Car guys, I have a question..

[kimblebee]

It’s a little weird to me too but maybe he’s short of cash? Maybe he has to go way out of his way? Maybe it takes a lot of extra time.

All I know is if I needed help, I wouldn’t complain about the help I got, even if it came with a cost.

We didn’t ask him to drive, he volunteered in the first place. We had other transportation sorted out.

I suppose. Again I've luckily never been in a spot so tight that I literally wouldn't have been able to afford to help. And factoring in compensation for the time? I'd feel that's wrong no matter what the situation. As to the bolded, my heart goes out to anybody who has very few people to rely on - that must be hard.

(Not sure if you followed the thread that ran for 6 months, but the DH in this scenario suffered an prolonged, life-threatening illness. My guess is his need for a ride at all is in the aftermath of that.)

Yes, he still needs a ride to and from work but he’s been able to take the dog for walks without a walker now.

Oh, I’m aware.

WTH does that mean? No one sent you an invitation to read it. If you didn’t like it, you could have moved on.

 

[jrmasm]

We didn’t ask him to drive, he volunteered in the first place. We had other transportation sorted out.



Yes, he still needs a ride to and from work but he’s been able to take the dog for walks without a walker now.




WTH does that mean? No one sent you an invitation to read it. If you didn’t like it, you could have moved on.

If the arrangement doesn’t work for you, move on.

I distinctly remember a thread you started about how awful bil is. I’m shocked you’d accept his help with transportation and pet care.

 

[kimblebee]

If the arrangement doesn’t work for you, move on.

I distinctly remember a thread you started about how awful bil is. I’m shocked you’d accept his help with transportation and pet care.

I do it for my husband. He’s the only blood family he’s got. If it was up to me, I’d leave him in the dust.

 

[fla4fun]

When I had to rely on a good friend for transportation for about six months because I was between vehicles, we had a discussion before it started and I offered to pay what I would have paid to take public transportation and she was good with that. Yes, I could have taken that bus, but riding in a private vehicle was a better proposition (although I was so happy when I could afford my own wheels and stop the car pool!).

There are some people who will offer a favor and then take advantage of the opportunity in one way or another. Sounds like that may be the case here. Sorry you have to deal with that on top of everything else.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm not a math whiz by any means, so I could be wrong, but going by Sam's example and what SteveH said (bolded):

If you are talking about a truck, not a car, then you will want a gas engine for in town use. The diesel truck is designed for torque (think towing) it is not tuned for daily low speed driving. Your MPG will suffer and long term the engine will not perform as well. Now if you take something like a VW sedan, it's tuned for in town use and better MPG. I had a great F350. I would tow my 39' tow hauler fully loaded with 4 ATVs and get about 12MPG, in town no load I got about 12MPG gallon. With the higher diesel cost the math didn't add up for our needs.

How many miles a week is he driving your DH? Diesel around here is ~$2.80/gallon. $70 would at that price would get you 25 gallons. At 20mpg (which is actually pretty low IMO), that's 500 miles.

Figuring 12mpg (instead of 20)...

That would be 300 miles, divided by five days/week, that's 60 miles per day (total), or 30 miles each way, for that $70. That seems pretty reasonable.

You haven't said how far they drive (unless I missed it).

DH had an F150 at one time and was spending $90 or more/wk commuting when gas prices went up. We traded it in.

My DS and DD have cars in college when not all of their friends do. They do a lot of driving with them, and parking, and taking them places, and it's rare for them to get any money to help out, even when they ask.

I don't know what the agreement was (not sure why groceries or whatever), but with this breakdown, I don't see anything devious. A different type of vehicle would yield better results, but that's probably not happening.

 

[kimblebee]

I'm not a math whiz by any means, so I could be wrong, but going by Sam's example and what SteveH said (bolded):



Figuring 12mpg (instead of 20)...

That would be 300 miles, divided by five days/week, that's 60 miles per day (total), or 30 miles each way, for that $70. That seems pretty reasonable.

You haven't said how far they drive (unless I missed it).

DH had an F150 at one time and was spending $90 or more/wk commuting when gas prices went up. We traded it in.

My DS and DD have cars in college when not all of their friends do. They do a lot of driving with them, and parking, and taking them places, and it's rare for them to get any money to help out, even when they ask.

I don't know what the agreement was (not sure why groceries or whatever), but with this breakdown, I don't see anything devious. A different type of vehicle would yield better results, but that's probably not happening.

There’s no formal agreement. We would get him groceries or whatever when he needed. My husband was taking Handi Transit (a door to door service for people who need transportation but can’t take a traditional bus) and his brother offered to drive him to save us money (ironic, as Handi transit is cheaper).

I don’t know how many miles he drives a day (have no concept of miles anyway) but it’s maybe 30 minutes round trip and normal 50-60 km per hour speed.

 

[Klayfish]

Diesel engines are typically more fuel efficient...though with the gains gas engines have made in the past 20 years the difference isn't as big as it once was. Some manufacturers even put out misleading info about their diesels now (i.e. VW, who builds absolute junk cars anyway). Diesel trucks are designed for low end torque, which means power to pull from a dead stop for example. However, there isn't going to be a HUGE difference in fuel economy for the two given the scenario you describe. Diesels also have some big downsides. Some are horribly troublesome, such as the Ford. Also, diesel fuel tends to cost significantly more than gasoline, so any mpg savings is eaten up by fuel cost.

As for brodozers, each to their own, but not my cup of tea.

 

[tvguy]

If you are talking about a truck, not a car, then you will want a gas engine for in town use. The diesel truck is designed for torque (think towing) it is not tuned for daily low speed driving. Your MPG will suffer and long term the engine will not perform as well. Now if you take something like a VW sedan, it's tuned for in town use and better MPG. I had a great F350. I would tow my 39' tow hauler fully loaded with 4 ATVs and get about 12MPG, in town no load I got about 12MPG gallon. With the higher diesel cost the math didn't add up for our needs.

