You might want to avoid any dealings with Viva Nissan, in El Paso.

First part of this post began one week ago, on Friday, 08/14.
Let me tell you about my experiences with this dealership this week, just ended.  I have decided to shop around for a newer car, even though I haven't yet sold my minivan.  I have researched and decided that I'd like either a Buick La Crosse, or a Buick Enclave.  My price range is pretty low, so this means I am looking at cars that are around seven years old.

I looked at a couple of Enclaves during the week, and really liked one, but it needs new tires, and has a clunk in the front steering/suspension.  Meanwhile, I had seen an ad online several times for a 2011 La Crosse, on both cargurus.com and Bestway Auto, a subsidiary of the Viva Auto Group, in El Paso.  My inquiry at Bestway's web site, got no response, but at some point, I did get a call from a Pamela Mena, a "Trusted Advocate" with Viva Nissan.  She told me the car in question was at her dealership, and asked me to go see it.  I went over there yesterday morning only to find out that the car was not there, and nobody knew where it was.

Strike one.

Later yesterday afternoon I received a very confusing call from a female, who sounded super bored with whatever she was doing, but she managed to convey to me that the car had been located a another Viva dealership, the Mazda dealer.  She said it was there for "service," but did not indicate what service might be getting done.

Strike two.

This morning, I got another call from Pamela, who told me that she had gone to get the car, and would like to show it to me.  When I got to the dealership late this morning, she had taken the car to put gasoline, so I waited.  Upon her return, she and Luz gave me the keys and went with me for a test drive.

I noticed while we were driving, that the passenger side window was cracked, and then I noticed that the check engine light was on.  I pointed those out, and asked if they would be addressed should I buy the car.  I received assurances that this would be taken care of.

We briefly discussed my current car as a possible trade in, but it was obvious to me that would not work, since I do owe money on it, and dealerships are famous for never giving a fair trade in value.  Her boss, Adelberto, looked at my current car, and gave me some preliminary numbers, but since their computer was off line, we decided that they would have to call me later.  The numbers did not look very good for me, so I came home.

I talked it over with my wife, and we figured out a way to handle the down payment Adelberto was asking for, and leaving my current car out of the deal, so I called Pamela sometime later, to see what we could do.  I told her that, if I was to meet their price, they had to fix the window and the check engine light, and I'd even like to see the price come down for me.  She went back and forth to her manager with my requests, and then said that the price they were offering me was the internet price, and the car is actually supposed to be sold at $11,000, about 1200 more than I had seen in their ads.  No further discount could be considered (despite what Adelberto had personally told me about how he was a veteran, too, and would see if he could get me a veteran's discount).

Not only that, but the car is sold "As Is," and the only way they would fix either the light or the window would be if I gave another thousand dollars to them.  As I told Pamela, I am not going to buy a used car with the check engine light on.  Not now.  Not ever.  Not at any price.

Strike three.

Perhaps I spoke too soon.  Not long after publishing this post, and a similar one to Viva Nissan's Facebook page, I got a call from somebody at Edmonds.com (apparently, they oversee the dealership's social media) asking for my phone number.  I provided it, and received a call from the GM at Viva Nissan, Adrian Soto.  Young Mr. Soto not only apologized for my bad experience, but offered to fix things.  He lowered the price of the car and promised to fix the check engine light and the broken window!  So, I did go back to the dealership, and completed the paperwork to make a purchase.  As of this morning the car is scheduled to be in the Service Department to get these things done, along with a car wash and some gas in the tank!  Now, all I have to do is sell my van.  Anybody want a nice 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SE?  125,000 miles.  Loaded.  You can get more info here:  https://elpaso.craigslist.org/cto/d/2008-dodge-grand-caravan-se/6665535127.html

Oh, one more thing:  I'm sorry for anything I might have said.

Update:  I am not sorry for what I said last week, and now have much more to say!  I tried to wait all of this week for word that my car was ready for me.  I got no real status updates all week long, other than to say the my car was at the Chevy Service Department for the work needed to fix the engine light and the broken window.  Finally, I drove to that location late this morning, and talked to a Gus Torres, Service Consultant.  He was in charge of the work on my car.  He explained that they did not get permission to complete the diagnostics until this morning, and now was waiting for permission to look at the timing chain, because that was what the computer was suggesting as the problem.

I went home, and then received a call from Adrian Soto, the sales GM at Viva Nissan, who said that they needed to back out of the deal.  He said that the engine has sludge, and that means a new engine is called for, and he "cannot" replace an engine.  It would be just too costly.

He asked me to go back to the dealership so that they could shred all the paperwork and credit my credit card for the down payment I had made last week.

