borrowing someone's car

[mafibisha]

So.... someone from DHs work wants to borrow his car for several hours, after they get to work. Not sure why he needs one (he has a job and all) and they're not really friends outside of work. Not even in the same department but it came up in the lunch room that he needed a car for an appointment and asked DH. But DH isn't feeling good about it. Yes the man has his own insurance (supposedly - does DH actually check like a policeman would if pulled over - awkward!)

Our insurance *does cover others driving our cars *IF* they have their own insurance.
However, this is the question:
Are there policies out there that do NOT cover others? So that DH could say that his policy doesn't? He should probably just say no but feels funny about the whole thing.

If you know, please let me know too asap. Thanks.

(awkward work situations suck LOL)

 

[i*heart*minniemouse]

So.... someone from DHs work wants to borrow his car for several hours, after they get to work. Not sure why he needs one (he has a job and all) and they're not really friends outside of work. Not even in the same department but it came up in the lunch room that he needed a car for an appointment and asked DH. But DH isn't feeling good about it. Yes the man has his own insurance (supposedly - does DH actually check like a policeman would if pulled over - awkward!)

Our insurance *does cover others driving our cars *IF* they have their own insurance.
However, this is the question:
Are there policies out there that do NOT cover others? So that DH could say that his policy doesn't? He should probably just say no but feels funny about the whole thing.

If you know, please let me know too asap. Thanks.

(awkward work situations suck LOL)

If they are not really friends outside of work, DH should just say no. It's not like he could be fired for not letting someone use his personal vehicle. Even if was a friend, I might even say no...."Sorry, I am just not comfortable lending my vehicle."
DD works for a big business that rents cars (E) and it is funny the stories she comes home with about people renting cars for friends who do not have a major credit card and then the 'friends' forget to return the vehicle and it has to be charged to the credit card for the additional days and the repo fee when they have to track the vehicle down and get it back. Sorry I got off track, but you just never know....

 

[englishteacha]

I'd just say, "Sorry, I don't feel comfortable lending my car."

Which is what I DO say!

 

[mafibisha]

If they are not really friends outside of work, DH should just say no. It's not like he could be fired for not letting someone use his personal vehicle. Even if was a friend, I might even say no...."Sorry, I am just not comfortable lending my vehicle."
DD works for a big business that rents cars (E) and it is funny the stories she comes home with about people renting cars for friends who do not have a major credit card and then the 'friends' forget to return the vehicle and it has to be charged to the credit card for the additional days and the repo fee when they have to track the vehicle down and get it back. Sorry I got off track, but you just never know....

I can just imagine what he must hear, wow!

I'd just say, "Sorry, I don't feel comfortable lending my car."

Which is what I DO say!

So you've been asked too?

I was really shocked when DH told me he'd been asked. I too, think its beyond uncomfortable. Just got a text from him and he did say no.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Kellydelly]

Our neighbor texted my dh last week to ask him how our extra vehicle was running. We have a third vehicle, which is a soft top Jeep that is currently winterized (as in special additive to the gas tank) and covered up. My husband knew that something was wrong with this guy's car, and that he had been trying to fix it that day. I was kind shocked that he would ask us to use our vehicle because his teenage kid has one, and so does his wife. His two teens could have doubled up (they go to different high schools on the same street), or his wife who only works within walking distance of their home during lunch hour for two hrs could have driven him to work and then had the car if she needed it (I think she drives one teen to school, and the other drives himself). He's borrowed our car before, but I think it was before they had their own 3rd car. I didn't think we should have to let them use ours, considering their own resources. Dh ended up ignoring the message, and he didn't ask again. It looked like he took the wife's car for a few days. I am in the "just say no camp," unless you are friends and really trust the person, and they don't have an alternative. I do like these neighbors, but really didn't get why they couldn't mix things up at their house and figure out how to get him to work with their own cars. (which I guess they did, after they put some thought into it !)

 

[phred52]

Someone wants to borrow your car? NOT a CHANCE! That's what rental car companies are for. Then ~when~ there is an accident, the rental company has the hassle and loss of use, NOT YOU!

Guess the co-worker figures the worst that can happen to HIM is your DH says "no". You've got to figure the worst that can happen to YOU, is ,well, a whole lot more than a verbal "no!".

