Half-Assed Athletes

Y'all have seen this, right?

These clowns want credit for running a half-marathon.

What's next, a sticker with 6.55 on it?

For some reason that sticker annoys me. Without any training most people can gut out that distance.

Of course, it's not quite as bad as those Morons who advertise their mutt breeds with a sticker...

Pump Pain

Hah! I've been telling y'all this was coming, for years.

Recall 16 months ago we bought a little car (32 mpg) expressly because of this prediction of mine.

Obama's people are printing money to monetize the stock and bond markets (so they can get re-elected and so they can bailout the 'old people' that run this country).

But an irresponsible, rampant policy like this inevitably juices the commodity markets too.

The funny thing is....high gas prices from now to November will be taken out on incumbent politicians. Obama - er, I mean his *handlers* - have to be aware of this.

So I believe at some point soon they will take the air (monetization) out of the stock and bond markets in order to knock down oil a peg before November. Sure they will *release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve* and make a big announcement out of it....but that won't really lower the price of oil that much.

Oh wait, some of you naive folk that the Strategic Reserve was for real emergencies like supply chain disruptions and wars???

Hah! No it's always been for incumbent pols!

The one problem with my little Volvo is that I'm too scared to drive my kids around in it. There are just too many crazy drivers here in NY. I feel like we'd be crushed instantly in the event of an accident (versus my Chevy Tahoe).

While politicians might not survive higher gas prices....the public will figure it out. Soon everyone will be driving less, ordering from Amazon Prime, and driving a moped:

What's that old moped joke?

Something like - They're like fat girls....fun to ride but you don't want your friends catching you riding one.

???

Marginalizing Kelly "Bull" Book

On Saturday morning we bought this ride:

...for 15k.

It has just under 16,000 miles on it and is somewhat pimped up: black, with a sun-roof, and tinted windows!

Some Moron kid paid $28,000 for it 3+ years ago. He told me he used his bar mitzvah money to demonstrate new-car, drive-off-the-lot, instant depreciation. Whatever, he was 19, going off to college,....and incorrigibly short.

And that same day we also, finally unloaded our clunker:

...but for only $1,900.

Let me tell y'all, it was a real struggle to sell this one.

Originally, being a '97 Suburban with 155k miles on it, I thought it was worth only $900. Heck when my MIL gave it to us 4.5 years ago, with 100k miles, the book value was only $6,000. My wife and I have recently been more concerned about the gas in the 43 gallon tank and the GPS being stolen than we were about the car!

But I punched up the Suburban a couple months ago on Kelly Blue Book and was shocked to discover the private party value around $4,000.

Great! Even if I sell it for 3k I figured I'll be way ahead psychologically anyway.

But alas, Kelly Blue Book is out of its tree if they think my POS worth 4k.

We didn't get a lick of interest in it until I dropped the price to $2,000. One guy came Saturday afternoon, a car vulture type, and bid me $1,500. He was sharp, noticing every little detail - good and bad.

I was itching to give it to him but my wife insisted on $1,650. I nearly cried when the guy *walked away* over $150. I went inside and sort of cussed out my first wife who relented and told me I could call the guy back and hit his $1,500 bid. I mean with our new car already in hand, we now have six cars piled into our driveway; buying interest in our Suburban was almost nil; and gas is tipping $3.30 a gallon around here at the moment. Do any of y'all want an old clunker that only gets 12 mpg???

For 20 minutes I tried calling the vulture back - except his *pre-paid* cheap-a$$ phone wasn't connecting us as he started his 1 hour trek back to the middle of Long Island.

Anyways, one other guy came by about an hour later, our only other lead at the time, and mercifully relieved us of this albatross for $1,900.

My wife went to the DMV today to register our new car.

She had to pay $1,293 in sales tax (8.625%)....and another couple hundred to register it - $1,500 total.

What a total freakin' jam job!

Do you *new car people* pay these rump-ripping transactional costs all the time?

This $15,000 on the Volvo is the most I've ever spent on anything that wasn't a *derivative*. I think my wife's engagement ring only cost 11k (Blue Nile, round, 1.6 carats).

Going Small?

That's a 2007 Volvo S40i. I may bid on one of those today. It has only 16k miles on it.

