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How a Car Repossession Turned Into a Fight Over a Business Name
How a Car Repossession Turned Into a Fight Over a Business Name
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About this episode
A car repossession leads to a legal battle over a dealership's name in Ohio, sparking debates about ethics and legality in the automotive world. The hosts discuss the details of the case involving Tia McCreary, who sued a Kia dealer after her car was repossessed due to income verification issues. They explore the implications of fictitious name registrations and the nuances of Ohio law, while also touching on the broader themes of consumer rights and dealer responsibilities. The episode is filled with humor, insights, and a deep dive into the complexities of automotive transactions.
Topics:
car repossession
legal battles
consumer rights
dealer responsibilities
fictitious names
Ohio law
income verification
automotive ethics
Cars:
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet HHR
Chevrolet Sonic
Dodge Viper
Ferrari Daytona SP3
Ferrari Portofino
Ford Flex
Ford Maverick
Jaguar XJ-S
Jeep Gladiator
Kia K5
Lamborghini Diablo
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mercedes-Benz G-Class
Nissan XTerra
Volkswagen Beetle
A woman in Lima, OH recently had a newly purchased vehicle repossessed after her income verification didn't check out with the bank. She then sued the dealer and registered the dealer's name after they let it expire. Who's in the right, who's in the wrong in this bizarre story?
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Articles mentioned in this episode:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/dealer-repossesses-car-customer-responds-by-legally-taking-its-name
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Ferrari Portofino
"...last official Cannonball run that was Red Ball to Portofino. So he's still hanging on to nobody's ever beaten..."
Car
Ferrari Daytona
"Obviously Brock Gates is well, no, Brock Gates's Ferrari Daytona wasn't Brock Gates's, it was lent to him by Kirk ..."
Car
Jaguar Xjs
"...an his that set a record other than, I guess, the Jaguar XJS. That one was in completely dilapidated condition..."
Car
Ford Maverick
"...ehicle is a $30,000 small truck, so like the Ford Maverick essentially in an EV. So an EV for the masses tha..."
Car
Kia K5
"...ils. So Tia McCreary in February 2024 purchased a Kia K5 from Taylor Kia of Lima one month later it was re..."
Car
G-Class Gwagon
"and it's very frustrating. Like that G-wagon theft scam. Yes. The guy said, oh, the guy makes six figures"
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
"I have no, what is it? A Corvette Z51. I know it's a Z51 because it has a Z51 licen..."
Car
Ford Flex
"...traightforward. I was hoping you forgot about the flex for a little bit and we're gonna be really confus..."
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Welcome back to Switchcast Season 6.
I'm your host, Doug Tabott, alongside my co-host, Tyler Sanders, and behind the scenes, well
I guess on a podcast, you don't know who's in front of the scenes and behind the scenes,
Ethan Huffnagle, our problem solver, promoter, and producer.
I did not plan that alliteration, but boy am I proud of it.
Love me some alliteration.
Oh boy, update for our patrons on Patreon.
We have heard your feedback and issuing a formal apology here for the quality of the
stream we thought we always blame our internet service.
It was not that.
We have pretty good internet service here, so we are trying out some new hardware tonight
that should give you some real good quality streaming.
I cannot guarantee the quality of the content itself.
Yes.
You may not want to see me or Tyler's beard experiment in high def, but we're hearing
your feedback, dare I say, complaints and we are addressing things because we want
this to be a good experience for everyone.
We did get a couple pieces of feedback from Instagram as well.
People said they want longer episodes again on the audio podcast.
They missed them.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, heck yeah, Doug, we might be doing something right.
I know, I know.
But you know, it's like Ferrari, you always leave people wanting more.
Yes, but not like too much more.
I think we could probably we get a little bit more in there.
Right.
So we are doing that as well.
We're adding some of our old elements back in for the audio podcasters and.
The OG's.
Patreon, Patreon topic for tonight, for those of you who are Patreon subscribers.
Patrons, that's the easy way to say it, is what what is it, Ethan?
If two dollar car, two thousand dollar car, two thousand dollar car
that we have to drive for a year.
You have two thousand dollars for a car that you daily for the rest of the year.
Correct.
We like have to put a certain number of miles on it.
That's a good question.
That's a good question.
I could just buy one and just, you know, stick it in the back.
Well, this is your day cruiser.
This is something that you're trying to it's your daily.
I don't know how else to put it.
All right, minimum five thousand miles.
Oh, trust me with where we're looking at two grand, Doug,
we're well over five thousand miles.
No, you have to put five thousand dollars on it.
OK, yes, you have to drive it.
If you do enjoy this podcast, consider becoming a patron.
There's different subscriber levels.
And we want to give a shout out to somebody who signed up for a shrew
negotiator shrew negotiator level.
Ethan, who is that?
Yeah, it was still is.
Hopefully still is Larry Kates.
All right, thank you, Larry, for the shrew negotiator level subscription.
Gives you insider access to me and Tyler.
Yeah, get your questions answered, maybe not accurately, but with extra snark.
And let's see.
What is fueling this podcast tonight, Tyler?
Well, I had to make up for I don't it wasn't last time,
but I'm still reeling from the the the offensiveness
I brought with that honey finished whiskey.
So I have quite terrible Penelope's rose cask finish,
which was a gift from a friend of a friend of mine.
And it is delicious.
It is bright and is happy and Penelope does a good job
at covering up the taste of young whiskey.
