Kicking the tires

Here's what's bothering Rashi:

When you return to the dealer after having taken a 3,800-mile test drive (some say 2,000 miles) in a Honda Accord, what do you say to the salesman? "I think I'll need the V6 engine, because the car was having a little trouble taking the hills"? "I liked it, but it has too many miles on it"?

I mean, how do you explain your five-day absence? "Really, I figured you probably didn't want to spend five days with me on the highway not stopping for the bathrooms"?

Because, of course, the only thing worse than being stuck with a guy who's taking a 3,800-mile test drive is being the customer stuck with the salesman for five days. By the end of the second day, you'd go totally nuts listening to pitches about options, car loan rates, extended warranties, and especially undercoating.

I suppose that could explain why this Australian dude didn't wait for the salesman to get in the car before patching out of the dealership.

Once Mr Luu was in the driving seat, the salesman knelt at his side to show him the instrumentation, then walked to the other side.

“As soon as the salesman stood up to get in the other side, the driver planted the foot and took off,” Ian McKenzie, the dealership's principal, said.

The salesman grappled with the door handle as the A$40,000 (£19,000) Honda Accord sedan lurched forward but the door had already been locked.

But the answer to my original question seems to be that you simply don't go back to the dealership. This Luu guy was arrested somewhere in the middle of Australia after having failed to pay for a tank of gas.

He said the man was arrested without incident at a road block on his way north to Darwin after he failed to pay for fuel at a hamlet.

So when he was at the hamlet, did he say to himself, "To pay or not to pay? That is the question?" Personally, I doubt it, but it really makes me wonder how long he could have eluded police if he'd simply paid for the gas.

They always say ("they" being your grandmother) that you should always wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident. Apparently, the same holds true if you take an extended test drive; it's always good to have a change of underwear in case you're arrested: "Mark Nash, acting senior-sergeant of Tennant Creek police, said that the man had packed belongings, including clothes and toiletries." Including a toothbrush.

Which is also a good thing to have with you in case you're going to jail.