ACK! Can't make payments! Must torch my car! (loans, credit, buy)

[70Ford]

washingtonpost.com

There are no car thieves. Just people deliquent on their bills.

Investigators estimate that hundreds of such crimes occurred in the Washington area in the past two years, although the exact number is unclear, and experts predict the number will increase because of the worsening economy. Many offenders have fallen behind on payments to car dealerships. This year, more people are behind on such loans than in nearly two decades.

Funny thing was.. I heard about this first in Iraq. You've got a vehicle. Been shot up a few times. Looking squirrely. What do you do?

"Take it out and torch it." I've also heard of contactors doing that there. They get so much money for what they need (with the padding built in, of course) and they don't need so much because they haven't used it. So, they make a train of vehicles...take them outside the wire....and say "Damn! Insurgents! Torched the trucks!" "Damn! Insurgents!" "Damn!"

There is a lot of waste in Iraq. A lot of waste. I've seen it. I've seen people driving SUV's on base that will never, ever see anything remotely needing an SUV. Because they are the shift lead. I've seen people driving 1/2 mile to go to lunch because the car has A/C.

The life of (some) contractors is very cool.

Then again, I've seen mortars and rockets at breakfast..dinner...and lunch....and at any moment......

... KAPOW!!@! yeah, that arm was attached to you, wasn't it?


Your life is forfeit. So, hey.... whatever man. Get mine. Get out. Ain't that the plan?

[drjones96]

There was a lake near Dallas where a whole bunch of 'stolen' cars were found. Apparently there was this guy that ran a get rid of your car service and the lake was his hiding spot...until it got full...and the water level dropped due to lack of rain.

I like the thing about using insurgents as an excuse for what happened to your burned up car. Damned insurgents..LOL

[Barkingowl]

It would be easier to leave it in the ghetto with the keys in the ignition.

[floridasandy]

without a moral compass you are lost.

[Donn2390]

Geeeze man, it's a 70 Ford...! You should almost have it paid for by now......

[Stac2007]

If your care is a Chrysler it will probably catch fire all on its own.

[jaguar5822]

Originally Posted by drjones96

There was a lake near Dallas where a whole bunch of 'stolen' cars were found. Apparently there was this guy that ran a get rid of your car service and the lake was his hiding spot...until it got full...and the water level dropped due to lack of rain.

I like the thing about using insurgents as an excuse for what happened to your burned up car. Damned insurgents..LOL

If 5 cars filled er up, I think that's more of a pond. Also, I never saw anything stating that there was someone running an illegal service like that in this situation.

[Bull Winkus]

Originally Posted by drjones96

There was a lake near Dallas where a whole bunch of 'stolen' cars were found. Apparently there was this guy that ran a get rid of your car service and the lake was his hiding spot...until it got full...and the water level dropped due to lack of rain.

I like the thing about using insurgents as an excuse for what happened to your burned up car. Damned insurgents..LOL

That was Lake Whitney as I heard it, between Waco and Fort Worth.

I took my nephew on a canoe float down the mighty Brazos (LOL) River that flows from Lake Whitney dam. We ran across a late model Cadillac stripped, burned and parked on a little island in the middle of the stream. On talking about it to the locals, I was told of a racket in stolen cars that were ditched (no pun intended) into the lake.

I don't know if it's true or not, but it sounds true if you tell it fast enough.

[drjones96]

Originally Posted by Bull Winkus

That was Lake Whitney as I heard it, between Waco and Fort Worth.
...
I don't know if it's true or not, but it sounds true if you tell it fast enough.

It's true...saw it on the local news when I lived in FTW. I had no idea where the lake was but for some reason I thought it was near Dallas.

[Icy Tea]

I was waiting for car prices to crash. You figure that high gas prices would drive down the prices of big SUVs and witht he credit crunch and unemployment creeping up you'd have car prices plummeting. but they haven't. I was seriously going to buy a late model big SUV with a target price of 30% blue book value.