So there you go.
Yeah, Penelope is quite good across the board.
I've got my organic cranberry juice and sparkling water tonight.
I've got a road trip tomorrow, so I want to sleep well.
So that is, yeah, I was going to give you a bad time,
but I'm such a road trip to you for that.
I understand everything has to be perfect.
I was thinking this week, I have really great business name ideas.
I'm like Michael Scott in that regard, and I have this list of businesses
I'd love to start just so I could use the names there.
I could never run all the businesses.
They might be terrible businesses.
I just want to use the name.
In fact, if people would like my services
with great ideas or ideas for your business or your vanity plate,
I have a way with wordplay.
So I was I don't know why I thought of this one this week.
But if I started to detailing service, it would be balding and buffing.
I'll have your car shine like the top of my head.
That's so good.
This reminds me back in college, a group of friends and I used to have a
going a list on like Google Keep or whatever, a band name ideas of the similar thing.
Yes, like ridiculous band name ideas.
I'm still a sucker for the somebody says a phrase and then, oh,
I hear they're playing down at the House of Blues this weekend.
Love it gets me every time.
Yeah, our band does the same thing.
We've got a whole list.
Got to check carve on a stock just for the kicks and giggles.
You know, it's not as bad as I thought.
Well, good for shareholders.
Somebody told me it was over $400 a share, which I would have just gone bananas.
But it got close.
It got to $390 a couple of weeks ago.
It is sitting at three hundred forty five dollars a share.
Yep.
Yeah, anyway, one day.
The vibes will not be as good for a caravan and then we will be right.
But the rest of this time are just waiting.
Maybe I am right about something tonight.
I will be right.
I have a bold prediction.
I'm very sure about it.
But I'm really sure I'm right tonight.
The Monterey auctions are coming up.
Many of you may be there right now.
And by the time you listen to this, you will have the Monterey hangover
from so, so many cars and so many millions of dollars sold.
But one car in particular that's selling this weekend
is Jack May's famous Cannonball Dino.
It's a 1972 Dino 246 GTS.
So it's the target top and it is white over red interior.
Jack is the original owner of this car and he won the Cannonball
with his co-driver Rick Klein in 1975 and he beat
Brock Gates and Dan Gurney's time by just one minute, 35 hours, 53 minutes.
So that was the record at the time.
He maintains it still is the record
because that was the last official Cannonball run
that was Red Ball to Portofino.
So he's still hanging on to nobody's ever beaten his record, whatever.
But this will mark the first time
that a Cannonball record car, at least in modern times,
has left the hands of the owner who set the record in it.
Obviously Brock Gates is well, no,
Brock Gates's Ferrari Daytona wasn't Brock Gates's,
it was lent to him by Kirk White, the Ferrari dealer.
So Jack May's is the oldest one and every car newer than his
that set a record other than, I guess, the Jaguar XJS.
That one was in completely dilapidated condition,
but every other one is with the owner, still in operating condition.
So there's not much precedent in terms of what premium
that will bring over a regular vehicle
that doesn't have that provenance.
So what's our prediction for what this thing will sell for this weekend?
I think Jack May thinks it's worth.
Well, he had told me 750 K is what he wanted for the car.
So like, let's level set for definitely the people in the audience, Doug,
not your expert car guy over here.
What is a Dino in this case, in this case,
in this condition worth?
It seems it's a cool color combination.
Yep.
They're sweet cars.
So like, what's a ballpark?
Half a million bucks.
OK.
Plus or minus 200 K for provenance condition miles.
But the line right in the middle of the graph on classic.com is 500,000.
His has a lot of miles on it and some patina,
but it's a rare color and original owner car,
which people love stuff like that.
So let's just say 500 K without the cannonball provenance.
I predict that they'll have a 15 percent uplift
with the cannonball provenance because I think it's really cool.
I think the history is amazing.
For I don't know how many people at Monterey will really jive with the history.
Well, it is California.
They love to get a ball out there and it's a lot of car people.
So you say 575,000.
Yeah, let's make it six.
OK, over six.
I'm going to say, oh, man,
I think there is a premium for the story.
I think it goes for 650.
OK.
We do all prices right rules for it under both of ours.
We both lose.
I don't know what we lose, but have to drink more of that honey whiskey.
Just closest. So if it goes for 620, you win.
All right.
OK, love to hear your guesses as well.
What do you think?
I think he's hoping he'll go for a million dollars just because of the provenance.
And some people are saying, no, it's going to go for like 350 or 400
because it's a high mile ratty Dino.
So we shall see.
Ford made a big EV announcement today.
Yesterday, I'm sorry, this is the 12th.
And I was right.
This is what I've been saying the whole time.
People think I hate EVs.
I don't hate EVs.
I just the model is wrong and the government intervention is wrong.
But it's basically they're going back to the Model T business model.
They're doing a modular chassis vehicle where they can make multiple
different vehicles off of this one platform like Tesla.
And they're targeting their first vehicle is a $30,000
small truck, so like the Ford Maverick essentially in an EV.
So an EV for the masses that's practical and affordable.
What I've been saying the whole time.
So either Jim Farley is a genius or he's been listening to our podcast.
And I want some stock and Ford as a thank you for the idea.
Well, and like this is like you said, it's what we've been saying.
But I think he is Jim Farley is touted that he's been driving.
He's imported and driven some of the popular Chinese brands.
And he's really tried to immerse himself in what works.
