Someone sent me a Suzuki engine

Well, I already called the police anyway, they will call me back in a couple of days (detectives are not at work, as I was explained, to my surprise). They'd just run the motor through their database if they can. Why would they accuse me of theft if I called them to verify whether something is stolen. That makes no sense.

It depends. For my item, I pay about $.07 per click through to my site. Fortunately, my item doesn't have much competition from the big boys. If you tried to advertise something like car parts that way, it would cost you a bundle to get it done.

They base your fee off of how many clicks you get, and what others are willing to pay for the same keyword.

Yea, I know. There is a reason you never see $2.00 items advertised on TV unless they are disposable. There just isn't enough revenue to cover the advertising cost.

What I mean is that your clientele has too many crap people. That would not be the case if, say, you were selling industrial items. I sell industrial stuff and almost all my customers are literate, intelligent, honest and patient people. I know from looking at the motorcycle engine market that it is not always the case.

A little update. I called the Suzuki HQ. They cannot help locate the owner. They told me that the motor was made between 2000 and 2003, has

Oh, now I see.

I build plastic injection molds for a living. I've found that MOST people that can write a check for one of those are reasonable people.

exactly

I think so. "Shitlacquering" is a pretty amusing term. It fits well with words like "banjax". Do you think your engine has been shitlacquered?

Chris

I have no idea. I never touched any motorcycle items in my life, never rode motorcycles, etc. Some paint looks susprisingly shiny.

You would think FedEx could use the tracking number to tell at least where it was shipped from.

I would think so too, but not in this instance. There is no shipper information. The first record is their location (I suppose) in a CA town.

If you don't want the engine, call FedEx and tell them its not yours and they need to come get it and find the right owner.

chuck

exactly what I said.

What do you get when you enter the waybill number into the tracking page at

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 16:58:50 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus3242 quickly quoth:

Precisely. They just make everything shiny, not caring that it can rot the hoses and belts beneath it. Some of these guys clean and wipe the area thoroughly first, a good thing. Others just do a halfassed job and spray lacquer all over everything after it dries. The second-hand rental cars are usually the better done lacquer jobs. They mask parts which shouldn't be sprayed and clean before doing so. Shadetree used car lots usually do the halfassed jobs. They were also the type who put sawdust in the differential to quiet it until it's sold.

Your engine looks to have come from a used car lot. Caveat Emptor!

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On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:02:27 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus3242 quickly quoth:

Dumber criminals have been known to do that to see if it was reported yet. But it might be the owner who accused you and forced the police to take his side.

The police local to you can't give you a clean bill of health on the engine, they can only tell you that it is not yet reported stolen, etc. That leaves them open to impound it and/or come after you if it is reported stolen. I mention that as a possibile eventuality, not a probability.

Hell, they're the cops/gov't/phone company. They can do what they want.

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Well, I would just tell them that I received it from someone and want to check it before I use it. I do not think that they need to know the shipping story.

Do you have a full 17-digit number starting with a J that looks like a complete VIN? Or a few letters followed by six to eight digits?

As I understand it, the engine identifier number of a bike is usually the same as the VIN, or at least a known subset of it that they can decipher - as in a motor model identifier, a year code, and the last significant digits of the bike VIN production serial. Since the motor and transmission unit is the high value component of a motorcycle, and is so easy to steal and place in a new frame with a clean VIN, they want a good way to keep track of them.

I have had no problem getting the Los Angeles Police Dept. to check VIN codes through their computers (and by extension NCIC) at least as to their Stolen/Not Stolen status.

Seems the side street next to our house is a nice shady low traffic spot where they like to drop stolen cars for a few days to cool off - and see if there's a LoJack on board. Any scruffy looking vehicle parked there overnight that the other neighbors don't know anything about gets called in. And about half the time, an OPG tow wanders by to recover the car.

And there are the ones called in elsewhere as "A stolen Celica Supra, come recover it", and I was questioned by the Operator as to "How do you know it's stolen?" Let's see, it has four temporary spares held on with two lugnuts each, no seats, no engine or trans, no doors, no hood, no bumpers, no glass, no dashboard... Oh, and it was on fire when I first saw it, the FD just got done putting it out. Trust me, Lady, it's stolen. ;-P

Depending on how the disclosure laws are written in the OP's state the PD may or may not be able to share any other information with you.

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