Stolen Xterra Recovered!!!

It was recovered in less than 30 hours, using, of all things, Blogs and Twitter.

Special thanks to @yasserameer for finding the stolen car, and @Shweman retweeting my initial request. I can't tell you how grateful the people who own the car are to both of you. Great Job Guys!

Now please go out there and Find my missing 50" Panasonic flat screen TV!!!!!

Stolen Cars and Crazy Crime

Update: The Stolen Xterra was recovered thanks to an Alert Twitterer and blogger! Good Job guys!

The Crime here is getting ridiculous.

We have had at least seven break-ins in our small neighborhood alone, in the last three weeks. In the Last two months, 2 families with whom we are personally acquainted have had their cars stolen.

See Below for the forwarded email from some friends who have just had their new Exterra Nicked. Please keep your eyes peeled?

last night our house was broken into and the thief found a set of keys, and stole our 2009 Xterra Off Road. The truck has been modified by Tadmur Auto in Sharjah, with a custom skid plate, bigger tires, a lift and new suspension, so it is easy to spot.

Thank God the ROP are doing everything they can to reduce crime by hassling my housemaids and threatening arrest if they don't produce labor cards, and accusing any random Indian who has ever been in our house of robbery, simply on the Basis that they are Indian. The words that come to mind are unpublishable, even here.

Lock your doors guys, and keep your car keys somewhere safe.

Buying a Used Car in Muscat... concluded

Unfortunately, The article that the week published has had no effect whatsoever on the practice of importing previously flooded and salvaged cars to Oman. There are literally thousands of them, and they can be found at every single small dealership in Muscat, as well as parking lots where they are being passed off as a slightly used family car.

Know this: The dealers will lie outright to you about the history of the car, and the repairs made to it. Even if you ask specifically, and show them where the problem is, they will adamantly deny any problems with the car, and it's history.

While a flooded car can be repaired to a state of working order, two of the wrecked and salvaged cars I saw were potential death traps. Engine mounts cracked, Chassis twisted, Airbags removed and not replaced, bending or cracking where the seat belts mount into the frame. You would not want to be in one of those for your own personal head on collision. It's a safety issue, plain and simple.

Anyway, I never really finished the series on the wrecked cars that are flooding the market here. The final chapter ought to be a quick primer on how to know if your "new" car is actually salvage. And how to tell a legitimate American import (we own three) from a Salvage import. There are lots and lots of legitimate American imports available, or ones that were imported through Dubai from US auctions because they were seized in a drug raid, repossessed, or failed Emissions standards. And they can be really great cars! My Beloved "beast" was seized and auctioned in New York, found it's way over here, only to be drowned in Gonu.

• If you have a friend living in the states, have them use thier credit card and buy you a subscription to Carfax. Check all the vin numbers, on everything you look at. This covers ALL cars, regardless of make, as long as they were at some time registered in the states. Sadly, there is no equivalent service here that reports on salvaged cars from Europe, the far east, or Australia.

If you don't have access to Carfax, then do the following, in the following order.

1. First check the wing mirror on the passenger side. If the writing is in English, then you have found a car which is American Spec, but could still be legitimate.
2. Check for stickers that reveal the cars original whereabouts. "Louisiana state troopers association" "New Orleans city council parking" etc...
3. Check the the Odometer. All legitimately imported cars that came here direct, without a stop off in Dubai will have had the odometer switched to measure Kilometers, not miles.
4. Get on the highway, look for a sign telling you a shell station is 1km away, and calibrate against that. If the car measures in miles, it's very likely salvage or flooded.
5. Now that you are suspicious... Check the cigarette lighter, and beneath or behind the ash tray, check the ones in the back seats too. If you find rust, it's likely flooded, if not, it's maybe salvage.
6. Look for over spray from where it's been repainted. Good places to check are the rubber around body panels, under the wheel wells, door jams, inside the trunk where the spare tyre goes. Ask yourself if a car of that age really needed to be repainted.
7. Climb in and lay upside down in the drivers foot well. Look up, waaay up, into the fuses, and behind the dash to where the steering column goes through. See rust? I bet you Do! With an unflooded car there shouldn't be rust anywhere inside.
8. Make friends with a mechanic you trust in Wadi Kabir. Take the car to him and have him check the alignment on the frame, and check the engine mounts and seatbelt mounts, check for the actual presence of airbags, and that they haven't just been cut out. Have him Put the thing up on the lift and scope out the undercarriage and drive train carefully.
9. Lastly, ask yourself why someone would go to the trouble of importing a car all the way over here. If the car is one that could be easily bought from a dealership here or in Dubai, it's likely here for all the wrong reasons.

And that's it on the cars. Next week, something new and different.

Car Shopping; The Test Drive

Back to cars this week, Because I just can't get enough of them.