 

[AshleeH]

Borrow my car? No. Not gonna happen. I might consider lending it to my best friend, but other than that - nope.

It wouldn't even be an insurance thing for me - it would be the fact that it's my car and I love it. Not to mention that I have no idea if they would wreck it, destroy the interior (by accident or not), leave it trashed, would it be a hassle getting it back? It's just not worth it - especially if you barely know the person.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I had a casual aquaintance ask once. She was a little shocked when I said I wasn't comfortable lending my car.

As others said, close friend or family member in a bind- totally different story. Aquaintance with an exceptional need, I'd offer them a ride.
Someone just wanting to borrow it- nope!

 

[mafibisha]

OP again

As I replied / updated a few posts ago, DH did say no.

Since then, the guy who asked DH is walking all over the office trying to find a car. So far everyone is also saying no. I actually feel a little sorry for him.

 

[NotUrsula]

Isn't it funny what a touchy issue this is for some people? (I'm not trying to suggest that their reasons are not valid, because I think that they are, but it's one of those things where people tend to go one way or the other.)

I grew up in a family where cars were largely community property, but my Dad maintained them all, and it was very clear that the slightest abuse of the "car pool" privilege and you would not only be denied the keys, but probably would be disowned as well, LOL. ANY transgression became an eternal part of my father's rotating repertoire of "can you believe what a stupid thing to do THIS was?" stories. So in my extended family we cheerfully toss each other our keys knowing that the car will be safe and will come back with a full tank.

My DH's family, OTOH, is very protective of their vehicles and NEVER share. I can count the number of times that I have driven my DH's car on my fingers, and we have been married for 21 years. Essentially, it only happens when we are on a long-distance drive and taking turns driving, or when one of our cars is in the shop. Even if I need to move his car slightly and ask for his keys to do it, he won't turn them over -- he'll get dressed and come out and move it himself. (He's a little paranoid because when he owned a sportscar he once loaned it to me to get to work while mine was in the shop -- I was knocked off the road [TWICE!] by a fishtailing semi trailer. The trucker was fully at fault, I walked away with nothing more than bruises, and the car was repaired perfectly after the accident, but DH was brokenhearted about it.)

When I was in college I knew a girl who turned out to be a pathological liar. One of the first insights that I got into her true character happened when a dorm-mate became frantic over the whereabouts of her car. It seems that she had loaned it to Liar Girl that morning so that she could go to a doctor's appt., but it didn't come back by 11 pm. She was about to call the cops when Liar Girl called to tell her what the delay was: after her dr. appt. she had decided to drive to the beach -- in Florida, five states away. She cheerfully told the car's owner that she would have it back in 3 days. To top it all off she then managed to hit two other cars in the dorm parking lot when she finally did bring it back.

 

[MineMail]

Just going back to the OP, how can you have car insurance if you don't own a car? I've never heard of that. I know a young person who borrowed/totalled a friend's car and the insurance company added her to the owner's policy.

My sister & BIL have three vehicles for two people and they have offered to loan us one when ours had to go into the shop for a few days. We usually just toughed it out with one car or called Enterprise for a cheap rental. Some of the dealerships we've had offered free loaner cars as part of their service plan, which has been a deciding factor in our choosing dealers.

I wouldn't lend my car to anyone other than family or BFF's.

 

[lady9]

We loaned our van to good friends for their vacation. They brought it back cleaned and topped off the gas tank.

 

[dex08]

If your DH doesn't feel comfortable with it and you don't either, just say NO.

 

[IUTBAM]

I would happily loan my car to a family member (including my siblings or their adult children..not teenagers) if they needed it.

To the poster whose husband won't let her drive his car...wow. I can't even fathom that. Does it bother you? I've been married 25 years, and I can't even grasp the concept of my DH not letting me drive "his" truck...both of our names are on the registration of each of the vehicles we own. Yes, I drive the sedan almost all the time, and he drives the truck. But for him to basically act like I couldn't? Oh he** no, that would never happen. I can't even imagine. I'm sorry. :/

 

[honeydiane1953]

No dear I know I wouldn't! Not a good idea. IF it was my family well SOME members sure but others NOOO. I wouldn't lend it out to anyone. Do u watch Judge Judy?