The Kelley Blue Book (private party) value is $16,200.

But in this economy stuff is trading below those figures. The question is *how much?* lower.

Yeah, at the moment scrapping the minivan idea and going for fuel efficiency in preparation for $5 a gallon gasoline. After all, we do have a Chevy Tahoe and my wife only needs a *train station* car - which I'll use on weekends for golf trips and whatnot.

Do any of y'all have any thoughts on or experience with this particular breed of automotive transportation?

Bleepin' Salesmen

So I go to look at certified pre-owned minivans last week...

I tell the guy that my wife will have to come and look on the weekend, maybe.

That was Tuesday; since then, he's emailed me three times, someone else (secretary?) in his office also emailed, and he personally called me three freakin' times.

Meanwhile, Mrs. C-Nut has been so busy (home at 10:30pm on Wednesday and 8:30pm on Thursday) that I have barely even had time to talk about a *new car* with her.

Yet this huckster keeps badgering me, wanting to know when I might bring my wife down.

He just called now and I cut him off, and told him off. "DO NOT TO CALL OR EMAIL ME AGAIN UNTIL AFTER I CONTACT YOU!"

Most of these guys are clueless - that ain't how to sell - not to me anyway!

I'm tempted to contact his manager, call this clown out, and ask to deal with another sales rep - except that....that might not be so fair.

It's probably the sales manager who's been yelling at the guy to *follow-up* and SELL, SELL, SELL in the first place.

I did get around to discussing this with my wife a bit but we are at an impasse.

We're just not sure if we want to spend 17-18k on a used minivan (Town & Country with 30-40k miles on it, 1-3 years old).

We already have a 2006 Tahoe...

So maybe we just need an $8,000 *little* car for my wife to take to the train station and for me to use for weekend golf trips and whatnot? $5 per gallon gas will be here within 2 years - I predict.

Do any of y'all have opinions on buying a one year old car with 30,000 miles on it? These cars, this young, are all from rental car fleets. Having only EVER had clunkers (until the Tahoe semi-gift from MIL this year), we don't know cars or the first thing about buying them at all.

My question is really - does putting all that mileage on a car over a short period mean reduce the quality of it?

The sales guy said that those cars have mostly lower-impact *highway* miles on them PLUS they are meticulously maintained by the companies - at least in terms of regular oil changes and whatnot.

AND he said that they generally get them from rental companies for cheaper prices so that means they are cheaper on his lot.

After some deliberation, I've concluded that essentially everything is pretty much priced in. And all a buyer has to calculate is how much they are willing to pay, and for what.

But it's just brutal having to deal with these small time *skimmers*.

Bling, Bling, Bling!

I had to stop cold and take that picture the other day.

I mean, when would one ever see three black Escalades ($60,000 cars?) parked in a row?

What are the odds?

And NO, it wasn't an Al Gore environmentalist motorcade or anything. And I don't think Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was in town either!

It's definitely a wealthy town we live in....I just had no idea it has so much *bling* or whatever!

I've come full circle from living in Newton, Massachusetts - at least in terms of my neighbors' automobiles.

Check out this very old post of mine - Fuel Efficiency Causes "Global Warming" - which has another notable car line-up.

Coerced Debt!

Went to look at a certified pre-owned minivan today...

That's it above. Before I got there, I was wondering about the line - *Must finance with dealer*.

Did it mean that IF you finance the car you have to go through them?

Or, that EVERY BUYER was required to finance the car (through them)?

Because the C-Nut family is a debt-free entity....we pay cash.

Guess what, the latter was the case. The low price was contingent on financing. The salesman told us that we'd have to pay MORE ("a few more points"???) if we paid cash.

So they essentially force people into car loan debt. The prices are thus higher because buyers are conditioned to look at *monthly payments* rather than total cost. It's a vicious self-perpetuating cycle.

Yet this is the tragic state of our economy - where one can't buy a house without entering into a minimum of 30 years of debt slavery (again, because rampant borrowing has nuked prices into the stratosphere), where a corporation can't compete unless it leverages long-term debt, and where one can't go to college without signing on for a mountain of debt and having their parents forfeit their home equity.

Theft For Morons

A Boy Scout, Nabbed!

