Got my Mountaineer: nice ride, but how do I pay for gas?

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 04:06:04 GMT, "Kevin D" >
wrote:

>Your mileage doesn't sound too bad to me. It's certainly better than the
>1990 F-250 with the 460 V8 that I almost bought last year, until I read on
>that newsgroup that I could expect 6 to 8 mpg. Yikes!!

I would think that whoever gave those figures was working it *very*
hard.
Our 91 F-250HD-SC/460/4.10 gave us 11-12 on the highway, 10-11 city,
loaded or empty.

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

It was actually written in the owner's manual and I looked him up in the
phone book.
He was a pretty nice guy, older, said he and his wife had grown kids and
traded in for a car.

> If I drove heavy footed, yea, I'd only get 13-15 too.

but fun, ain't it?
After a few yrs of driving the 4.6 stang, I forgot what torque was...
Hey, I've got it!!! Motor swap!

Anthony Giorgianni wrote:
> Hello 351 Is that your real name :O)

Is that my real name? Obviously your sarcasm overwhelms your better
judgment or you're just too damn stupid to be debating anything...


>
> Actually there is a debate about whether the name of the former vehicle
> owner is a public record. As a journalist, I know it can now be very tough
> or impossible to get DMV records. I actually interviewed lots of attoneys
> and officials about this recently and got conflicting answers. Privacy laws
> vs. freedom of information laws.
>
> DMV records are much more restricted these days, beginning with California
> (years ago an actress or model was tracked down through DMV records and
> killed or hurt, I think it was. My memory is going). The law has since
> spread to the federal level via the Drivers Privacy Protection Act.


Not according to the California department of motor vehicles.
Names are still a mater of public record...

Your DMV information

California Vehicle Code 1808 and the Public Records Act (Government Code
Section 6253 et seq.) provide that information collected by the
Department is generally considered public information and is subject to
inspection by the public. Exceptions to this public disclosure
obligation include: Personal Information and Confidential Information.

Confidential Information

Confidential information includes, but may not be limited to, an
individual's home address (California Vehicle Code Section 1808.21),
home telephone number (Government Code Section 6254.3), physical/mental
information (California Vehicle Code Section 1808.5), social security
number (California Vehicle Code Section 1653.5), and photograph
(California Vehicle Code Sections 12800.5 and 13005.5).


>
> To wit: http://www.accessreports.com/statutes/DPPA1.htm
>
> Some dealers take the position that they legally cannot show you the records
> without getting permission of the owner. There is some conflicting legal
> opinions on this because the federal law also requires showing the buyer the
> odometer statement which can appear on the title or a separate document.
> Some state laws require that you be shown the ownership documents at the
> time of purchase, though it is not clear to me exactly when that is.
> Obviously as a buyer of a used car, you would like to be sure the dealer has
> settled any former lien and has the title in hand. But that sometimes is not
> the case. Sometimes liens aren't settled until after the trade-in is resold
> (very scary), sometimes not even then (imagine the repo man taking away you
> new used car even though you're up to date on your payments!). So asking to
> see the title is important for that reason alone.

Big Bill wrote:
> On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 04:06:04 GMT, "Kevin D" >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Your mileage doesn't sound too bad to me. It's certainly better than the
>>1990 F-250 with the 460 V8 that I almost bought last year, until I read on
>>that newsgroup that I could expect 6 to 8 mpg. Yikes!!
>
>
> I would think that whoever gave those figures was working it *very*
> hard.
> Our 91 F-250HD-SC/460/4.10 gave us 11-12 on the highway, 10-11 city,
> loaded or empty.
>

Those figures sound pretty realistic to me...

Well my 88 F250 SC 4X4 460 5spd 4.10 gears got 10-12MPG empty most of
the time for years, then inexplicably started getting around 8MPG empty,
checked changed tweaked everything, no improvement.

While towing about 9000 pounds of 5th wheel RV, this trucks mileage was
depending on a lot of things, between 10MPG all the way down to 6MPG.

Hey Wabbit.

In the owner's manual? Very resourceful. Glad to see he was willing to talk
to you. Congrats on your new ride.


--
Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting back
to the newsgroup.

"wabbitslayer" > wrote in message
...
> It was actually written in the owner's manual and I looked him up in the
> phone book.
> He was a pretty nice guy, older, said he and his wife had grown kids and
> traded in for a car.
>
>
>

Yep, I was living in CA then. The actress was on a sitcom called "My Sister
Sam". Some nut job had a crush on her, and waited for her to leave the
studio. He got her tag number, went to DMV, and obtained her home address
for $5. Went to her house, knocked on the door, and shot her dead when she
answered it. After that, the DMV changed its policy. If you want to run a
plate now, you fill out the form, pay the fee, and DMV contacts the other
party by mail. If they give DMV permission, then you get the info. If not,
you don't.

I bought my Ex when I lived in Kansas. KS is a "title state", which means
that you get a title certificate even if you finance the vehicle. When I
bought the rig, I was handed the existing title with the former owner's name
and address on it. I had to have that in order to register the truck in my
name.

Another curious thing: In Kansas, a given vanity plate can be issued in all
105 counties. Not only that, but a car and a truck can have the same vanity
plate in the same county. Weird, huh?

Regarding the F250, when I told the owner what I had read on the newsgroup
about the fuel "economy", he said that was why he was selling it! It was a
heck of a nice truck, though.

