if your selling a car, like i do all the time, ask to see the persons license before letting them take it on a test drive. this is not something i have ever done, but i will do it from here on out.

throughout Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morn i was in a text conversation with a buy trying to work a trade deal that would get me a long bed truck and send this short bed on its way. due to scheduling conflicts we didn't meet up till Sunday afternoon. he looks over the truck, likes what he see's, and asks if we could take a spin around the block so he can see how it drives. no prob, i toss him the keys, hop in the passenger seat and we take off. on the final leg of the square we pass a cop, who flips on the lights, pops a u-turn and falls in behind us. seems neither of us saw where the speed had dropped from 35 to 25 and we were still cruising thru at 35. that's only the start of the problems. of course he shows the cop his license, and i pulled out the registration and insurance card, pretty standard stuff. then the cop asks him to step out and come to the back, tells me to just wait here and he will be right back. next thing i know the driver is in hand cuffs and is being put in the back seat of the patrol car. WTF???? needless to say at this point im a little freaked out. so the officer comes back and asks me to step out, then asks me if i can get a ride home. "yeah, this is my truck, i have a ride home." cops tells me, "no sir, this truck now belongs to dona anna county and is being impounded" seems the driver had been busted for a DWI and is not allowed to drive ANY vehicle that does not have an ignition interlock on it. seems according to the law, it doesn't matter whose car he is driving or for what purpose, if caught he goes to jail and the car is confiscated. i tried to explain what was going on, but he didn't care, the wrecker was on its way, and i would have to "see the judge" to see if they would allow me to have my truck back. plus, i would be responsible for any fees, or fines because i am the one who allowed him to drive it. ill spare the gory details and foul language that came from all that, but here it is 4 days later and i just got word i get my truck back under the "innocent bystander" clause. i had to convince the powers that be that i had no idea of the situation and then listen to a degrading lecture of how i should have checked his license and be more choosy about who drives me vehicle, blah blah blah. like that would have helped at all, i have no damn clue of what the restrictions mean or any way of knowing the guy had restrictions on his driving license. luckily mr test driver has been a very stand up guy about all this, he has paid the impound fines and done what he could to get my truck back to me as fast as possible with nothing out of my pocket, and luckily i have a company truck for work and wasn't stuck walking while my ride sat in impound. BUT... that doesn't make it suck any less.

i thought this would be a good one to share, learn from my mistake and be very careful when selling your ride who gets behind the wheel.