And I think this is, you know, it feels like I guess I don't know what
other leaders and other companies are doing.
It feels like a more grounded strategy than trying to cater to high
margins to make the program work.
Like to introduce something new, there it is a longer term play.
And I think if they for does this right, it they will have a very
viable option for those that want EV power.
Mm-hmm. It's a very interesting,
very interesting, interesting play in the face of so many luxury
manufacturers rolling back their investment into EVs.
Because that's not why I mean that might get you the margins today.
It's why companies like Pagani can still operate because they, you know,
the margins on their cars are large enough to keep the company going
for the small number they sell.
That doesn't work when you fill, fill everybody's needs with super
luxury, high performance EVs.
There's just less of a demand.
Well, it also doesn't work when you expect to sell 200,000 and you
only sell 50,000.
Yes.
That was that math does not matter.
Whoa.
Oh, those numbers just made up.
But, you know, it's it's the same story across all the luxury
EV manufacturers.
The Sheffield brand was recently revived by Jake Turkbus, an owner
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He set out to develop watches with a high level of quality
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His first effort and a successful one on July of 2023 was the
debut of the Sheffield All Sport Diver one.
It had the kind of build and movement that much more expensive
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Since that debut, Sheffield has expanded to a wider range of
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Ah, boy, this is a doozy this week.
I saw this story and it's it's awesome.
It's local to me sort of it's Ohio and it's a car dealer lawsuit.
It's some, some serious pettiness.
The long and short of it is a Kia dealer in Ohio get sued by
their client after they repode her car.
Right. So they repode it three weeks after she signed the
contract.
So before she had even made a first payment, she got so
upset.
She sued the dealer in civil court and then played this
Uno reverse card craziness or like the the nope card.
And what's that that game taco cat?
Oh, yeah, I think so.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
It's not called taco cat, but anyway, two nopes make
a yelp right and she registered their dealer name.
So of course, every news article is just eating this up like,
oh, they took her car.
So she took their name and they are totally on the side of
this girl because, oh man, how could a dealer repo a car
just because her income didn't check out?
That's totally shady.
Like this is poetic justice.
Well, we're going to dive into that one.
It's not.
They had every right to do that, but two nopes make a
they had every right to do that.
But two, she really didn't register their name and there is
an ongoing legal battle about this, but there's something
that they missed and we will get to that.
But first, we're going to unpack what actually happened,
how it happened, why it happened and tell you the
things that the rest of the media is not telling because
they're just jumping on this as a juicy story.
We're going to actually unpack this from the dealer
side of things from an Ohio law side of things.
I'm not a lawyer.
I'm not giving you legal advice, but as a business owner in
Ohio, I have to know the business laws and this falls
under that category of I know this rule because it affects
me and also side note, this is why I always say we are
never rarely the first to break a story, but that's
purposeful because we have all this context.
We've done a lot of research that gives the full picture to
what is going on and predicts an outcome unlike pretty much
all the other media outlets.
So Tyler, give us a breakdown on on on the story itself
and what happened already the details.
So Tia McCreary in February 2024 purchased a Kia K5 from
Taylor Kia of Lima one month later it was repossessed
and that is what set the stage for where we are today.
The initial purchase of the vehicle according to court
documents went pretty smoothly signed a buyer's order.
The loan agreement got all the other documentation squared
away and drove the car off at this point.
A little bit later, the third party lending agency that was
hand servicing the loan, which is called global lending
services, determined that McCreary's income was not
sufficient to justify the loan.
So because of that, they did not issue the funds to
the dealership.
The Kia dealership then said, well, we don't have the funds.
So we're going to repossess the car.
And they did this to her when she was at work on March 29th
of 2024.
Obviously, this didn't sit very well with McCreary,
ground her gears a little bit.
So she started searching.
What are her repercussions?
And in her search, she learned...
I don't think that's the right word, Tyler.
No, what is her?
That isn't the right word.
What is her recourse?
Recourse.
That, thank you.
There will be repercussions from this, but...
I need more whiskey.
What is her recourse?
So in this search, she learned that Ohio Secretary
of State Office had canceled the state's registration
for Taylor Kia of Lima, which is the name of the dealership
she purchased the car.
Well, attempted to purchase the car from.
So she seized this opportunity and she actually
registered, what the article says,
registered that moniker in her own name.
So the automotive group that owns Taylor Kia of Lima
operates several dealerships in Ohio.
And at some point, this registration lapsed.
And then, so this allowed McCreary to register,
we'll call it, in her name, goodness.
And she then sent a cease and desist letter
to Taylor Cadillac that addressed what she called
their continued use of a fictitious name
that is now registered to her.
So this spawned all of the, a bunch of legal...
Proceedings.
Proceedings, goodness, words are challenging.
And the first court ended up throwing out the lawsuit
because of an anti-arbitration clause, right?
Is what we call it?
No, it was an arbitration clause.
Okay.
Which means that you essentially like...
Standard boilerplate stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That she signed and it says you can't do this
in court, you have to arbitrate it.
Yes.
Which she claimed in one of the articles I read
that she, that they like added that in
or snuck that in.
I saw that.
Like, no, I didn't sign that.
I'm like, yeah, you did, you just didn't read it.
Yeah, I've recently have gone through the paperwork
of purchasing a car.
It's in there and very clearly called out to you
that that's what this is.
So they threw it out because they're like,
hey, we're not gonna do anything.