We are still shopping for a replacement for the our beloved "beast" which bit the dust during the recent cyclone (or unusual weather, as the papers are spinning it). To say that I am having limited success in finding the perfect car would be an understatement. Some days, it feels like I am swimming an ocean of brainless, sleazy car salesmen, who circle around me like starving great white sharks, except they are starving great white sharks who are also pathological liars and chronically late. Oh yeah, and more aggressive.

Anyway, poor me right? Thank god we are fortunate enough to be able to buy a replacement car. I know there are some who can't. Two recent (and totally shark free) highlights form an otherwise boring week follow.

Car#1) 2007 Dodge Caliber, 2.4 litre engine. You can get one from Zubair Automotive for a mere 8,800 RO... Available in any color as long as it's metallic burnt sienna.

I would rather gnaw off an arm than buy a car from a dealership, but in the interests of fairness I thought I might stop by Zubair and see what they have on offer. Also, Zubair opens at 08:30 in the morning, which is a distinct advantage when you have a perky infant who has been up since 05:00 and a few hours to kill before nap time.

As someone who likes her cars big, old, and cheap, it didn't take too long to realise that I was in alien territory... The salesmen began to circle, proffering help in the form of pointing at things and mumbling. I was really there to see about a Dodge Charger, which I think is one of the sexiest pieces of machinery to roll out of Detroit in a long time. As I walked toward the object of my lust, I was distracted by a funny looking, orange colored, compact car that looked like something someone had made out of Lego's using a doodle from my highschool notebooks. It was... Amazing... It was The Dodge Caliber (insert Star wars theme song)

It may have the aerodynamics of a brick, but there was something about it that I really liked... The styling, the way the gear shift slots out of the console. The ground clearance looks good, and it has a sporty, wide stance that appeals. give it a turbo and all wheel drive and it would make an interesting rally car. Dodge has taken some risks with the styling, and I think it has paid off in dividends. It's not beautiful, or sleek, but it's.... weird. Not an unpleasant weird, but an eye catching weird that made me stop in my tracks, set the baby on the floor, and walk over and climb in.

Inside, the Lego theme continues, almost to the point of pain. It's all plastic. Even the doors slams so lightly I suspect they are made of plastic. the speaker covers are molded injected plastic, the dash is plastic, the console is plastic. The seats can be color coordinated to match your choice of interior.... Plastic. None the less, I am intrigued. I ask the sales guy if I can schedule a test drive.

Suburban: Would it be possible to schedule a test drive?
Sales Guy: No.... Not in this one. You can drive the 2 litre version. It has a Constantly Variable Transmission (CVT). Very Nice
Suburban: Hmmm... Nothing personal, but I sort of dislike the CVT.
Sales Guy: 2 litre only comes with a CVT.
Suburban: You'll have to forgive me, but I don't see much point in test driving a different car than the one I am interested in buying.
Sales Guy: This car has a rechargeable flashlight built in!
Suburban: Okaaaay...
Sales Guy: This car has speakers that flip down when you open the boot, Like a party anywhere you go!
Suburban: Neat. So about the test drive?
Sales Guy: sorry madam, not possible.
Suburban: OK, Thanks anyway.



Car#2) 1995 GMC Safari, conversion van. V6, 4.5 litre engine, kitted out like a private jet on the inside. Yours for only RO 2,000. Black.



We saw this one parked next to the shell station in Qurum. Passers by on the street could hear me yelling at my husband to Stop! the! car! Right! Now! Because! look! Look! Look! It sat there like a 800 pound gorilla. Hulking, black, and making no excuses for it's presence. Ugly as hell, with blacked out windows and a for sale sign in the window, it was just begging me to take it home.

Let me be clear here, I honestly thought this might be the car of my dreams, the car that could fix the near suicidal sadness of not having my beast, and take away forever the ignominy of driving a borrowed BMW. We stood outside of the van, peering into the windows. Leather seats, cd player, TV, VCR, a bar, and a thousand other bell and whistles just begging to be played with. Oh! And a bed in the back that reclines at the touch of a button. Yeah, you heard me right... there is a bed in the back. How awesome is that?

So, we called the number, and arranged to meet the next day for a look and a test drive. Here is the Test Drive, with the seller's comments in parentheses:

• The guy shows up 45 minutes late (was at prayers)
• He fires it up, and oil blows out the tail pipe (has been sitting for six months)
• the AC doesn't work (needs just a little gas, has been sitting for six months)
• None of the electrics work inside (just fuses needed)
• Brakes sound funny (no! they are supposed to be like that.... Very special car)
• Engine has barely enough compression to get us to the top of Fahud street (very good engine!)
• Pulls hard to the right
• the odometer reads 45,000 miles, I suspect 1,045,000 miles. (yes, driven very carefully only 45,000 miles)
• Here's the kicker... we're driving back down Fahud street, and I can smell something burning. we get out of the car, and the right front brake is smoking. Like, black, acrid brake smoke kind of smoking. Which explains the pull to the right, and the funny brakes... I guess.