 

[NotUrsula]

I would happily loan my car to a family member (including my siblings or their adult children..not teenagers) if they needed it.

To the poster whose husband won't let her drive his car...wow. I can't even fathom that. Does it bother you? I've been married 25 years, and I can't even grasp the concept of my DH not letting me drive "his" truck...both of our names are on the registration of each of the vehicles we own. Yes, I drive the sedan almost all the time, and he drives the truck. But for him to basically act like I couldn't? Oh he** no, that would never happen. I can't even imagine. I'm sorry. :/

LOL, it's really not like that. If I went up to him and said, "You know, I really don't want to drive my car to work today, is it OK if we switch?" he would say sure. It also plays in that for years he literally *could not* drive my car, because I drove a manual until recently, and he doesn't know how to drive a manual, which contributed to the habit of not exchanging vehicles. We don't jointly title our cars, fwiw; he pays for his and I pay for mine; we do that because I prefer to have an independent credit history to fall back on should the need ever arise.

I also should have said that moving the cars usually involves our garage, and our garage is a very tricky place. It's a 1930's alley garage that is less than standard double-width, and there is a concrete retaining wall 12 feet opposite the door to it. I'm not used to maneuvering his car in and out like I am mine, so that concern is rather valid -- he won't park or pull out my car, either, unless it is an emergency, because I have a different-type vehicle than he does and he is not used to maneuvering it. He is afraid that he might hit the wall, and since it is a brick wall, that's probably just as well.

He's a great guy, really, and otherwise the most generous person you would ever meet; he's just a little twitchy about that car, because he saved up for it for a very long time.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I'm not a big fan of loaning vehicles because basically when you do you are putting everything on the line if the borrower has an accident. People are so sue happy these days. My alternative is that I will be happy to accommodate you by giving you a ride wherever it is you need to go.

 

[horseshowmom]

DD works for a big business that rents cars (E) and it is funny the stories she comes home with about people renting cars for friends who do not have a major credit card and then the 'friends' forget to return the vehicle and it has to be charged to the credit card for the additional days and the repo fee when they have to track the vehicle down and get it back. Sorry I got off track, but you just never know....

When I was in college in West Palm Beach, a girl I knew asked me if I would use my credit card to help her get a car since several of them wanted to go to Key West for the weekend (and I was the only one with a credit card). She wasn't very happy when I told her no, but even at 19 I had more sense than that.

So you've been asked too?

I grew up camping (motorhome and ski boat) with several other families who did the same. One of them once had somebody ask to borrow their motorhome. That just wasn't something you did.

Is
When I was in college I knew a girl who turned out to be a pathological liar. One of the first insights that I got into her true character happened when a dorm-mate became frantic over the whereabouts of her car. It seems that she had loaned it to Liar Girl that morning so that she could go to a doctor's appt., but it didn't come back by 11 pm. She was about to call the cops when Liar Girl called to tell her what the delay was: after her dr. appt. she had decided to drive to the beach -- in Florida, five states away. She cheerfully told the car's owner that she would have it back in 3 days. To top it all off she then managed to hit two other cars in the dorm parking lot when she finally did bring it back.

I would have reported the car stolen when I found out what she'd done.



OP, I agree 100% with your husband. I wouldn't have let them borrow it either unless it's a very close friend or family member.

 

[2disneyboys]

OP - Kudo's on your husband standing up for his "feelings'.

depending on what state you are in, insurance follows the VEHICLE not the driver, so, (for example, in VA), if the other guy has insurance or not is irrelevant. YOUR insurance would pay if the borrower had an accident... only way your insurance would get out if it is if you reported the vehicle stolen. so you could end up having big problems if you loan your vehicle out..

 

[Fire14]

as for loaning my car depends on person. My BFF or Dad yes, my brother NO WAY. In our household my Dh has his car and I have mine, I can drive either and have as Dh's car is my old car. When we go places together we take my car as it's newer and I think DH scecretly likes it better.
When I still lived at home I had keys to all the cars except stick truck I couldn't/refused to drive. My dad still has key to Dh's car since I lived at home when I bought it.