This should go through arbitration.
I got sent to, it was appealed and another court
determined that the scope of the arbitration agreement
was for the purchase of the car.
And technically, this is not the dealings
with this registration of the name
is not a part of the deal of the car.
So they are allowing the suit to continue.
And I think that brings us up to today.
Yes.
And we're just kind of waiting to see what happens next.
So there is a scheduling hearing on August 18th.
Now, first I want to unpack what happened
in terms of how a dealer could repossess somebody's car
just for non verifiable income.
Well, and what I think is...
A lot of people think that was a huge injustice,
but let me tell you, it happens all the time.
So I got to, isn't this how it works?
That when you get a loan, they do a credit poll
and they verify income, which I know credit poll
isn't verifying income.
But like...
You have good credit, so you get good loans, okay?
These are typical, these are subprime loans.
And they're very, very expensive
and they'll do what they call spot delivery.
So they will take stated income and deliver the car
but there is plenty of fine print that says
if your stuff doesn't check out, we can take the car back.
A dealer's not dumb enough to just go repo a car
because they don't like the deal they made.
Yeah.
And the contracts with these banks
are incredibly favorable to the banks.
And essentially, if the bank doesn't like anything
that happened, they'll kick the deal back to the dealer
and say, you own the loan.
Well, a dealer doesn't wanna be in the lending business.
They're not buy, here, pay, here dealers.
This is a franchise key dealer.
So they go, forget that, we're gonna go get the car.
They can do this.
She signed an agreement that said they can do this
and argue what probably happened,
what I hear usually happens
because we don't deal with these types of lenders.
So all I hear about this from other people in the industry
is she probably misstated her income
and the banks will call the people, the borrowers,
a week or two later and ask some questions
and often they'll fail the interview
because they don't remember what they put for income
or something like that.
So the lender will go, ah, gotcha, nice try.
Loan denied.
So they kick it back to the dealer.
So that's what happened to cause this vehicle to be repoed
and she was super upset and I doubt she really
had any legal grounds
but I guess anybody can file a lawsuit.
So again, that one initially was dismissed
because it was supposed to go to arbitration
and even the current legal proceedings have to do
with this name, right?
Cause that's the only thing out there.
It's a separate issue, but the name thing,
name thing is really, really interesting.
What I think is also interesting
is the attorney for McCreary said,
as quoted in this article from Alainmoahio.com,
says my client owns that name registered.
Is that true?
But does she?
Okay.
Taylor Kea is the parent company.
Taylor Kea, Taylor catalog, okay?
Taylor Kea Lyma LLC was active
at the time of her registration.
The timeline is important though.
The trade name Taylor Kea of Lyma had expired in 2022.
They registered that trade name in 2012.
It's a 10-year registration.
In 2014, they registered the LLC, Taylor Kea Lyma.
So I believe they said we no longer need the trade name
because we now have a company name.
Okay.
Because if a parent company has a bunch of DBAs,
they'll register the trade name to protect the name
and to legally tell the state
that they're operating under that name.
Once they file an LLC for that location with that name,
they go, we don't need a trade name.
It'd be like me having Switchcars DBA Switchcars
or Switchcars Inc. DBA Switchcars.
I don't need that because I own the name Switchcars.
It's registered in Ohio.
I have a US trademark on it, et cetera.
So in 2022, the trade name expired, Taylor Kea of Lyma.
April 2024, Tia has her car repossessed.
June, she files a civil suit
against the lender and the dealer.
Same month, she registers Taylor Kea of Lyma
as a fictitious name.
Fictitious name.
So what is that?
It is a name that you can use to operate a business.
However.
Doesn't fictitious mean fake?
Well, kind of.
That's what her attorney is basically saying.
But according to Ohio Secretary of State's website,
so trade names are protected.
You can't register a trade name that is the same
as an existing company name or existing trade name.
Nobody can register Switchcars as a company name
or trade name in the state of Ohio.
Now, there's nuances as well.
So they don't distinguish between tenses.
If there's conjunctions or plural versus nonplural,
if you add a hyphen,
you can't just like put in that little nuance.
In this case, Taylor Kea Lyma versus Taylor Kea of Lyma.
I don't believe Ohio gives a rip about that.
The important thing,
and this is what is going to decide the case in my opinion.
And I don't know how nobody in the courts
or any of the attorneys have caught this yet
because in my opinion, this is an immediate dismissal.
Ohio Secretary of State website.
Fictitious names are not required to be distinguishable
upon the records from any other previously registered name.
However, a fictitious name provides no protection
because other registered names are not required
to be distinguishable from a fictitious name.
So they can still operate under their business name,
which is not distinguishable from the fictitious name,
but it doesn't matter because the Ohio law says
it doesn't matter.
Correct.
Because they essentially the real business name Super Seeds
takes priority over the fictitious name.
Right.
So they let their trade name expire
because they already had the LLC name.
She cannot register a trade name because they have the LLC.
They are protected in their use of that name.
So she registers a fictitious name
because that's all she can do because it's not,
it can conflict.
Anybody can register the fictitious name switch cars,
but it doesn't give you any right to then say,
oh Doug, you have to stop using it.
So she sent the cease and desist
and she actually tried to get an injunction
to get them to stop doing business under that name
through the courts.
But according to Ohio law, she has no right to do so
because a fictitious name provides zero protection
against anybody else using it.
This feels like something that somebody learned
from a TikTok.