So there is another car we won't be getting. The price really was too good to be true. I don't begrudge the guy for the car's condition, though I perhaps would have had it serviced before trying to sell it. The thing that drove me bonkers was that after we listed each thing that wasn't ok with the car, he would say

Al humdulilalh! this car is good! Al humdulilalh!

Far be it from me to dictate what God himself supervises, but I don't really know if a beat to hell 1995 GMC savannah is really on top of the Almighty's priority list. Also, If there has indeed been divine intervention in this particular van, I am rather disappointed with the results.

More from here next week.

I’m a day late and thirty dollars short.

Or, Suburban creates a giant conspiracy but lacks the resources to prove it. But I'll get to that later.

This week’s car shopping has been a lot of fun, and more than a little interesting. The best find was a 1979 Datsun 280Z at the little boutique car showroom in Al Gubra. The name of the place escapes me, but it's located on Porsche road, below the shell station and around the corner from Zanzibar Island Restaurant. Which serves the best lunch around, by the way. I digress...

Anyway, they have a gorgeous classic 280 z which those of you old-school rally people would remember as a regular feature on the Middle East Rally circuit in the early eighties. A lot of rally heroes, Arab and otherwise made their bones driving these in the early days,

It's a thing of beauty to look at and drive, turning heads wherever you go. It says that you are a connoisseur of taste and style, and have the oomph to back it up. I don't want to be vulgar, but girls wonder what a man is making up for if he's driving a Lamborghini around in circles at Shatti al Qurm. Know what I mean? This classic sports car will raise no such manhood dampening questions. Also, it has excellent ground clearance, essential for tackling the interesting and seemingly random speed bumps scattered throughout Muscat.

My husband says it's a rolling hunk of crap, and has kindly vetoed my purchase. It can be yours for RO 2,300 or maybe less if you are good at bargaining. Maybe you can loan it to me, I'll trade you a spin in a clapped out bmw 7 series.

On to the conspiracy. I have visited five small showrooms so far, and all of them have a large number of used, recently exported American cars. I think a lot of the cars leave America via ports on the east and southern coasts, arrive in Dubai via Jebel Ali, get registered and re-exported to Muscat and elsewhere.

Hands up everybody who has personally cleared and imported a car through Jebel Ali.... Without a PRO..... Just me? OK, then Ill tell you one of the interesting things I usually see when I'm clearing my cars there.

Thousands of wrecked American cars intended for scrap yards and the occasional "hot" Japanese sports car.

Looking at some of the cars in these show rooms I can't help but wonder if they are repaired ex-salvage or formerly flooded and written off, arriving here to be resold as an unwrecked, low mileage used car. One, for example, had a sticker for it's last oil change just under two years ago at the Mobile Alabama KwikLube. Timing and location suspicious given the damage from Hurricane Katrina around the Gulf Of Mexico. Hmmm...

But fear not dedicated car shoppers! There is a fantastic service called carfax that can give you the whole history on any car registered in the states. Accidents, number of owners, Ex-fleet, and salvage history. Just by typing in the vin number.

To subscribe you need a credit card that bills to an address in the states. Which is something I don't have. So last night I called my Old Boss from ten years ago. After persuading him that I'm not a crack smoking prostitute impersonating me, Or a Nigerian Scammer impersonating me, and that it's just me, Suburban, who has really returned to the middle east, he said I can use his card to charge the thirty dollars and get my carfax subscription.

So, I'm off to gather a bunch of vin numbers this week. Tune in next Monday for the results.

Car shopping in Muscat with an Autoholic; Part One

Hi. My name is Suburban, and I'm an Autoholic.

I've been an Autoholic for ten years now, owning no fewer than 25 different cars over the course of my addiction. I now realise my Autoholisim hurts those around me, and makes it difficult for me to relate to people who don't want to talk about cars. My autohaulisim has forced my husband to invest thousands of rials in barely running, obscure, and totally impractical vehicles, just to feed my addiction. My family and friends have appealed to me, and staged interventions, going so far as to offer to chip in and buy me a minivan or Toyota Prado if I can get clean. But to no avail, because until last night I wasn't ready to admit that I had a problem.

I have a problem and I am ready to acknowledge it so I can move forward and purchase a sensible car. A car younger than me. A car with less than 450,000 kms on the clock. A car that has air conditioning, starts most of the time, and can be serviced by the dealer using parts available in the region. Because I pretty much have to get my spares from NASA at the moment, and shuttle control is sick and tired of my calling them in the middle of a re-entry or launch.

I ask you to come support me in my twice weekly journey to various car dealerships in the Sultanate, and to help me avoid temptation as I adjust to my new life. You will benefit from inside knowledge and reviews of pricing, inventory and service at the big dealerships and the small dealerships. Thank you in advance for your support and encouragement.

-Suburban