help with autosave

[Mark P]

I'm using emacs 21.3.1.  When I open a file in a directory in which I 
don't have write permission, auto-save gets upset that it can't create a 
.saves directory.  I get the following error message which repeats 
continuously (flashing at the bottom of the screen) until I kill emacs:

Creating directory: permission denied, [PATH]/.saves

I've tried M-x auto-save-mode to turn off auto-save and I still have the 
same problem.

Is there some way to make emacs give up when it can't create the directory?

Thanks,
Mark