That like, oh my God, she's got an attorney.
He's a bankruptcy attorney, but he's an attorney.
This isn't his area of expertise.
No, seems like it's not.
He's saying he hired you to write some Fortran.
I don't know how to do that.
Other things maybe though, she may have hired him
to get a package deal because when I looked her up
in the court system, she has monthly,
if not bi-weekly, judgments against her
from the state of Ohio for sales tax
starting in December 2024, the most recent in May.
I would guess there's more recent ones.
They're just still in process.
So it seems like she probably started a business
and is not filing, paying her sales tax
and she's got a whole lot of tax liens
against her from the state of Ohio.
Yikes.
Right, so she may be needing that bankruptcy attorney
not so near future.
I know you make it seem so,
you've presented the information to me,
so it seems extremely obvious,
but wouldn't it be somebody's job in the court system
to like read this?
I don't know, right?
So maybe it went up to the appellate court
and they said, well, we're distinguishing
between these two suits and basically like,
yes, this one can be settled in arbitration,
this one doesn't, but I don't know
that it's their job to decide the case
because they kicked it back down
to the original court in which it was filed.
So they're just saying, no, this should proceed
because it doesn't have anything to do
with the arbitration clause
that was signed, you guys figured it out.
Yes. Love it.
Yes, but I have to imagine
that Taylor Kea's attorneys know this by now
and have, and here's why.
August 1st, so after all these news stories
came out around the end of July, August 1st,
Taylor Kea of Lima was registered again as a trade name.
Oh, okay.
Using an anonymous, or like an anonymous registered agent.
So I assume it's Taylor Kea of Lima's attorneys going,
oh, well, let's just double lock this up
and just register the trade name again
because they're allowed to,
but they actually have to give themselves permission
to do so because not anyone can register that.
They have to have consent from the owner of that name.
So Taylor Kea Lima LLC has to give themselves consent
to register Taylor Kea of Lima LLC as a trade name.
But I think they probably just did that
as double protection of like the double reverse card
of like, no, we own this still again.
We own the whole thing, top to bottom.
Yeah. I just, I got a kick out of that
because she's trying to send them a cease and desist
and she has absolutely no grounds to stand on
and all the media is making this out to be
this great karma poetic justice against his crappy dealer.
And it's like, no, a young lady who doesn't pay her bills
and allegedly misstated her income in order to get alone
got caught and then tried to like sue people
for something she signed and agreed to
and then tried to take their name.
And you know, it's the way Ohio's rules are written
in terms of all these nuances of it.
Like you can't just put a dash in and get a trade name.
It's almost like they saw this coming.
Like they knew people were gonna try to do things like this
in terms of, oh, I'm just gonna register this name
and take it from a legitimate business
who's operating under that name and forgot to register.
It's the same thing with domain names.
Like early days of the dot com bubble,
people would register walmart.com.
And there's all sorts of ICAN rules
that come into play there.
And of course, there was that big dispute with Nissan.com
that was owned by an engineering company.
But there's protections against companies
who are legitimately using a name against people like this
who just wanna, oh, well, I'm gonna get your name
and you can't use any more.
You have to pay me rights, you owe me.
No, they don't, they don't.
It is a catchy headline.
So I understand why folks are really glatching onto it
but this will probably go nowhere.
Wall of Shame tonight, very brief.
My family runs a gas station called Ralph's Got Gas
and it's in the middle of nowhere, Maine
and they get all sorts of characters
coming in from out of town.
It's on a big tourist route.
And my sister texted me and said,
I have a woman out here in a BMW who says,
who says her car can't have non-ethanol gas in it.
It has to have high octane with ethanol.
So instead of putting in premium non-ethanol,
she put in 87 octane because it had ethanol.
I don't think that's how that works.
No, it's not.
But she was overthinking it, trying to be smart.
She's, oh, it's gotta have ethanol gas in it.
I've gotta have the best fuel.
So instead, Ralph has the worst gas.
The lowest octane possible.
I'm pretty sure she might notice
some reduced performance here shortly.
Probably.
Nox sensor doing its job.
Switch cars is the enthusiast dealership
where we buy, sell and consign only cars
that we like ourselves.
Check out our hand-picked inventory online
at switchcars.com and mention Switchcast
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I don't often like to do main topics
based off of videos on social media,
but every now and then, one peaks my interest
based on either the caption or the content.
And in this case, it was both.
And the caption, of course, was very misleading,
which is what we're seeing a lot nowadays.
We have the problem of just AI content, period,
but then we have AI captions which are designed to,
I guess, rage bait and get people discussing
and they have zero connection
to what actually happened in the video.
Well, and even if it isn't an AI caption,
the trend that has really made me,
well, there's a lot of things
that make me not wanna scroll through Instagram,
but one of them is the fact that
you can put text onto a video
or you can put your head superimposed
on like a green screen in front of a video
and sound really smart and say things
that make enough logical sense
to get a bunch of people to agree with you.
But as soon as you scratch beneath the surface,
there's a lot of untruths about things
and it's very frustrating.
Like that G-wagon theft scam.
Yes. The guy said, oh, the guy makes six figures
pretending his G-wagon gets stolen over again
and like giving it to thieves
and then repoeing it or whatever.
Yes. Reporting it as stolen.
I'm like, no. I'm like, no.
One really good brain cell.
You know what? Okay, if he's doing this stuff,
he could make a lot of money.