And, here is where I think I blew it.  With a certain amount of protest, reluctance, and anger I let him talk me into backing out of the deal.  When I tried to press him to go ahead with whatever fix might be necessary, his only response was that he just could not do this.  I tried to suggest that the onus is/was on him, because his promise to me was to "fix engine light," with no if's or and's or but's or even "unless it costs too much."  He insisted that was not what he meant, and that he just could not keep his promise to me.

So, like a fool, I gave back my copies of the paperwork, and took my refund slip.  The more I think about this, the more convinced I become that I should have - at the very least - made him wait over the weekend, and maybe looked for legal advice.  I think he broke the contract that he made with me, and now I have lost any evidence that I may have had to try to hold him to it.

The bottom line is back to where I started:  Do not ever have any dealings with Viva Auto Group.

State Regulatory Agencies Are Missing Something

Please bear with me here, just for a few minutes.  During my working years, I spent ten years as an Investigator for the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.  We, who worked there in the trenches, tried to reassure ourselves that we were there for the people of the State of Texas.  All the people of the State of Texas.  We tacitly knew that the reality of that regulatory Board was that its members were more interested in protecting the licensees, rather than the general public, and we tried our best to live with that.  After all, the Board was controlled by physicians themselves!

And, if you look at all the other myriad State regulatory agencies, you will quickly see that this same situation exists right across the spectrum!  Lawyers control the State Bar.  Dentists control the Dental Board, Plumbers, theirs, and so on.

How can an unlicensed person, who supposedly depends on these people for adequate and proper health care, or adequate legal representation, or even adequate pipes and drains, hope to ever see that whatever laws might apply to the given professions actually be enforced?!  Especially those laws and rules and regulations supposedly designed for the protection of the general public?  It is absurd on the face of it, and in reality, we, the great unlicensed majority, haven't got a prayer, or a leg to stand on!

So, here's a radical idea:  Let's continue with State regulatory agencies, to license and oversee the various professions.  But, let's appoint only regular non-licensed people to sit on the Boards that do the overseeing and enforcement!  Maybe one trusted physician could serve in a strictly advisory role for the State Board of Medical Examiners, and one lawyer for the State Bar, and so forth.  But, let's let the people police the licensees that we all depend on.  After all, the way the system currently works, licenses issued by these various agencies are actually more like licenses to steal!
And, that is not only wrong, but it fails to accomplish what the whole idea of regulation supposedly does!  So, what is missing is that people are lacking any voice.

We Took A Wrong Turn.

I often speculate about why there seems to be so much disagreement about issues that were never a part of my life as a child.  I do not recall discussion or argument over guns, or abortion, or pro-life vs. whatever, or equal rights, or womens' rights.  Granted, abortion was mostly not ever discussed, period, because it was a dirty word.  I do recall the Civil Rights movement, but it was something very distant to a little kid living in sparsely settled Central Washington State.

But, what was I taught that today's kids are not being taught?  What did we learn that is no longer being taught?  Or, what was I not taught that is standard today?  How much has education changed during my lifetime?  Is it that much different today compared to when I went to school?

I really cannot answer all of these questions, but I can certainly speculate.  To begin with, let's understand that I was born, brought up, and educated long, long ago, in a place far, far away, OK?  I was born, raised, and educated in the State of Washington during the 1950's and early 1960's.  That means I started with First Grade (because Kindergarten was not required in those days) in September of 1951, in the small town of Eatonville, Washington.  I then attended Washington State Public Schools in Elma, Prosser, Roosevelt, Goldendale, and, finally, Tacoma.

So, to begin with, it must be understood that my public education was not influenced by traditions or cultural factors such as what might have been unique to New England (Puritanism?), or The South (Slavery, The Civil War), or even the Mid-West (pure grain fed).  My family traditions were pretty much Protestant, although no church affiliation was ever evidenced, white, anglo-saxon, with a heavy dose of Germanic background (my mother's family).

I know today that I was taught a whole lot of things that younger generations seem to be unaware of, or that they have never been exposed to.  And, that begins with history, and must include outdated ideas like standards and principles, honor, duty, civics, and just plain good manners.  We were taught to respect our teachers, and all adults, but especially policemen, and others in positions of authority.  We had a great reverence for the brave soldiers of both world wars, and a strong feeling of patriotism.

We were taught that the first European immigrants to this land were mostly from England, and that many of them were seeking a chance to worship a bit differently from most of the people around them.  I remember that some other factors were involved in that search for a new land, though, as well.  For one thing, there was too much demand for too little land, so poverty and simply having room to live were  factors.  Another thing I seem to recall was the belief that it was wrong to imprison people for debt.