This morning, driving on my way back from hitting some of my 40,000 pre-paid range balls, I answer my ringing phone.

Thirty seconds later, an unmarked cop pulls me over for, of course, using a cell phone while driving.

I told the cop that I just moved from Massachusetts and hadn't adjusted to the law yet - to no avail.

The thing is, cell phone-talking drivers (and texters) are one of my biggest pet peeves. For years I have never let my wife talk (on the phone!) while driving - nor would I hardly ever use the phone when behind the wheel. In fact, I wouldn't even do it in Massachusetts for the past five years where the practice is still, amazingly, 100% legal. My longstanding policy has been to pull over to make calls; and I tell people who call me, "I can't talk, I'm on the road".

So how much is this going to cost? - I wondered. Probably $100. Maybe $75?

After minutes of waiting, the cop hands me a $180 summons.

It's tough for me to get angry, however unfair it seems. You see I completely agree with the law AND I do think cops should be pulling people over as they did with me.

In fact, it's the first time I have ever, in 20 years of driving, been pulled over for anything.

Let this be a warning to other New Yorkers out there - don't answer your phone, even for a second!

See also - The Unmentioned Auto Holocaust.

Recall - I Bite Back!

Check it out ↑

Environmentalists Pollute Earth with Socialism

That's the *custom* bumper sticker that I'm about to order and adorn my car with. I believe it will only cost $3 or so.

I thought the color green was a nice touch, no?

The only problem with annoying passers-by with such truth is that surely one of them will key my car or something. These eco-pagans are just seething with hatred. Have you ever met one?

I have to remember to order a couple extra. I can't wait to stick one on my *green* cousin's hybrid car - a vehicle that, even though he makes about 10 international flights each year,...it's a car that he still manages to drive, with no passengers, over 20,000 miles annually!

Hoofing It On The Homefront

Over the last couple of years I've been experimenting with *self-denial*.

Instead of my normal 5 pieces of pizza....how about 3?

Instead of my normal brimming bowl of ice cream....how about two-thirds as much?

I've whittled down color TV viewing; replaced some golf rounds with practice sessions; skipped daily showers(!); and cut back sundry other little indulgences.

In particular, going to bed at night without the TV was hard - not to do, but to attempt to do. Not long ago I would shudder at the prospect of spending the night in someone's guest room that didn't have a cable hook-up. I'd often choose to sleep on the floor of the living room!

Realizing this intense dependence I actually became scared. Am I just an incipient set-in-their-ways 'old coot'? Surely this is how my father's queer unbreakable routines began.

So here's my latest idea. Try to spend one day a week either entirely at home or at least without using the car.

I gave it a go on Monday AND made it until 5:32pm before folding. I broke down and took the kids to the park at Nantasket Beach.

While I've more than once Marginalized those harried off-dropping parents, I've acknowledged that I too have a dependency on the combustion engine. I am dependent on rapidly eliminating physical distances at a whim. And that describes most of us non-urban dwellers anyway.

Now the last thing in the world I am is GREEN. Heck, I'll idle my 12 mpg Chevy Suburban all day long just to prove it. So this has nothing to do with *climate un-changed*, emissions, or the eco-pagan religion.

I just think that under the surface of all our dependencies and prosperity there lies some suffocated humanity, some unrealized potential. Eating less makes me appreciate food and taste more; hitting golf balls with only my left hand (no right hand bailout!) has improved my golf swing; and less color TV means more productive time web-surfing, blogging, and reading.

Mix it up a little. You're going to turn into a robotic 'old coot' or 'old bag' eventually....but resolve to fight the process as best as you can.

I'm going to try again to stay completely homebound one day next week. Hopefully this new ascetic endeavor will be more successful than my last one.

The Nine Lives Of My Moronic Landlord

A while back I mentioned how the idiot almost killed himself. See - More Landlord Recklessness.

Above is a pic of the actual car that he somehow, miraculously survived; that's the eyesore that he dumped in my backyard praying for an MTV bailout.

Undaunted Bull-Headed Morons

So I know somebody locally...

They overpaid for too much house, too soon (before the market dropped and before they procreated) - plus the place needs a whole lot of finishing to boot (sod, basement, driveway, etc.).