I could see how this happens,
but as soon as you bring the second brain cell in
and you start rubbing them together,
it's absolutely not.
The dude would be dead.
Right. Something awful would be unalived.
Sorry, Ethan.
Well, the cops just wouldn't,
would stop responding after the third theft call
for the same one.
So this, today's discussion is about a video
that I saw where a Tesla in,
I believe it was Bulgaria,
swerved around a pedestrian
who had fallen into the street right in front of them
and in swerving drove head-on into an oncoming vehicle.
And the impact looked significant enough,
I think all of the front and side airbags went off.
Like there was a big shunt,
but the guy who fell or the human
that fell into the road did not get hit.
Right. So he's thinking, oh man,
he's my savior, the driver who saved me.
Now the caption on all of the videos I found,
which seemed to be going viral all over again,
even though this happened back in 2024,
were autonomous vehicle, you know,
avoids hitting pedestrian.
Tesla's autopilot avoids hitting pedestrian.
And that's not what happened.
There was a driver in the car
who was driving the car
and swerved around the pedestrian
because I would think maybe,
I don't know how good autopilot is,
but I'm like, if it's smart enough to avoid the pedestrian
who falls right in the street,
it would probably also swerve back
and not just drive into the car head-on.
So I saw a lot of things in the comments related to that.
And here I am trusting some comments on a video
I just said I didn't trust.
But apparently, and I'm inclined to believe this,
although I guess we could do some more research,
that autopilot's reaction to something coming into the road
is to break as hard as the car can.
Sure, which in this case would not be sufficient
because it was right in front of the vehicle.
Yes, so the car would have slowed,
maybe the impact would have been lessened,
but from what the little I know,
it doesn't appear that Tesla's autopilot will swerve.
And I think it's for the reason
that this video showcases is there's other stuff.
Yes, and the driver was found liable
for the head-on accident.
So their insurance has to pay for the damages.
And if there's any civil suits arising out of it,
then of course that driver is potentially liable
in that case as well.
And that's probably why Tesla is not going to swerve
because now they would be liable, I guess, as a company
for causing a totally different accident.
Now, watching the video, of course,
we can all opine and say, well, I would have done it
better, the driver who swerved to not hit the pedestrian,
like I think most of us would have done that, for sure.
But she swerved way too far
and she straight up never swerved back.
There was plenty of room to avoid the pedestrian
and not cause a head-on collision.
I think that's partly why these laws
are written the way they are,
that they protect the truly innocent driver,
which is the one coming the other way.
Because if you Google it, AI law will tell you
that you're always at fault if you swerve
and cause a different sort of accident,
even if you're avoiding something.
But of course it brings up an ethical discussion as well.
Like, okay, do you knowingly hit the pedestrian
that you're probably going to cause significant harm to,
even though it would not be your fault,
or do you take the risk of not hitting that,
or causing a different accident, not guaranteed,
but do you take that risk in order to avoid the known?
Well, and I think this is where things
get really complicated, because then you,
somebody is programming some sort of weight.
So even if you're not programming, if pedestrian-
Forget the autopilot, I'm talking about drivers.
Oh, just in general?
Just you.
I, well, and I was thinking of this
when I watched the video, if I got hit
because somebody swerved to avoid someone
that they could have seriously injured or worse,
and as long as I was okay, I'd be pretty all right,
I'd be like, you know what?
For everybody, this was the best outcome.
But I think it's like, that's my perspective
without actually ever having been through it.
And you can't trust to know what people are gonna,
how people are gonna react in that situation either.
Yes.
Yeah, but then there's the issue of,
okay, they hit a car, I think they hit a Volvo.
So, two fairly safe cars with lots and lots of airbags
making impact, probably no one was injured badly,
but what if they hit a Citroen?
Right?
Like mass casualty right there.
Are you saying Citroen?
If you had six people in the Citroen,
you'd have eight of them would be in caskets.
So, I get to pancakes, you know,
scrambled eggs and breakfast
when you run into one of those things.
So, I'm talking about the old ones,
like, you know, a Duchess Vogue, not a new one,
the old, what do you think?
A stereotypical Citroen, not a modern car.
Anyway, but no, like let's say you hit an old car,
let's say there was kids in there, right?
Do you avoid the one guy who tripped into the street
to hit like a bunch of, like a school bus?
It's literally. A small school bus.
Could be damaged and people hurt, right?
Like it's literally the trolley problem.
It is the trolley problem.
It exactly is.
When I think that's right, the rant I was gonna go down,
not rant, but you know, the thought process
I was going down before related to, you know,
I think in the moment, there's some leeway
for decision-making for human.
Like if a human is driving, what decision do they make?
It's a split second decision,
like you can't really control that.
With auto pilot, full self-driving, whatever,
if there's an autonomous vehicle
that is controlling the car, or if there's, yeah,
if there's like an AI that's controlling the car,
somebody has to program in that decision.
They have to answer the trolley problem
and everybody else has to deal with their answer
or their probability weights or whatever.
But couldn't on a good programming on an autonomous car
do the same thing as good driver programming, right?
So performance drivers, you get a lot of defensive
driving schools, you reprogram your reactions.
So that when things like this happen,
you don't just automatically slam lock up the brakes,
or just like completely swerve and lose control.
You swerve in a controlled manner, unlike this lady,
because in watching the video again,
all things being perfect, she could have swerved back
and not caused the collision, right?
She zigged and she didn't zag.
