RAY: This puzzler was sent in by Jeff Jacovelli from Montana. He didn't want to narrow it down to any city, in case anyone was looking for him. And he writes the following. "One day, this fellow gets pulled over by a cop and the cop says, 'I happened to notice, as you were driving by, that your inspection sticker expired six months ago and I'm going to have to give you a ticket.'

"The fellow says, 'Aw, man! Everything happens to me.'

"And the cop, of course, asks him, 'What do you mean?'

"And then he goes on to say, 'Well, you're not going to believe this but this is the first time that the car has been driven in seven months. You see, I was let go from my last job and while the security guards were escorting me from the building, I fell down a flight of stairs, broke my hip and I've had a pretty rough go of it, with the surgery, the steel pins, the rehab, the memory loss, you know, the enormous rash on my backside. Anyway, I've been home all these months and I haven't driven the car at all. And just yesterday, I got a job offer and I figured, I better get my inspection sticker because it expired while I was home sick, you know, and that's where I was heading right now.'"

TOM: A likely story!

RAY: Well, the cop buys it. "He says, 'Gee, I do feel pretty bad for you. That is a sad story and I don't want to make your life any worse by giving you a ticket. But before I let you go, I'm going to have to see your driver's license, just to make sure that it's valid.' So the fellow opens the door to the car, undoes his seatbelt and begins to get out. And he's reaching for his wallet to get his driver's license when the cop says, 'On second thought, I'm writing you a ticket, buddy. You're a liar.'"

TOM: Whoop!

RAY: This is not the first time that this car has been driven in seven months. The question was, what did the cop see? What the cop saw as soon as the fellow opened the door, was the little sticker that gas stations often affix to either the door or the door pillar that says, your next oil change is due in three months, and they put the date on it. And it gave him away.

TOM: Because it was three months ago.

RAY: Yeah, he'd had an oil change three months ago and if this is the first time he's driven the car, he's in deep trouble. So who's our winner?

TOM: The winner is Rick Johnson from Des Moines, Iowa. And for having his answer selected at random from all the correct answers that we got, Rick is going to get a $25 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at the Car Talk section of Cars.com with which you can get a copy of our CD, "Why You Should Never Listen to Your Father When It Comes to Cars," which, by the way, makes a great Father's Day gift, assuming the old man can take a joke, of course. If he can't take a joke, get him another tie, like you did last year.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]