Three months after they buy borrow the place, the guy loses his job. And it takes him a full torturous year to find gainful employment. During that time the spouse admitted to many rivers of tears ("everytime I pulled into the driveway") and that they had to withdraw from retirement accounts just to pay the 30 year(!) mortgage.

So, fortunately for him he did secure a rare open position in this ultra-$hitty labor market - although it seems to be substantially *commission-based*.

Now, what does he do not even two months in?

He goes out and buys leases a *Rover*!

That has to be nearly $500 a month, right?

Earthlings simply do not learn - not unless the lesson is jammed down their throat, or fired up their posterior cavity.

Roadside Marginalizing

We've been fortunate here in Boston to have gone 7 full weeks - January 1st to Feb 16th - without any snow.

And we didn't get much on this past Tuesday (the 16th) either but the roads got pretty dicey out there in the afternoon. Between picking one kid up at LEGO camp and dropping another off at Annie Camp, my car must have skidded badly five times. Everyone was driving 15 mph on a major road here where the limit is 45 mph - it was that bad.

So after I pick-up my daughter, I am driving slowly down the road described above. But some knucklehead decided to tailgate me for the 1.5 mile stretch. The fact that the road was a skating rink apparently didn't scare him - not as much as it scared me seeing him on my bumper.

I reach the traffic light, get into the left hand turning lane, and this clown pulls up alongside. I roll down my window and motion for him to do the same.

CaptiousNut - So, the roads are covered in ice,....nobody has any brakes,....and you have to tailgate me?

He was clearly taken aback by my question - because he probably thought I was going to ask him for directions or something.

Dude - [gruffly] WHAT is your point?

CaptiousNut - My point? [serenely]....My point is that you are a total *%&$-ing idiot.

Now he was really taken aback! He grunted unintelligibly while fumes filled his reddening skull.

Dude - That's real nice! I have my 13 year-old daughter here with me!

CaptiousNut - So you're tailgating on an icy road with your daughter in the front seat....Like I said, you're a total *%&$-ing idiot.

And that really set him off, into a face redder than anything I've seen since my lunatic high school basketball coach.

Dude - [mustering all his powers of articulation] GO F*CK YOURSELF!!!

CaptiousNut - [still serene] That's real nice....I have my two small children in the car here.

Then he sped off.

Note that he didn't even deny tailgating me or accuse me of driving too slowly, when first confronted.

Is this a potentially risky game I'm playing - antagonizing randoms on our raging roads?

Will some [crazier] guy one day pull out a gun on me?

Maybe.

But I submit that Roadside Marginalizing is 1/500th as risky as tailgating.

This type of altercating takes nothing away from my energy or my chi; not only is it effortless on my part, but it's often hilarious!

The way I figure it, that guy deserves to go home all hot and bothered. He deserved to be chastised and embarrassed in front of his daughter.



It's funny, you know I once saw my father harshly scolded - by the rude-a$$ pastrami guy at Katz's Delicatessen - and I'll never, ever forget watching him, my ultimate authority figure, get smacked down like he did.

This morning, my 5.25 year old son said to me, "Dad, what's tailgating?"

I was beside myself laughing. He waited three full days before asking!

The all-ears, precocious little bugger has also been know to say *the bank owns our house*. I wonder where he got such a notion?

Almost Died

At the end of a long drive yesterday (70 miles, two anxious kids, going to Grandma's house) I almost died - laughing AND via a car accident.

I was driving my wife's technologically advanced new car, which is hard enough for someone who's only ever driven clunkers, when that famous Door's song came on the radio. Before I could change the station from that grating 'old coot', depressing ditty....I saw that the digital radio dial had *mis-identified* the title of the song playing.

Instead of *Touch Me*....

It listed the song as *Douche Me*!!!

So I had to scramble for my Droid phone, while I was on a crowded highway, and rapidly approaching my exit.

I had to unlock the touch-screen phone, somehow find the camera function, and snap a pic of this obvious *blog material* AND keep my eyes on the road. Meanwhile, the kids were melting down in the back and I was practically wetting my pants at how funny *Douche Me* was. Did some smart-alec manually type that in? Or was it just a failed voice-recognition? Or maybe they outsourced the data entry to 30 cents an hour ESLs in India?

