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Boyfriend's Dad being a jerk
Ok, so my boyfriends dad offered to sell me a car, that was valued at 6000, for 1500. He said eh wanted to keep the insurance and title in his name until the car was paid off. I had no problem with that, but when i was on my way to take him somewhere, someone ran a red light and smashed the car. its gone, totalled. now he wants to pay his random bills with the settlement! My bf thinks im being selfish by thinking that he should keep the 1500 that he would have gotten from me out of the settlement, and give me the rest to get a new car. Am i being selfish, or is his dad being a real jerk? I really think that he only wanted to keep it in his name so that he could reap the benefits if I got in an accident. Help! dont want to see his face everyday while im so angry at the fact that he's gloating that hes making out on the deal!
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It comes down to who legally was paying the insurance.
Even if the car was completely paid for, but the liability for the insurance was his, then the benefit from the insurance is his.
I know it doesn't seem fair, but since you didn't mention anyone in your car being hurt, I am guessing the accident was your fault, and because of this his insurance rates went up quite a bit. If that isn't the case, his rates still go up with most companies, so I guess that is something to consider.
I don't think it is cool that he is gloating about it, but try and remember how gloaty (is that even a word?) you felt when you found out you were getting a $6,000 car for $1,500! ;-)
As for keeping the insurance in his name... it is stupid to do that. Nobody does that if they don't care about you. If you wreck, that stays on their insurance for YEARS and costs them a great deal of money. Believe me, I have been through this and it isn't a good idea.
As for the question of are you being selfish, which was the actual question you asked after all... I don't know. It comes down to this:
Did you pay for the car?
If the answer is no, then you are being selfish.
If the answer is yes, then I think he should work some kind of deal with you to make sure you don't lose your initial investment in the car.
The most generous offer I can imagine would be a percentage deal: For example, let us say that you paid 10% of the price of the car. Then you would get 10% of the settlement. 50% of the car, 50% of the settlement. Make sense?
If after weighing all this carefully nad especially if either of the following items are true:
You didn't pay anything on the car.
The accident was your fault.
... and you still think you are owed something more than what I proposed above, then you are indeed being selfish.
Be mad... just be sure you are mad at the person who caused the accident and nobody else because that is the person who caused 100% of this problem. Before the accident there was no problem, right? See what I mean?
Good luck in your next vehicle purchase, and one bit of advice: Always, without exception... get EVERYTHING like this in writing. Had you a contract here, you would have a legal document that says what would happen and there would be no need to wonder who was being what. Make sense?
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he dropped the price a great deal 6000 dollar value only for 1500. I think you should be greatful for that and thank him and ask him if hed give you the chance to pay off another car from him sometime.
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Well, any smart man wouldn't want to keep his name on the car for "in the event of an accident."
See, that means if YOU were cause of an accident, HE is responsible, and therefore can be sued. Why? It's legally HIS car as long as his name is on the title.
This is what I think is RIGHT and FAIR:
From the settlement he should receive the amount owed on the car, the amount he paid for tags, the amount he paid for insurance. The rest of the settlement is YOURS. See, you could have been hurt, even KILLED in an accident. So what's left beyond what he is OWED, is yours.
If he don't like that, take him to small claims court. Sure, it will piss off your boyfriend, but if he is against doing right by you, then he doesn't deserve to be your boyfriend to begin with.
31/f
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I honestly don't think the man is being a jerk. Entering into an agreement such as the one you had with him is basically the same as any lending institution. What I mean by that is this: if you borrowed the money from a bank or credit union and you owed money on the vehicle at the time of the accident, and the car was totaled, then they would get their money first and you would get the balance--that is providing you had made payments. Now, if he is the one that made the insurance payments as well, then is entitled to recoup that money also. You never really said whether you had even made any payments so I'm just basing this on what you did say. I feel if you did make a few payments then the fair and righteous thing for him to do would be to at least give you that money back considering the car was a total loss.
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This is why you need to put things in writing, even with family.
You are both being selfish, you and his dad.
The difference is, his dad has the law on the side of his selfishness, and without some sort of contract, you've got nothing. Even with a contract, unless you had paid the full amount already, you probably still having no legal standing.
Until the car was in your name, the car was on loan to you. It wasn't legally yours.
It does seem a little unlikely that his dad was leaving it in his name just in case you got in an accident. If that accident had been your fault, he would have been the one penalized for it! That's a pretty big risk to take.
When he offered you the car at a faction of it's worth: that was just a situation that played to your favor. You didn't feel bad about taking the car at less then what he could get for it did you? It was a sweet deal for you.
When it got totaled, that was just a situation that played well to HIS favor.
Is he supposed to feel bad that you don't get a seriously discounted car? The way it is now is a sweet deal for him.
My point is: You two are morally equal.
You were willing, and now he is willing, to take advantage of a situation that is beneficial.
(Yes, even if he's being a jerk by gloating about it.)
Although it's all well and good to say 'You should keep the extra money and his dad should just get $1500" it's also pointless, 'cause the insurance company is going to pay his dad, not you, 'cause his dad is the one who owned the vehicle and paid the insurance premiums and his dad has every legal (and yeah, even every moral right) to use that money however the hell he wants.
The only thing you can fairly expect, is whatever amount of the $1,500 you had already paid him. Since you are car-less, and the transaction was never completed, it would be a fair and reasonable expectation that you shouldn't be out money on a car you never owned.
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Honestly, it was his insurance. The car was in his name. It sounds like you were basically paying him $1500 to use his car. Which means that if it wrecks, legally, it's his to deal with. If it were your fault, he'd have had to pay (or his insurance would have, making that price go up). It's only lucky on him that the accident wasn't your fault.
If you've given him any money so far, he should give you what you paid. For example, if you've already coughed up $500, he should give you $500 from the settlement. But in all honestly, I think the law favors him.
No offense, but I hope you learn from this - never take this kind of favor. It will usually come back to bite you in the butt.
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Here's the deal--you bought the car for $1500. You must have paid him something, so you take whatever you paid him, give him whatever of the settlement adds up to 1500, and keep the rest. It's not some big win-fall for him. He was willing to give up the car for 1500. You should be able to take the rest of the money and buy yourself another car. After all, wasn't the whole point for you to have transportation.
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