and other than the '57, all of them for over 1
1/2 years. A few of them were rare cars I kinda wish I had hung onto. Only 2 that I wish I had never owned!!! Five of them were cars that were basically my wife's cars - family car when I had my own "work" or "toy" vehicle.. She had owned 2 cars prior to our marriage - a Ford Cortina and a Mustang 2 Ghia.
The motorcycles were an assortment of older bikes including an ex Zambia Police Service Honda 305, a 1959 NSU Prima 250 (German Vepa) and a Honda CB350 (last of the cb350 twins)
My wife never let me forget that LeBaron wagon I bought in the rain, at night - not running - that I had to replace every part of the engine except for the cyl head casting!!! It was a "town and country" version with the wood trim - she always said it was the packing crate that kept all the parts from falling off. It was HER daily driver for almost 5 years - after a brake line blew and it was too rusty to put up on the hoist I sold the rebuilt engine and leather interior to a guy who drove it another 8 or more years attached to the rust free lebaron wagon he had chuffed the engine on. (2.6 Mitsubishi Hemi)
And except for the one spot on the rear fascia that just would NOT hold paint, I LOVED mine. A slant six Dart Sport in forest green with Keystone Kustomag rims. It was my third slant six (leaning tower of power) and the first I had not modified or "tuned". I did always have a second ballast resistor on the firewall of that one - went through about 3 of them. 24MPG on the highway without any trouble
My '63 had the 170 incher, behind a pushbutton automatic and put 206HP to the rear wheels on the dyno. Never had any starting trouble after I put on the "silver beauty" magnetic suppression plug wires. I would drive it into the carwash, with it running, and wash the engine down to show guys who though chryslers couldn't be driven in the rain that they were just plain WRONG.It WAS a bit of a pig on gas - 14MPH average, but I drove it like the accellerator pedal was a switch!!!
My 69 Dart had a 225 that I "tuned" but not as extensively as the Valiant. I put that one up over 240,000 miles. Took out the diff on it, and had to replace the starter in a grocery store parking lot on a cold blustery day just before leaving for a transcontinental winter road trip. I had the "silver Beauty" wires on that one too. Did 104mph across Wyoming at about -38F, Got 20-24 mpg (canadian) on that one
My 1957 Fargo (Dodge) pickup had the 264 inch flathead six - again with the good plug wires - and never had a starting problem. With
250,000 miles on the clock I drove it from Waterloo Ontario to Tulsa Oklahoma and back.Never missed a beat.
Same with the 241 Hemi in the '53 Coronet Sierra. Never a starting problem on the engine I totally rebuilt in '72. Drove to PEI and back without any problems - would do over 27mpg on the highway (3 speed with overdrive) loafing along at under 3000 RPM at highway speeds. and it would GO when you wound it up!!. 0.030 over with a "semi-grind" cam, HP from the factory - likely closer to 160 the way it was. Pretty good for a 4 liter engine of that vintage.
Forgot to mention I had a '74 Dart Swinger for 2-3 years. Slant 6. Only Chrysler product I've owned. Never had a ballast resistor problem. Good engine/auto trans. Back end rusted out so badly I didn't trust the rear leaf spring mounts. Lined the trunk with visqueen to keep water out. All happened while I owned it. Rusted FAST. Dumped it.
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