Abandon the broken 90Q?

[Kneale Brownson]

IF you've decided to give it up, offer to send him the title and he can
sell salvageable parts to recover his costs.  The tow certainly didn't cost
him $75.  Point out that a working heated driver seat easily would bring
that $100.  If he insists on the $125, tell him you'll be out to strip the
car to a hulk and give him the $125 to cover disposal.  Don't forget to get
the battery and siphon the gas from the tank.

At 10:01 AM 01/18/2003 -0700, Joel A. Frahm wrote:
>The next installment of my tiresome saga:
>I talked to the mechanic.  What he wants me to do is this:
>
>Send him the title and $125, and he will dispose of the car.
>
>I owe him $75 for the tow.  He's not charging me for storage.  His claim
>is that he will have to go to some effort to get rid of the car and won't
>get anything for it, so $50 more for dealing with the hulk.
>
>I suspect the car is worth something to someone, and he stands to do OK
>with this.  I have signed no agreement or anything, and am tempted just to
>abandon the car to save the $125.  I would do this _if_ I thought he was
>taking me to the cleaners and could sell the car as-is for decent money or
>if he planned to take my money to haul the car off as junk, but then fix
>it and sell it for a tidy profit.  I don't begrudge him a living but I
>would take exception to getting taken for a ride.  The heated
>leather driver's seat alone is probably worth $100.
>
>If I decide he's ripping me off and to abandon the car, do you think I
>would get into more trouble and bigger bills?  We have nothing in writing
>and he doesn't know my name, address or even my phone number.
>
>Another option:  If he is charging me to get rid of a hulk, I could drive
>out there and strip the thing.  Lights, signals, seats, wheels, tires... I
>could even try to take some driveline parts.  Since he has to dolly it
>anyway and is charging me to haul off a hulk, I could leave him a hulk.
>
>Maybe if I call him and talk about doing this he'll tell me to just send
>him the title and be done with it, since it would take the sweetness out
>of his deal to have all the easy parts disappear.
>
>Ain't life grand?
>-Joel.
>--
>Joel Frahm <frahm at jila.colorado.edu>
>University of Colorado, JILA