Tracking Down Andy's Lexus
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News Correspondent Andy Rooney. It was first broadcast on Oct. 17, 2004.
I drive a lot, and by the time I've had a car for a few years, I get attached to it.
I drove a Ford station wagon for eight years. I put 135,000 miles on it.
A few months ago, I traded in my five-year-old Lexus with 85,000 miles on it for a smaller BMW. I worry about what happens to an old friend, so I decided to find out.
The BMW dealer in Connecticut gave me $10,000 on a trade-in, so I started to trace my old car there. All of a sudden, someone stepped in front of the camera and stopped the interview.
Man: Mr. Rooney, we prefer that you don't film anything inside our dealership, sir.
I felt like Mike Wallace. I figured they must be doing something sneaky. The next day, the owner ruined my story, though, by apologizing and sending me a good letter telling me everything.
He sold my car to a company called European Auto Wholesalers in New Jersey for exactly what he gave me for it — $10,000. Then, European charged him a fee of $1,000 to sell it.
European wouldn't talk to me, probably because they made the most on the deal. Basically, they paid $9,000 for the car and sold it to another wholesaler, Adcock Brothers, for $13,500.
The used-car business is so complicated that I can understand why you see so many old cars for sale in people's front yards. It eliminates all the middlemen.
Adcock spent about $1,500 fixing it up, taking out the dents. I hope someone found the quarters I dropped between the front seats.
Adcock then took it to the biggest car sales lot in the whole world, in Manheim, Pa.
Adcock paid Manheim $230 to auction off the car. Adcock was the only loser in this whole deal. My Lexus went to Unique Motors, a classy used-car dealer in Philadelphia, for $14,860. That didn't quite cover Adcock's costs and they lost a few hundred dollars.
Unique Motors sold it to a man named T. Mong in Pennsauken, N.J., for $16,700. This is the same car for which I got $10,000.
We had Mr. Mong's address and went looking for his house. There it was! My old friend was sitting in Mr. Mong's driveway. It looked so good I wondered why I ever turned it in. It looked lonesome, though, and I felt bad about having abandoned it to strangers.
I knocked on the door and Mr. Mong came out with his wife and son. His English was about like my Vietnamese.
Rooney: Do you like it? Did you drive it? You drove it before you bought it?
Mong: Yeh!
The only consolation for me was that the Mongs love my old car and that made me feel better.
But anyway, so I'm not Mike Wallace. I didn't find any bad guys in the used-car business. No one cheated. The odometer of the car I turned in was still at 85,000 miles when Mr. Mong bought it.
Next time I buy a new car, though, I think I'll put my old one for sale on our front lawn.
Written By Andy Rooney