"Anthony Giorgianni" >
wrote in message
...
> Hello 351 Is that your real name :O)
>
> Actually there is a debate about whether the name of the former vehicle
> owner is a public record. As a journalist, I know it can now be very tough
> or impossible to get DMV records. I actually interviewed lots of attoneys
> and officials about this recently and got conflicting answers. Privacy
> laws
> vs. freedom of information laws.
>
> DMV records are much more restricted these days, beginning with California
> (years ago an actress or model was tracked down through DMV records and
> killed or hurt, I think it was. My memory is going). The law has since
> spread to the federal level via the Drivers Privacy Protection Act.
>
> To wit: http://www.accessreports.com/statutes/DPPA1.htm
>
> Some dealers take the position that they legally cannot show you the
> records
> without getting permission of the owner. There is some conflicting legal
> opinions on this because the federal law also requires showing the buyer
> the
> odometer statement which can appear on the title or a separate document.
> Some state laws require that you be shown the ownership documents at the
> time of purchase, though it is not clear to me exactly when that is.
> Obviously as a buyer of a used car, you would like to be sure the dealer
> has
> settled any former lien and has the title in hand. But that sometimes is
> not
> the case. Sometimes liens aren't settled until after the trade-in is
> resold
> (very scary), sometimes not even then (imagine the repo man taking away
> you
> new used car even though you're up to date on your payments!). So asking
> to
> see the title is important for that reason alone.
> --
> Regards,
> Anthony Giorgianni
>
> The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting
> back
> to the newsgroup.
>
>
>> >
>>
>> FYI:
>> The former owner's name is a matter of public record...
>
>

> > Hello 351 Is that your real name :O)
>
> Is that my real name? Obviously your sarcasm overwhelms your better
> judgment or you're just too damn stupid to be debating anything...
>

I wasn't being sarcastic, just joking... hence the smiley? Never mind

I'm not here to debate. I'm just trying to provide accurate information.
Locating the owner of a car through DMV records is very difficult these days
because of the federal statute and many state statutes. Companies such as
CarFax obtain the information under contract with the agreement that they
will not disseminate the names and other personal info. Some states had an
exemption for news organizations that signed contracts agreeing to use the
info only for legitimate news gathering purposes, but even that's gone now
(As a journalist, I used to be able to get DMV info on anyone in minutes. )
I've interviewed lots of people on this, including the Justice Department,
consumer attorneys, the American Association of Motor Vehicles
Administrators and several state DMV officials. Take a moment to read the
federal law. It is pretty severe.

Some DMVs may entertain a request for the info from regular folks. But
they'll want you to give them a good reason, and they will contact the
vehicle owner and seek permission. (You may not even get that far.) Because
of the time it takes, this route is pretty much impractical for someone
looking at a particular used vehicle. Complicating the issue further, the
vehicle could have come from anywhere in the country. So buyers really are
stuck on getting the dealer's cooperation or, as Wabbit did, finding the
name in the glove compartment or trunk. Of course, if the vehicle is a
former lease, it may very well have been titled in the name of the lease
company, which means one is totally out of luck unless the dealer knows the
lessee. I'm not a fan of buying former lease vehicles.

I've had dealers tell me that their attorneys advised them not to release
any former owner info for fear of violating the federal statute. Dealers
also can be reluctant to release it because they don't want the prospective
buyer asking the previous owner how much the dealer paid on the trade-in.
But when I write stories on buying a used car, I advise consumers to try
anyway. If a dealer does not cooperate, you don't have to buy.


--
Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting back
to the newsgroup.




"351CJ" > wrote in message
news:3QNVd.54526$uc.52691@trnddc03...
> Anthony Giorgianni wrote:
>
> >
>
> Not according to the California department of motor vehicles.
> Names are still a mater of public record...
>
> Your DMV information
>
> California Vehicle Code 1808 and the Public Records Act (Government Code
> Section 6253 et seq.) provide that information collected by the
> Department is generally considered public information and is subject to
> inspection by the public. Exceptions to this public disclosure
> obligation include: Personal Information and Confidential Information.
>
> Confidential Information
>
> Confidential information includes, but may not be limited to, an
> individual's home address (California Vehicle Code Section 1808.21),
> home telephone number (Government Code Section 6254.3), physical/mental
> information (California Vehicle Code Section 1808.5), social security
> number (California Vehicle Code Section 1653.5), and photograph
> (California Vehicle Code Sections 12800.5 and 13005.5).
>
>

Oh I forgot. Here is a document I downloaded from NY DMV during my research
that explains a lot of this. I see it is still there.

http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/abstract.htm

By the way. SOME attorneys agreed with my argument that a dealer can
disseminate the info because he is:

1) now the owner of the car and can consent
2) he is not releasing info obtained from the DMV but from the owner or
auction etc.

But that's the kind of stuff attorneys and courts argue about.



--
Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting back
to the newsgroup.

My 97 302 AWD gets up to 21 on hiway. Average around semi rural is 16.8.
Your 13 sounds low. Better be checking something. Maybe start with PCM codes
and Long term Fuel Trims. Don't forget obvious, tires etc.

"wabbitslayer" > wrote in message
. ..
>I finally went back to the dealership that quoted me an insane price for an
> 01 2wd Mountaineer, and actually got a much better price. Then I gave it a
> good looking over and wow! Turns out the first price they gave me a few
> weeks ago was pretty reasonable after all...this thing is nice. I called
> previous owner, everything checked out ok there, so later that day I went
> back and brought it home.
>
> Methinks I made a good decision. With the 302, it downright boogies for
> that
> heavy a vehicle. It has something called the "Premier" option package,
> whatever that is. Anyone know?
>
> Only drawback so far is the mileage. Holy crap...the computer says I'm
> getting about 13 mpg around town. Ouch. I mean, I've read that the v8
> explorers and mountaineers got bad mileage, but I was thinking more like
> 16
> around town. Can anyone comment as to what they're getting? (and yeah, I
> know, lay off the gas pedal, get better mileage)
>
>