I'll tend to my expired car warranty myself, thank you

It's about time somebody in Washington took some action against those invasive and persistent "your car warranty has expired" robo-dialed cell-phone calls. Apparently it took a senator getting bugged by a call in the middle of a health care meeting on Capitol Hill — Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, in this case — for something meaningful to happen. (Well, we'll see if it's meaningful.)

Schumer is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the companies behind these calls, which somehow get around (or ignore) the "Do Not Call" registry. Several states have tried to take action — but the calls continue, so maybe this is indeed a job for the Feds.

I started getting these calls a couple of months ago. At first I ignored them (just hung up), but finally I pressed "one" to talk to an agent. I asked the guy to tell me what kind of car I had and got a canned response that dodged the question. So I then asked how he knew my warranty was up. He hung up on me.

I did the same thing the next time I got the call, asking where they got my name. Answer: "From the database." Database of what? The agent hung up.

I did the same thing a third time --- this time told the agent I wanted to get a warranty extension on my 1948 Hudson. She said that was too old, they only warranted cars that are 1985 or newer. Did I have another car? I said no (since I was fibbing already). She volunteered to take me off the call list. I haven't heard back from them — but it's only been about a week.

My rule of thumb is, only do business with businesses with whom you initiate contact.