Borrowing a car?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I decided that it’s been bugging me that our roommate has been using our cars a lot lately. Yes, we have him on our insurance policy. And we’ve been okay with him borrowing a car occasionally. But lately my DH and I both feel he’s been using the car a lot. Pretty much every weekend. Mostly because it’s winter and it’s hard to get around biking late at nights.

But here’s the issue we’r really having. A car is not a free item. It costs money to drive and maintain. Money which we fork over. But our roomie, since he doesn’t have a car isn’t aware of this obviously. So what’s our issue?

Well I think whenever you borrow someone’s car, you should fill up the tank. Doesn’t matter if you borrow it for 1 hour or 12 hours. If you drive it for 10 miles or 100 miles. Or whether the tank is full or empty when you get it. The person loaning you the car is doing you a HUGE favor by allowing you to drive the vehicle. Isn’t the least you can do is fill up their tank as a thank you. Considering that a car does cost money to maintain.

So I’m curious what most people would do in this situation? By the way, he’s a good friend, but for the past 4 weeksends he’s used a car Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. He will borrow the car around 6 and come home after we go to bed so easily after midnight. My DH and I rarely go out on the weekends without each other, so the car would just be sitting there.

Here's a poll on my blog.

However, I think we just feel that our roommate is just relying on the car and not realizing that perhaps he should fill up the car. Am I wrong? Should I talk to him about it?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I live where quite a lot of people do not have cars, even though we also do not have good public transportation. Those who don't have cars tend to be the poor, no surprise. So there is a lot of sharing of cars with family and friends. There are a lot of people driving their sister, or cousin, or neighbor two doors down to the grocery store twice a month or even dropping them off at work every day. Absolutely, "positutely," it is the custom here to fill the tank or at least give the driver "carfare," whether we are talking about a roomie, relative, or friend. The driver should not even have to ask. Someone who does not offer money or a tank fill is probably only very insensitve to how they are using the other person. I think a one time explanation and request would do the trick.

[disneysteve]

So I’m curious what most people would do in this situation?

I would not let another person borrow my car unless it was some dire emergency.

Since that obviously isn't how you feel, what I would do doesn't really matter. The question is what should you do. What were the ground rules when you first started allowing him to use the car? You said that he is on the insurance policy. Is he paying his share of the premiums? If not,why? If you didn't charge him anything at the outset because you thought it would just be a rare occurrence that he used the car, then you all need to sit down and discuss the fact that he's using the car a lot more than you anticipated and he needs to start paying for his share of usage, gas, maintenance, etc. if he wants to continue using it.

[GREENBACK]

If I borrowed your car like that the minimum I would do is put gas in it. I would say to him that at a minimum he should do that and pitch in for the insurance. You might throw in repairs and maintenance but that's your decision on how far to go with that. He needs to be "aware" of vehicle costs.

[Angio333]

I wouldn't expect him to fill it up. However, he should return it with at least the same amount of gas as when be used it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

The insurance is the same price. I think I wouldn't be upset if he would offer to fill the car during the week when we carpool. Or filled it up when he used it because he's been driving it more than me!

[autoxer]

Just sell him the car and then borrow it back.

[disneysteve]

The insurance is the same price.

That's irrelevent IMO. Your mortgage payment is the same, too, but I suspect, as a roommate, he is paying something to live with you.

Last week, we went to Atlantic City for the day. We invited a friend to join us. She voluntarily gave us money toward gas and tolls. Had she not come, we would have had to pay the same gas and tolls anyway, but she felt she wanted to chip in to show her appreciation for us taking her along. By the same token, he should be doing something to show his appreciation and compensate you for allowing him to use your car.

[kork13]

okay, so at my college, freshmen and sophomores weren't allowed to own cars, so they were frequently borrowing cars from the upper 2 classes... This issue is constantly present, and personally (having loaned my car many times, and borrowed many others' cars prior to getting my own) I TOTALLY agree with you.

It's a matter of courtesy. If I borrowed somebody's car, I always replaced what was used at the very least, but normally would fill it up. Particularly if I wanted to be able to borrow that person's car again, I'd make a point to always fill it up--they're more willing to loan it to you if they make out alright by it.

Same way when I loaned my car out. First, it was only to the select few I trusted with it. The one time that someone used it and didn't even bother to replace the gas they used, I made it a point not to loan it to them again. Sorry, that's just how it works.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Steve, that's it. When we carpool, it would be nice if he offered to fill up for gas. And Kork, I think I wouldn't feel bad if he did fill up because then it's like something for use of the car.

I don't worry about the insurance so much.

[autoxer]

I don't worry about the insurance so much.

You should. What will happen if he gets into an accident? Do you have a high deductible? Will he be able to cover it? If his accident caused your insurance company to raise the rates would you still feel the same?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We discussed it and he would pay to replace the car. The accident is with the driver where we live, not with the cars. Thus the rate did not change when we added him on. If he wrecked the car he would pay for the damages. That was previously discussed.

[autoxer]

What if he gets a speeding ticket and the insurance company raises your monthly rate?

[disneysteve]

The bottom line, to me at least, is that there is no reason why he should be getting totally free use of a car and free insurance. He should at least be paying for gas and a share of the insurance and possibly a share of maintenance costs if he is using the car a lot.

[bjl584]

We discussed it and he would pay to replace the car. The accident is with the driver where we live, not with the cars. Thus the rate did not change when we added him on. If he wrecked the car he would pay for the damages. That was previously discussed.

Are you sure about that? From what you said so far, he seems to be using your car at will and not even so much as putting gas in it. Do you really trust him to come up with money to fix it if it were wrecked or to come up with money to pay the higher insurance premiums that will most likely follow? I personally would never allow someone to use one of my vehicles if for no other reason, to avoid the situation that you find yourself in. It may be a hard thing to do, but I think that the best thing to do would be to take his car privileges away. IMO.