She whipped when she should have nae nae'd.
But I had to consult somebody on that phrase to get it right.
I'm a little shocked to know how to respond.
But yes, you could potentially program in better reactions
to say, I can evaluate where the oncoming vehicle is
and is it safe to avoid this thing
without causing another collision
so that it's not the trolley problem,
it's a matter of can I do both?
For sure, but I think there's gonna be
a lot of scenarios where you can't.
And then even if you pick the scenario,
let's say the computer is advanced enough
where it can calculate the scenario of least harm.
What if the scenario of least harm
happens to be the most harm to the driver of the vehicle
or the passenger's occupants of the vehicle
that is self-driving?
Oh, so you're saying like self-sacrifice.
Yeah. So somebody falls in the road
and you want to avoid them,
but a freight train is coming the other way.
So nobody, no innocent people will get hurt,
but it would be the most harm to you.
So you're sacrificing yourself.
I'm not even saying if you would do that,
hopefully somebody would have some self-preservation.
I'm saying if they're for like full self-driving,
made that decision.
Well, if you're doing it yourself,
then there's the ethical decision of do I sacrifice
myself knowing that if I keep going,
I'm gonna run over this person.
But if I swerve, I'm gonna get hit by a bus.
I've uncovered something.
I'm saying this.
It's uncomfortable.
I think that corporations programming these things
are going to go with what is legally most expedient,
if that's the right use of that word.
They're going to protect themselves from that.
They're gonna say, what is the law say?
The law says that we are at fault
if we swerve to avoid something,
even if it's morally ethically worth avoiding
and we cause an accident,
then we're not going to do that.
Because legal harm is better than illegal harm
or not at fault harm is better than at fault harm.
These are the very tough discussions that I don't,
there is no good answer to any of them.
And I just hope we kind of sort of end up
going in the right direction overall.
I think the easy thing is the animal conundrum.
I've read so many different articles over the years
of Ferraris and Porsches and crazy exotic cars
that swerve to avoid a deer or a raccoon.
And they whipped when they should have Maynade
and they got, you know, whiplash, back and forth,
tail whip, whatever that's called, tank slapper.
They did a tree, wrecked their car, were injured,
whatever, they totaled a Ferrari
over trying to avoid a squirrel.
Yeah.
Now, PETA may have something to say about that,
may weigh in there and say, well, it's just a car,
it's just metal, you know, nature is more important.
But in my view, putting yourself at that kind of risk
to avoid an animal is not worth it
because you could hit a tree and totally die.
So like.
I've had to make the unfortunate call to hit,
I think it was a squirrel or a possum
because I couldn't swerve because there was a ditch
and traffic.
Yeah.
And I was like, I'm so sorry, I felt horrific,
but the other option was me and a ditch
or in somebody else's dashboard.
So.
The worst one I had was there was a raccoon
crossing the road at night and I started to swerve
left, which is the direction they were going
and or right, maybe it was right.
Yeah.
So start to swerve right to avoid the raccoon
because they're walking left
and there was a whole line of babies behind her.
So I swerve left to like, I got to get around them all,
but I couldn't swerve left enough at that point.
So I just ran over the mom.
It doesn't feel good.
No, it wasn't like, it wasn't.
But I, I mean, what do you do, you have your reaction
when there's like, ooh, raccoon, I'll avoid that.
Seven baby raccoons.
Oh, well, if you do see that happen,
you should get the license plate of the person
and report it.
And if they have a cool vanity plate,
you should then report it to us
so we can guess what kind of car was involved
in this avoiding a raccoon.
That's a wonderful segue into plate to sample game
where we have crazy vanity plates
that we try to guess what car they're on
based on the assumed stereotype.
This is brought to us literally and financially
by soul and spine, not soul and spine.
It is not a that kind of holistic healing.
Although you would say he's holistic in his methods
to to heal your body.
Go see Dr. Hoover at soul and spine.
That's soul and like, soul in Ohio, soul and spine.com.
So my plates this week are all from
the Northville Concorde de Elegance,
where I was last month, my car did not make it.
The engine had a problem three miles from the show field,
so it is still being fixed.
I was gonna say, does the engine still have a problem?
It's running again.
Nice.
But I was thankful to be invited by the organizers.
It's such a great show.
It was the fourth year and it's being run by mostly
people who are not of legal drinking age
and they are doing a fantastic job
of kind of bringing the concor festivities
and judging and everything that goes along with the concor
and bringing that to the next generation.
So mine are all from.
Which given how arguably stuffy some concors can be,
this is a nice breath of fresh air.
It was a breath of fresh air.
So mine are all from events surrounding that weekend.
I'll start with Hypersonic.
HYPRSNQ, Hypersonic.
Is this a Chevy Sonic?
No.
Or was it a Chevy that did the Sonic?
Okay, Hypersonic.
Is it a blue car?
Something like Sonic the Hedgehog, okay.
No, if it was, I think Ford did Sonic blue,
that would have been good.
That would have been pretty legit.
It's not.
Oh gosh.
I have no, what is it?
A Corvette Z51.
I know it's a Z51 because it has a Z51 license plate frame
and a Stingray leather trunk cover.
What the heck, what is with the, I can't, I'm sleepy.
Doug, for you, this comes from Paul Kay,
submitted through switchcast.live.
So Doug is obviously very popular in social media.
I am not.
So if you'd like to help me out,
go to switchcast.live.