As for the founding of the United States of America, I was taught that a vital underpinning of our type of government had to do with a need to strive for the most good for the most people.  And, of course, that came from mostly religious teaching and belief that one should always strive to do good as opposed to doing evil.  And, from early on, we were taught that the majority rules, because that helps to ensure that the most good for the most people would be a reality.

And, we learned that a very long and hard *revolutionary* war was waged against the British Crown, way back when, to "free us" from the tyrannical government of Great Britain.  We also were taught that a terrible Civil War had been fought between certain States to the South, who sought to retain slavery, and other states, mostly to the North, who thought that all men should be free.  We learned that we, the great people of the United States of America had also fought wars to free certain places from Spanish rule, and to help the people of Europe remain free of oppression, and to stop the evil Hun, first as represented by The Kaiser, and later, from the German Nazis and the cruelty and tyranny of Japan.

Of course, then we found that we (America) had to fight again to help keep the people of South Korea free of Communist rule, and by the time we were teenagers, we found our world involved in a Cold War against more Communists.  So, we hardly had time to turn on each other in this constant strife to save the world, while continuing to work to achieve the greatest good for the most people right here at home.  Actually, I don't think we turned on each other until the protests against our presence in Vietnam.

Maybe that was the turning point.  I don't know.  What I do know is that by the time I got out of the Army, in late 1968, I was already married, and our (my wife and I) immediate focus became the pursuit of education for better careers, and the raising of a family.  Perhaps we, along with too many others of my generation, took our eye off the ball so long that we allowed certain elements among us to begin the erosion of the once great place that was the U. S. A.  After having received good public school educations, we allowed the schools to assume ever more responsibility for the raising of our kids, and discipline began to break down.  We allowed someone, at some point, to remove from the public school curriculum, some very important basics of a good education.

When I say important basics, I am talking specifically about courses like shop, drafting, civics, and course content like art and music.  My wife is a retired classroom teacher, and she remembers when such basically important things like using scissors, all of a sudden, became verboten.  Worse, teachers, especially in the first vital years of education, were no longer allowed to let kids play, as recess was cut!  And, no more naps, for the little ones in Kindergarten!  No work with cutting things out, coloring, using glue, and all those basically simple things that we all started out with.  What were we thinking?

Couple the drastic lack of any ability to provide a rounded education with the breakdown of the family, and the lack of discipline within family and school, and what could we expect?  That answer to that question is apparently at least two generations now who know little of history, lack the ability to think objectively, and are only too willing to believe what any authority figure tells them.  The result?  That son of a bitch who is currently in the white house, and a Congress that long ago sold its very soul to big money.

This helps to explain why it is not possible to have any kind of dialogue with supporters of the current occupant of the white house, or 2nd Amendment supporters.  In short, the very vocal members of today's GOP are not at all like those a couple of generations ago.  The party of Lincoln is now the party of George Lincoln Rockwell, and there is no hint of anything from the party leaders that might resemble efforts for the good of the nation.

I, for one, am saddened at today's version of America.

Beware of the El Paso Los Angeles Limousine Express

               We used to go to Chihuahua, Mexico, several times a year, driving our own car.  Since we have come back to El Paso, we find that the effort to make that trip is much more difficult than it used to be.  And, that is not just because we are older.  No, ever since 9/11, the entire process has become tiresome, bothersome, and downright stressful.  Where once we just needed to gather together everyone's birth certificates, fill up the tank, and stop at the bridge of choice to get permits, now we must have a passport in order to even get back into the U. S., and we need to pay for personal permits, the car permit, buy Mexico Auto Insurance, anticipate paying tolls at least twice (for very poorly maintained roads), and deal with Mexican immigration, the Mexican Military (there is at least one military checkpoint on the road), and then deal with CBP Gestapo upon our return to the U. S. border.

               So, we have been making our now rare trips to Chihuahua by bus since our return to this area, and even that is becoming very stressful and bothersome.  In order to avoid having to go to either the Central Bus Station in Cd. Juarez, or the one in Chihuahua itself, we have been traveling by El Paso Los Angeles Limousine Express, Inc.  This is really a Mexican company that - somehow - is able to operate in the U. S.  They offer "service" to (as their name implies) Los Angeles, from El Paso, as well as to a long list of locations in both Mexico and the Southwestern U. S.  You can see the full list of places here:  http://eplalimo.com/index_files/Locations.htm.  They do serve way more U. S. locations than Mexican, by the way.  They have a small, but really dirty and primitive, terminal in downtown El Paso, and their buses can easily go across the border via the Stanton Street Bridge, and then, after dealing with Mexican Immigration, they proceed to Chihuahua, bypassing the Juarez bus station.

