aemeijers wrote:

hibb wrote:
On Mar 21, 10:21 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
I saw this on an auto newsgroup and fund it interesting.

And dangerous too!

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...r-bricks-cars/

The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to
repossessing vehicles that haven't been paid for. Operated by
Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a
small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued
through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The
dealer can disable a car's ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin
honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a
running vehicle.

Texas Auto Center began fielding complaints from baffled customers the last
week in February, many of whom wound up missing work, calling tow trucks or
disconnecting their batteries to stop the honking. The troubles stopped
five days later, when Texas Auto Center reset the Webtech Plus passwords
for all its employee accounts, says Garcia. Then police obtained access
logs from Pay Technologies, and traced the saboteur's IP address to
Ramos-Lopez's AT&T internet service, according to a police affidavit filed
in the case.

Tho I think the story you are reporting is bogus, I just wanted to
point out that the title you used for the thread is redundant.

Don't know about this specific case, but the technology is indeed out
there. The papers reported a court case a year or three ago about buyers
being unable to use their cars even if the payments were current. I
would NEVER deal with a dealer that used such garbage- if I couldn't
afford to buy a decent used car (private or dealer), I'd just keep
buying beaters. Buy here, pay here lots are a sucker bet anyway. Like
rent-to-own furniture, their business is lending money at super high
rates. The merchandise is just a hook to get you in the tent.

More accurately, the "buy here, pay here" outfits are the only option
left to those who have tried to rip off all the legitimate dealers /
banks and have negative credit scores. People who actually pay their
bills don't deal with these places and those who have to deal with those
places dug their own financial graves.