Car Trouble

Ronny had a rather beat-up old Saturn that was slowly dying. He decided he worked too hard to not have a better car. So, we would occasionally stop in at used car lots. I fairly hate used car shopping. The slimy salesmen, lemon risk, and general sense of predatory deception combine with memories of spending countless hours following my father around used car lots. I would find myself expressing the same whiny “I don’t wanna” with Ronny that I had with my father. Sunday we were heading to the car wash, and Ronny wanted to stop in at the lot next door to it (“Dallas Carboys” – in Texas that is probably as tired as anything, but in Mass I guess it passes for clever). There we stumbled upon a 2000 Neon with only 30k miles. He said it was $5,900 but offered it for 55. I told Ronny to play up the poor immigrant bit and go for $5000 even. The sales guy was trying to hold at 52 until Ronny waved the “cash” lure. (I had picked up a couple things from my father.) Kelly blue book lists it at $5100 to 6440, so Ronny either got a good deal or a juicy lemon. Mass has a lemon law, so Ronny’s not stuck with it if it is too citrusy.

Now the dilemma. Ronny has a few immigrant-related document issues, so he asked his brother-in-law to help out. The b-i-l has a MA driver’s license, so can get insurance, so can register a car. The b-i-l said sure, he’d sign the forms, so Ronny used the b-i-l’s name when buying the car. Now that he has the car, with the wrong name on it, the b-i-l has decided not to get insurance for Ronny. He’s caught in a tight spot now, because he can’t register the car, and he can’t change it to his own name without transferring, but he can’t transfer it out of the b-i-l’s name until it’s registered in the first place. Ronny already sold the old Saturn, so is now freaking out about driving an unregistered, uninsured car. Ronny seems to have a history of getting screwed over by his brothers-in-law.