               None of their buses are new, nor do any of them give the appearance of good maintenance.  No Wifi, no bathrooms onboard, no amenities other than spotty air conditioning, and occasional movies in Spanish.  It costs about eight dollars more per ticket to travel from El Paso, to Chihuahua, than it does to travel from Chihuahua, to El Paso.  I have no idea why.  If you buy tickets in Mexico, to any destination they serve, they offer serious discounts for Senior citizens, Teachers, children, and students, with proper identification.  (Mexico, by the way, issues special ID's to senior citizens, that entitle them to a multitude of very real discounts all over the nation, up to fifty per cent off the cost of regular goods and services).  Unfortunately, however, U. S. citizens are not offered, nor allowed any discounts, wherever they purchase, or travel.  So, our cost from El Paso, to Chihuahua, was $39.00 each.  Our return tickets, from Chihuahua, however, only cost us $610 Pesos ($31.72, at today's rate).

               We just returned from a weekend trip to Chihuahua, yesterday afternoon.  We left here Friday morning, at around 9:00 AM.  (We were supposed to leave at 7:45AM, but it was around 8:05-10, before we moved out of the little terminal, and started across the bridge, to Juarez.  Once across the bridge, as per usual, the bus had to stop for Mexican Customs and Immigration, and everybody got off, with their luggage.  Those who were not Mexican citizens proceeded into the building to request and obtain visitor permits, at a cost now of $553 Pesos ($28.76) per person.  These are good for six months.  I should point out that this was not an anticipated expense for the trip, because the last time we went to Chihuahua, there was no charge for a permit for three days.  (They keep changing their system).  The Mexican Immigration guy was seriously stressed dealing with those of us who entered the building on Friday morning, so the process took longer than it should, and was accompanied with all kinds of conflicting directives from him to all of us.

               So, by the time we all had our permits and were back on the bus ready to go, it was after nine o'clock.  There was still another stop on the highway out of town, and then off to the "30 kilometro," where Mexican Customs and Immigration has a checkpoint.  Fortunately, that was not a real stop, but just a tiny pause, and we were finally on our way.

               By the time we got to Villa Ahumada, about one third of the way to Chihuahua, we were seriously behind schedule.  The bus drivers or the company obviously have a deal with a restaurant along the highway, just before the first toll booth for use of that highway, because they now stop at "Parador Villa," a very greasy spoon.  This is a good opportunity to use the bathroom, and grab a quick bite to eat, and buses have long stopped along the way, in or near the town of Villa Ahumada, so one would think that this location is not a problem.  It is a problem, however, when you consider that the menu is not only very limited, but very misleading, and the prices are worse than tourist prices.  A bag of salted peanuts and a bag of potato chips cost me $60.00Pesos ($3.12), with the manufacturer's price on those peanuts clearly saying that they should only cost about fifty cents, American.  The most common burritos around those parts have long been "carne desebrada," or shredded beef.  Properly done, these will come with either green chile, or red chile, and usually chopped up onions and tomatoes, as well.  Parador Villa's menu offers both kinds, but makes no mention of the fact that the burrito you get is mostly diced potatoes, which have no place on a meat burrito.

               The driver, meanwhile, parked the bus and announced a twenty minute stop.  Nearly forty five minutes passed before we got back on the road.  Much later, just as we finally approached the second and last toll booth, only some thirty kilometers shy of our destination, he pulled off the road, to the left side, turning the bus completely around so that it was facing back towards Juarez, or away from our destination.  Another bus driver, from a parked bus, got on and spoke to our driver for a couple of minutes.  Then, our driver announced that that other bus, from Chihuahua, to Juarez, had broken down, and we were on the only bus available that could make the trip all the way back to Juarez.  So, we had to get off, remove all of our luggage, and wait for another bus to come from Chihuahua to pick us up and carry us the remaining thirty kilometers into town.  We waited in the hot sun for about ten or fifteen minutes, until a much older bus pulled up.  This thing proved to lack air conditioning, and, we quickly learned, had a transmission problem (the driver could not get it to go into second gear without a lot of grinding).  We did eventually (nearly three hours behind schedule) get to the Chihuahua terminal, where nothing was ever said by anyone connected with the bus company about why they would treat paying customers so shabbily.

               Personally, I was surprised that none of the passengers spoke out against this treatment.  I mean, a number of us questioned why this was happening at the time, but the driver just ignored us.  Ultimately, I wish there was an alternative to taking that bus, but the cost of using our own car is pretty steep, so I guess we're stuck with this kind of treatment, as they obviously know very well.  All I can say is be careful, and be prepared for all kinds of unpleasantness if you are ever thinking of using this bus line.