Monday, August 24th, 2026, 8:21 am
Outcomes Where Both Parties Lose
Filed under: 
wrote something yesterday and it is something that seems to have attracted attention. My point was, sometimes the court says “you won”, but in reality it’s a bit like poker face (crossposted for emphasis with another title). Sometimes the judge knows upfront no money will be paid, as it simply cannot be paid, but then follows the procedures to set the records right for the court, not for parties. That’s just how the system works.
There’s an anecdote here. Someone cited my article (also from yesterday) that said “life expectancy of a new car is now 7 years”.
He said that “about 20 years ago, a dealer tried to cheat my dad out of a particular lifetime guarantee. He, fortunately, had all the receipts even through they tried to prevent him from that by attempting to “forget” to give him the receipts several times, forcing him to stay and press the issue. However, having all the receipts, there was no way out for the dealer which even tried to buy the car from him, with increasing offers. The dealer eventually took the matter to court. Technically they lost, and had to honor the lifetime guarantee. But in reality it became a major victory for them because the court decided that the lifetime of a car is 7 years from then on. Setting the definition of lifetime of a car at 7 years, established a throwaway culture for the vehicles and rewarded negligence by the dealers…”
So what sort of outcome is this? As an aside, regarding “modern” cars (that physically cannot long): “Proprietary firmware and other forms of technological obsolescence will only worsen that. Proprietary diagnostic APIs being among the worst. Once the last of the independent mechanics are gone, watch out!”
The planet has processes, but not all human processes lead to all parties – if any – being happy. Sometimes only the lawyers win (fees, bills).