These pics were the best I got under the circumstances.

No doubt a tech-savvy, 'young coot' like Taylor would have taken much better ones. (And I needed his help to upload them too!)

Pesos For Clunkers

So we're down to one clunker!

The above nine-year old Ford Explorer was sold late last night to a self-described *flipper*.

Its book value was around $3,500, BUT it was in need of serious *tranny* work. See - Ford Explorer = POS.

So we advertised it, and its deficiency - $1,200, please take it off our hands.

Well, the phone rang off the hook. And I couldn't even recognize most of the area codes. One guy from Philly wanted to buy it, obviously sight unseen. He said he'd wire the money, ON NEW YEAR'S DAY! "But, the banks are even open," my wife pointed out. He said that, "The supermarkets were," and that he'd send the money muy pronto. It seemed like a scam, plus there were plenty of locals interested, so we blew him off. I even (may have) yelled at my wife the phone rang so much.

One determined fellow, overcame poor cell reception, a daunting language barrier, and managed to drive to our house late last night on icy roads from a good hour away.

In the pitch black, and with only a tiny flashlight he inspected the car, revved the sputtering engine several times, and said, "Sold. Will you take $1,100". Of course I would - if for no reason other than to stop the phone from ringing!

During the rapid sales process, even before he said he'd buy it, I tried to communicate some of the idiosyncratic flaws of the vehicle. But he cut me off. In his broken Hispanic accent:

ElFlipper - I be honest with you....I just flip car....I send to Mexico where they can fix for cheap.

Inside GMAC's house, we signed the title over to this most polite hombre and he emptied his wallet right in front of us.

Surprise, surprise....he only had $1,085 on him!!!

ElFlipper - Would you take a check for $15? (in perfect English!)

Of course I wouldn't. Depositing a tiny check is a massive pain in the butt. ¡Feliz Navidad!, again hombre. (Though I am sure he had more cash in his pockets!)

Given the volume of interest in the clunker, and given the confession of the flipper, clearly we underpriced the car.

But how would this flipper make any coin? A transmission costs $2,000, doesn't it? How much of that really is labor whose expense could be mitigated thousands of miles away in Mexico? Plus, he had to get it towed and he had to ship it there. That had to cost a few hundred bucks, I would presume. NOT TO MENTION, that all of my research (see first link above) told me that these mierda Ford Explorers couldn't even be righted by a brand new transmission.

Of course El Flipper doesn't care. His excitement was not at all well-concealed. He was surely going to make a couple or few hundred dollares just by putting it on a truck to Mexico. And you know what? The hustler deserved every penny of it as far as I was concerned.

Though I do wonder how fast those trabajadores will peel that bumper sticker off...

See also:

Cash For Morons

Yes, You Can Drive A Clunker

Trade Down To A Clunker

Ford Explorer = POS

5.5 years ago, after our dimwitted SIL totaled our 1992 Chevy Lumina....so we were forced to upgrade. We bought an uncertified pre-owned 2000 Ford Explorer from some kid in Brooklyn. All told we paid $11,000 for it.

We knew from day one that Explorers were total POS. That was the unanimous opinion from everyone we asked or read. Yet we still made the purchase because, if memory serves me, the more reliable stuff like the Toyota Camry (with 50k miles) was going for $17,000. That just always seemed like a lot of money to spend to get us from point C to point H. Myself, I was always far more comfortable wasting large amounts of money on calls and puts!

Actually, we were living in NYC, being green BEFORE it was trendy with walking and subways, only using the car on weekends, and parking it on the city streets. Only a Moron in our position would buy a shiny new car.

Anyways, our Explorer is just about kaput. The transmission is in all likelihood shot.

My mechanic told me to go to his *tranny guy* - YEAH, HE REALLY USED THAT CHARACTERIZATION! - and see if the problem could be solved by *taking a solenoid out* and repairing it. That might be $400-$500 versus an entire new *tranny* for $2,000.

Now even though this car made it down to Charlotte, NC and back a few times, it had been running poorly almost since the get-go. Engine light always on; power fading ever so often; frequent misfires; etc. The latest symptom has been more problematic - it won't accelerate from a stopped position. Let's just say it fires up like a drunken 80 year old man! Neither of which can safely cross a busy street. What reference did y'all think I was making here anyway?

