Runaway Prius AKA....Balloon Boy redux...

and noted in more than one message in this thread

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6130_102-0.html?messageID=3264874&tag=forums06;posts#3264874

You'll know more about what stories the on board computers can tell. I'd not be surprised to find this to be fake. Folks sow when the season is right.

.... slow to pat their bills. That was true in my husband's store. We also have had tradesmen say that
also had the same trouble. It's as if they can't be bothers, or, more likely, they don't have the money as they spend/charge what they have on show. Some people equate success with an appearance of success, which could of been true of this fellow.

The way I figure it, he must have leased that 2009 late in 2008 before the foreclosure was complete. Otherwise the lease would not have been granted. He might have been scraping enough together to keep on good graces there. Or putting the fees on his credit cards. IMO, he needed the car to keep up appearances, but might have been near to having that lease terminated.

My guess is that the dealership had no knowledge of his dire straits. The lease was between him and Toyota Financial Services. He said he had brought the vehicle in shortly before the "incident"m and the Prius was no impugned at that time. He had apparently learned how to play the odds.

That is, if the article is true.

However, I am always a tad suspicious of those who make the TV interview rounds being self-promotional, self-serving, and courting public opinion.

Angeline