From Page A9 of the Toronto Star, Saturday March 11:
CORRECTION NOTICE
In Saturday March 11th edition of the Toronto Star Wheels section, incorrect information was published for the Ontario Toyota Dealers “Red Tag Days” newspaper advertisement.
The 2006 Toyota RAV4 listed the vehicle as having a total obligation of $3,321.30–$3,321.30 is incorrect on this model.
The legal disclosure should have stated the 2006 model RAV4 model as having a total obligation of $33,211.20
We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Also on page A9 of the Star that day, an article called “Suicide pacts on Internet rise in Japan.”
It seems that more and more car owners, discouraged at the “total obligation” required, are choosing to make the “final payment” a bit early.
Well we don’t know that they’re car owners, necessarily. Could be the bank owns the cars they use to commit suicide in. But it’s in cars that they’re dying, according to the Star story.
TOKYO—Six young Japanese were found dead from asphyxiation in a car yesterday, charcoal stoves still smoking beside them — apparently the latest victims of a surge in suicide pacts arranged over the Internet.
We don’t know why they commit suicide, either, and we don’t wish to make light of the situation. What motivated them to use a charcoal brazier, for example, instead of the old “hose through the window” routine? We don’t know. Maybe the cost of gasoline?
What do the experts say?
“Depressed, young people and the Internet — it’s a very dangerous mix,” said Mafumi Usui, a psychology professor at Niigata Seiryo University.
We’re sorry. Was that the internet you’re blaming? Gosh, we must have missed the part where they banged themselves repeatedly with computer monitors.
It’s the Car, man. The car will kill you, one way or another. Once you opt in, your “Total Obligation” is always higher than it appears in the Mirror (or wherever else cars are advertised).