About a month ago, the *overdrive* light started flashing during transit. My mechanic told me that usually indicated a *tranny* problem. He tried to soup it up with some fluids and other bio-organic, holistic remedies but it was to no avail.

Not excited about putting serious money into this proven money pit....I asked the Google mechanic.

On web forums, like this, I read the testimonials of numerous Ford Explorer owners who had this very problem. They all went to mechanics who first tried a *solenoid*, then a *whole new tranny*, replaced sensors, etc. I read a bunch of them and pretty much not a single complainant had a happy ending. There's definitely an engineering flaw on these models from Ford - of which the company has refused to acknowledge, no less address with a fix or recall.

I was reluctant to get any work done in the first place, but what I read online put any thoughts of car rehab to rest. It just didn't seem right to me to inter a car after only 88,000 miles. Heck my parents' cars from 25 years ago, Oldsmobiles mostly, all withstood well over 100,000 miles. Some further Googling today revealed that 75k is all that could be expected of these Fords....because of inferior transmissions.

So that settled it.

Bye, bye Explorer.

Hello Minivan!



$11,000 divided by 5.5 years divided by 12 months...

The cost of the POS = $167 per month.

Yeah, it was a bit of a maintenance hassle....but we also had very low insurance premiums and we didn't have to worry about it getting dinged or stolen.

Cash For Morons

I was just *forwarded* the following concerning the messianic Car Allowance Rebate System:

It's way worse than that. Ignore all the gas crap and just look at how the stupid car buyer got taken to the cleaners:

If you traded in a clunker worth $3500, you get $4500 off for an apparent "savings" of $1000.

However, you have to pay taxes on the $4500 come April 15th (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1350 on that $4500.

So, rather than save $1000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for. Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making.

But wait; it gets even better: you also got ripped off by the dealer. For example, every dealer here in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies, including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc for $12,500 the month before the "cash for clunkers" program started.

When "cash for clunkers" came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3000 more than you would have the month before... (Honda, Toyota , and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).

So let's do the final tally here:

You traded in a car worth: $3500
You got a discount of: $4500
---------
Net so far +$1000
But you have to pay: $1350 in taxes on the $4500
--------
Net so far: -$350
And you paid: $3000 more than the car was selling for the month before
----------
Net -$3350

We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan, but let's just stop here.

So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4500 they "gave" you. The car dealers made an extra $3000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor, stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.

Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe consumer that he was getting $4500 in "free" money from the "government" when in fact, Joe was giving away his $3500 car and paying an additional $3350 for the privilege.

Hmmmm. So between the *tax* and the auto-dealers fading the price....THERE WAS NO DEAL!

Note that the same goes for every other government subsidy - e.g. the mortgage interest tax deduction, whatever Morons think they save through it....was baked into a higher, er distorted, purchase price upfront!

UPDATE - Apparently, the rebate is not taxable on the Federal level - only the states can tax it. Nonetheless, the essential point still holds. By fading the list prices, much of the *savings* evaporates, your car insurance payments go up, etc.

Screwing The Consumer, On The Stealth

Have y'all see this new product?

Ain't nothing like putting what amounts to duck-tape on your snazzy Lexus, now is there?

Kids today have no clue about this, but bumpers used to be practical. They could withstand a substantial ding.

But for the past 10 years or so (I believe), car manufacturers went away from that. Instead they opted for *looks* with smooth, plastic, collapsible fenders, or did they?

Some guy told me that cars can't withstand fender-benders anymore because of some collusive trade-off between manufacturers and auto-part suppliers.

In other words, this decision was a political/economical kickback whereby the parts suppliers would profit at the consumer's expense. The car companies probably wanted to squeeze their suppliers on costs and were forced to make this concession.

Think about it - consumers with this Bumper Bully are adding a mere half an inch of rubber for protection....that's how impractically today's cars are designed.

Note that I could be totally wrong on this hypothesis as I am just relaying what someone told me.

Generally speaking, unlike most Americans, I don't give two hoots about *cars*. I happily drive clunkers and ain't worried one bit about scratches and dents. So make sure you take precautions against me and my brethren.

Another Crazy 'Old Bag'