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Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

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481–490 of 568 posts

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the cost of repossession is low it also means that riskier buyers are more likely to get financed.

This is a pretty naive take if you're trying to paint it as enabling an even better outcome for "riskier buyers" This article is something like 5-10 years behind reality: Right now subprime auto loans are mostly enforced with GPS trackers that buyers are usually not made properly aware of, or even worse, tricked into paying for as an add-on pitched as being for their own benefit. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/bu…

You're implying poor people don't understand a car payment. It's a pretty simple you owe x per month. I'm sure there are some who are so financially illiterate they don't understand, but I imagine the vast majority of poor people understand how much they're going to have to pay, and would prefer a company take a chance on them because it lets them get to their jobs.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having trouble thinking what user-facing technology cars have gained recently that I actually need. Backup cameras are nice, my last two cars had them but my current one does not. Life goes on. Heard anecdotally that new cars in US require then now, so I guess next car will probably have one again. Blindspot indicators on side mirrors are nice too, but physically turning and looking is too engrained in me to stop doi…

There's a lot that can be done by disintegrated systems, too. I put cameras onto a box truck so I had reversing etc, but I used an 8-camera wired security system with video recorder and eSIM for that. The screen was optional but I found one that only had one button (to toggle views) rather than a "command console" type that by its nature gave full control over the security system. Driving around displaying the bumper…

Which anti theft tracker did you go with? Is it a standalone unit with big battery? Just asking because you mention it.

Everyone is reselling the more or less same cheap Chinese units at insane markups. Firmware seems to be mostly identical. The tracking portals never have HTTPS. I haven't been able to find anything decent so far.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#484
post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like stuff that should never be privatized or under non-police control. Police hires company to tow stuff away sure, but not "some random bumblefuck have right to do the police's job of "law enforcement"

With police already understaffed as they are, how would they enforce a bunch of students parking illegally next to campus and blocking traffic?

In what way are the police understaffed? If anything, they have too many employees.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#485

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

"clerical error" reminds me, recently rewatched Gilliam's Brazil (1985). From the Wikipedia article's section on Plot:

> One day, shortly before Christmas, an insect becomes jammed in a teleprinter, which misprints a copy of an arrest warrant it was receiving. This leads to the arrest and death during interrogation of cobbler Archibald Buttle instead of renegade heating engineer and suspected terrorist Archibald Tuttle.

A literal bug!

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brace yourself then, because the future of automotive is highly connected, and in many ways it already is. Every car since the early 2000s has computerized components that control everything from power steering to infotainment systems, and your car probably already communicates with some servers using a built in cellular sim. Hackers have been able to compromise cars for at least a couple of decades, and while car ma…

Sadly, it seems the Titanic must sink to get maritime safety laws. Eventually some hacker will decide crashing cars is fun, and I don't expect real security to happen before that. The same goes for medical equipment.

> some hacker will decide crashing cars is fun

$5 says the hacker will be a nation state, and the "fun" will be an assassination that's hard to prove wasn't a glitch.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#487
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go one step further and become a Bicycle Guy. Consider what will still be operational 100 years from now once fossil fuels have dried up and we have fully transitioned into Life As A Service.

That's true as long as you don't use one of those ungodly bluetooth shifters with built-in end-of-life cycle.

> bluetooth shifters

what in tarnation

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#488
post #375

In college, a roommate of mine was double-parked, or parked in a fire zone, or something, in our 8-house cul-de-sac. He ran upstairs to get something from his room, and a tow truck appeared (this all happened in well under 5 minutes). When he came out, he argued with the tow truck guys a bunch, but they kept hooking up his car and arguing back and couldn't be reasoned with, etc etc. My friend sat on the hood to keep…

Interesting to see so many different perspectives on this one. Seems like I'm in the minority, but my perspective is you are absolutely not towing my car while I am present. I'll get in and drive away while it's hooked to the truck. Or whatever I have to do. You are not towing it. Period.

I'll get in and drive away while it's hooked to the truck

Not likely, at least not without seriously damaging your car and/or the tow truck and you’ll have to pay for both. That tow truck hook is designed to pull your car down the road at highway speeds, you’re not going to just drive your car off it.

https://youtu.be/Wq3e0XwyDMM

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#489

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

I think all parents will agree that having a connected car is a dream come true. Ideally, I would be able to drive my children remotely using my phone so that I can ensure they are not driving recklessly.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#490
post #36

Well if this is how the new cars are gonna be, I guess I'll just go ahead and teach myself to be a Car Guy so that the one I have now will run forever. It's not that I'm afraid of missing a payment. At this point I would probably buy the car outright. But after the robo-signing debacle with BoA repossesssing houses that they were never party to, the mere capability renders the machine fundamentally untrustworthy.

Recently minted Car Guy here. Start with Ford or Chevy anything pre-1975, expect to spend 5000-7000 for a running older vehicle in need of maintenance and body work. PArts are ubiquitous and you'll be blown away by how simple engines can be to understand and work on without all of the ECM/emissions-era add-ons under the hood to contend with. Learn to love calling the support line @ JEGS or Summit Racing before orderi…

you'll be blown away by how simple engines can be to understand and work on without all of the ECM/emissions-era add-ons under the hood to contend with

But you’ve also gotta be selfish enough to think that your pollutants don’t matter and that 1970’s era smog wasn’t a big deal. And you have to hope that older cars are still grandfathered in to pollution regulations and they won’t be subject to mileage limits as cars continue to emit fewer (or no) pollutants.

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