There will be a button to submit license plates
and they come to me.
If you really want to send something to Doug,
you can obviously reach him on Instagram and whatnot,
but it's more fun for me to try to trip up Doug
and embarrass him on his own show.
Anyway, coming up from Paul Kay,
Brojave.
B-R-O-J-A-V-E.
Brojave.
Is this a Volkswagen Beetle made in Mexico?
Mm-mm.
Not quite.
A Chevy HHR made in Mexico?
No.
I'm noticing it themed up.
Is Jave Spanish?
This is a Jeep Mojave that is lifted.
Mojave, brojave.
Yeah, it's like a lifted Jeep
and it's not probably like a dude.
Jave, well, I mean, Mojave Desert is Southwest.
Is that a Spanish word?
I'm not gonna answer that before I know.
I'm very white in homeschooled, so let's move on.
Okay, here's one for you.
There's kind of a clue in the name
P51DNA, P51DNA, but it reads like PISTNA.
Is it a Mustang?
Yes.
Yeah, whoo-hoo, I did it.
Yeah.
This is like the first one I've gotten in so long
on the first guess.
Oh yeah.
We can quit now.
It's a GT3.
No, it's just a GT, but yeah, it sounded mental.
It sounded like a PIST naturally aspirated car.
Heck yeah.
I appreciate that.
Love it.
Ken B gave us this one.
It is cyanide.
A scion?
It is, look at that, oh my God.
It's a little XB with some aftermarket wheels.
My next guess was gonna be like a cyan green
something or other.
Oh yeah.
All right.
DATASP.
DATASP.
Is ASP been a car, like a model name?
Yes, it is.
Is that what this is?
This is something.
DATASP.
ASP.
What is ASP?
What?
I have no idea.
I realize it's so hard when you're not looking at it.
That's kind of the...
It's a Dodge Viper.
Viper, an ASP.
A snake.
ASP.
Is that what?
Really?
No.
Oh, the homeschooled one.
Golly.
But it's also a play on like it's got a nice booty.
Oh yeah, well that part I got,
but I was like ASP, that is like a play on something.
Yeah.
I got that part down.
I'm not entirely under a rock.
All right, for you, it comes from Barry M.
I have AGR MGMT.
Anger management.
Is it a Nissan XTERRA?
No.
That's a deep cut from the office
because Andy Bernard drove a Nissan XTERRA
when he went to Anger Management.
That would be sick.
It is not.
It's probably a cool car
that is the person's Anger Management.
So it could be like any awesome car.
I don't know, like a Lotus XSEGE.
Do the two nice.
Or should GT3.
Way too nice.
C5 Corvette convertible.
I mean, I guess stereotypical Corvette guy
needs Anger Management
because he's always typing in caps online.
Oh, God bless.
Is that the first thing they teach you
at Anger Management for boomers?
It's like, here's how you turn off the caps a lot.
I think so.
Step one, press the caps lock.
Lowercase.
Yes.
Proper capitalization, please.
All right, here's one for you.
Loading.
The number six, the word six, the number six.
Six, S-I-X, six.
This is a, oh, it's like a demon, it's Dodge Demon.
No.
Oh, it's some muscle car then.
Somebody thinks they're pretty hardcore.
No.
It's a, what?
No.
Is it like a blacked out Mercedes?
No.
What, what is it?
It's a Lamborghini Diablo.
Oh, all right.
See you later, everybody.
The other devil.
Come on.
I am an embarrassment.
I feel like I can get back into my computer and tell,
okay, we're live.
Woo.
Doug, next for you from Joshua S is flexed.
Forward flex?
Yeah, I was hoping.
Okay, so here's the thing that's very straightforward.
I was hoping you forgot about the flex for a little bit
and we're gonna be really confused.
It's the wagon that all wagon people deny as a wagon.
I hate that it is, it is considered a wagon.
It is a wagon.
It's too big.
It is a wagon.
It's huge, Doug.
The proportions are correct.
The proportions are correct.
The size is not.
All right.
Here's one, MIIRA.
I think they're saying my IRA,
but it's a Michigan plate,
so it's like Michigan, my IRA.
I don't know.
My IRA.
So this is gonna be like a GT3, a Lamborghini.
Something somebody thinks is an investment vehicle.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like the My 401K on the 9 and 7 we saw.
Is it that?
No, it's not.
Oh.
No.
Is it a Corvette?
Nope.
Okay, that could be something.
I feel like investing in Enron in your IRA.
I don't know.
Gen 5 Viper.
And not in ACR.
So they really...
I mean, maybe they cashed out their IRA.
That, okay.
Now we're getting somewhere.
Cause I was like, I don't know.
That's where it went.
It's the result of what it's becoming.
Yeah.
Okay.
I just had it backwards.
That's on me.
That's my bad.
All right.
Last one for you, Doug, comes from Jerry M.
This is me, Otter.
Miata.
Yeah.
But they're from Maine.
Miata, no, they're from Georgia,
but I see what you're saying.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Got myself from Miata.
Yep.
Love it.
That's a good one.
Maybe they used to be from Maine.
Really just calling back home every time.
Right.
To feel a little bit.
Taste it.
Flavor home.
Indeed.
That was a good one.
Got you.
God, I suck at this now.
Tonight anyway.
Thank you for joining us for Switchcast
with Doug Tabbot and Tyler Sanders
produced by Ethan Huffnagle.
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The opinions expressed on this show
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