but one kaboomed tranny will likely exceed the price of entry to get this back on the road.

Can vouch for 1 and 2! We had an explorer in the family for a while. Blew up the transmission and 2 sets of rear wheel bearings in under 200k. Cash for clunkers gave us top dollar for it

The moment I hear “Kelley Blue Book”, the conversation is over. We’re not negotiating the price of my wife’s dead grandmother’s Delta 88 here.

...for a price. A price which only I get to set.

Happens to me all the time. Some people even turn rude after I tell them my car is not for sale and they reply with “pff! everything is for sale!”.

I just let the awkward silence linger with a deadpan stare for a few seconds before getting in and driving off.

Besides the most two common questions, Is that a 240? (Understandable, It’s a Datsun 280Z) and What year? (78) the third question itself isn’t a dumb, but the conversation following is. I have had a version ofthis conversation at least three times in the last year. This was the worst one

Anyway...

Sounds like great news.

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.

I’ve only rented cars twice and another 2x if you count uhauls but in all 4 cases the license plate was on the documentation somewhere. 

Luckily, I figured this out before I got a ticket, and went back to the airport location that rented me the car.

You don’t have to tell me thrice that Avis blows goats.  I only use them because my employer says I can only rent from them.  If I had any say at all I’d go back to National without hesitation.  I’ve gotten a Chevy Traverse with no plate at all.  Mind you, my company is very well-known in the public safety market and…

I think they are all pretty bad though. I rented a car from heathrow Avis once that had four different brands of tires installed, which I discovered when the flat tire warning came on about 20 minutes after I rented it. Avis then tried to charge me for a new tire. I switched to Enterprise for a while, only to be…

They’ve never screwed me that hard, but they’ve definitely been the worst offender for stuff like “Whoopsie, we don’t have the car you reserved, but you can reserve a different one at twice the price”.

And I thought it was bad enough that they bait-and-switch you with fees when you search their rates...

I’m sorry, but that story has moved beyond rubber dick territory. It has moved on to either the broken beer bottle or the rusty chainsaw levels.

Some companies have the license plate number in the printed up paperwork they give you with the keys.  Budget and Hertz does that.  It's one of the things you should check when doing the initial inspection of the rental.