I respectfully disagree. Simply because a diesel used far less fuel at idle and slow speeds than a gas engine. And that makes a difference in town driving.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Something else to think about:

diesels have higher emissions of NOx and much higher emissions of particulate matter

 

[Searc]

It’s a little weird to me too but maybe he’s short of cash? Maybe he has to go way out of his way? Maybe it takes a lot of extra time.

All I know is if I needed help, I wouldn’t complain about the help I got, even if it came with a cost.

Or maybe he's just a butt munch moocher?

 

[Searc]

There’s no formal agreement. We would get him groceries or whatever when he needed. My husband was taking Handi Transit (a door to door service for people who need transportation but can’t take a traditional bus) and his brother offered to drive him to save us money (ironic, as Handi transit is cheaper).

I don’t know how many miles he drives a day (have no concept of miles anyway) but it’s maybe 30 minutes round trip and normal 50-60 km per hour speed.

Go back to Handi. Cheaper for you and you won't be enabling your BIL's mooching.

 

[JLTraveling]

BIL sounds like my uncle. When my mom died, my dad and I went to Florida for a few weeks to have a funeral for family and spend some time with loved ones. Mom's sister insisted we stay with them (we had an RV and were planning to camp nearby). They put us in an unfinished addition to the house and presented us with a bill for water and electricity. They're financially very well off, so it wasn't that they needed the money. We stayed a few days until the funeral was over and then got out. Definitely go back to Handi. People like that are not worth what they put you through when "helping out."

 

[Disneybuckeye]

BIL sounds like my uncle. When my mom died, my dad and I went to Florida for a few weeks to have a funeral for family and spend some time with loved ones. Mom's sister insisted we stay with them (we had an RV and were planning to camp nearby). They put us in an unfinished addition to the house and presented us with a bill for water and electricity. They're financially very well off, so it wasn't that they needed the money. We stayed a few days until the funeral was over and then got out. Definitely go back to Handi. People like that are not worth what they put you through when "helping out."

I have no words......

 

[Pea-n-Me]

BIL sounds like my uncle. When my mom died, my dad and I went to Florida for a few weeks to have a funeral for family and spend some time with loved ones. Mom's sister insisted we stay with them (we had an RV and were planning to camp nearby). They put us in an unfinished addition to the house and presented us with a bill for water and electricity. They're financially very well off, so it wasn't that they needed the money. We stayed a few days until the funeral was over and then got out. Definitely go back to Handi. People like that are not worth what they put you through when "helping out."

Wow

 

[tarheelmjfan]

BIL sounds like my uncle. When my mom died, my dad and I went to Florida for a few weeks to have a funeral for family and spend some time with loved ones. Mom's sister insisted we stay with them (we had an RV and were planning to camp nearby). They put us in an unfinished addition to the house and presented us with a bill for water and electricity. They're financially very well off, so it wasn't that they needed the money. We stayed a few days until the funeral was over and then got out. Definitely go back to Handi. People like that are not worth what they put you through when "helping out."

Sadly, I'm not surprised. My wealthiest relative is also the one that takes more & gives less.

 

[kimblebee]

Sadly, I'm not surprised. My wealthiest relative is also the one that takes more & gives less.

He’s not rich by any means. But, he knows we aren’t either.


We’ve made a compromise. Husband is going to take Transit to work and get get a ride home. I understand why he doesn’t want to use Transit to get home. You are picked up at a specific time and if you aren’t there within five minutes, your ride leaves and you’re sol. If he gets stuck on a long call, he’d miss the time.

To show I’m not totally awful, I did something nice for BIL last night. He’s in a lot of pain (from what I don’t know) but he’s been asking if we have had tylenol he can have because he doesn’t have spare money to buy some ($70 probably went for ordered food). Anyway...we went to Costco a few days ago so we have a ton of Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve. I put a bunch of each in a bottle and gave it to him last night. No one wants to be in pain with no way to stop it.

 

[mjkacmom]

He’s not rich by any means. But, he knows we aren’t either.


We’ve made a compromise. Husband is going to take Transit to work and get get a ride home. I understand why he doesn’t want to use Transit to get home. You are picked up at a specific time and if you aren’t there within five minutes, your ride leaves and you’re sol. If he gets stuck on a long call, he’d miss the time.

To show I’m not totally awful, I did something nice for BIL last night. He’s in a lot of pain (from what I don’t know) but he’s been asking if we have had tylenol he can have because he doesn’t have spare money to buy some ($70 probably went for ordered food). Anyway...we went to Costco a few days ago so we have a ton of Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve. I put a bunch of each in a bottle and gave it to him last night. No one wants to be in pain with no way to stop it.

He doesn’t have $4 for generic ibuprofen? No wonder he was asking for gas money.

 

[kimblebee]

He doesn’t have $4 for generic ibuprofen? No wonder he was asking for gas money.

This is turning into a bil bashing thread and that’s not why I started it. It was about diesel vs gas and I got my answer.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

This is turning into a bil bashing thread and that’s not why I started it. It was about diesel vs gas and I got my answer.

Sorry, if you thought I was bashing your BIL in my post. I was replying to @JLTraveling. My post had nothing to do with your BIL.

 

[kimblebee]

Sorry, if you thought I was bashing your BIL in my post. I was replying to @JLTraveling. My post had nothing to do with your BIL.

Nope, it was a general comment that I quoted someone else on. I don’t care if he gets bashed, it’s just not why I started the thread. I get that they meander but this one doesn’t need to go down that path.