DP says I screwed up. Please tell me I didn't!

[mamateur]

Or as you wish. DP has had a knackered old van parked in the city where we used to live for over a year. He nearly got around to selling it about six months ago, was offered 550 (it had 6 month's MOT). Since then, I've had to renew the tax which had actually run out (I spotted the letter in the post) as I could have been towed. But he didn't quite manage to get round to closing the deal, and the van continued to grace a private road (no doubt annoying the neighbours as it's not exactly a chariot of gold). We just moved and need a dishwasher and tumble dryer, so I said to him I would sell it for him and use the money for that. He agreed. The MOT runs out at the end of November. I stuck it in a car mag for 400. He was a bit cross and said it was worth 500 which it probably is. I reminded him that was with 6 month's MOT. Then I got really bad flu so instead of going up there on the train (£20) and hanging around with DS (14 months and steaming around like a train) for viewings, and with one week before the MOT expired, I mailed the keys to a guy who sounded serious about buying it. He went round, started it with jump leads (not be driven for a year) and offered me 350 because someone has daubed graffiti over one said and it will cost a bit to be resprayed.

So I just told DP I got 350 and he hit the roof.

AIBU?

It's a 1997 ford escort van by the way. We drove to Berlin and back in it when I was heavily pregnant

Balloonslayer, I'll mail the docs when I see the money in my account. I have his home address etc. so he'd be pretty daft to run off with the old crapheap.

"mamateur Wed 24-Nov-10 11:27:06
LeQ's story has more panache than mine...
"

where? I missed that?

LeQ's DH lost a car, IIRC...

If your DP has sat on his bem for a year while his nasty old vehicle rusts into the pavement in a different city, he has no right to yell at you when you go to all the trouble of getting some dosh for it before you have to pay up for tax and MOT again. He is BVU indeed.

Men can be very odd about cars though. I 'shared' a horrible old car with my brother once, which meant in practice that it was insured and registered in my name, as I was older and female and it improved the insurance premiums, but he drove it everywhere and I had to argue for ages with him and then spend an hour on the Tube to go and fetch it if I ever wanted to drive it. Meanwhile he just picked up parking tickets left right and centre, that then got sent to me.

Oh I only said that mamateur because I thought that was the screwup - getting £350 isn't a screwup at all, it's a bloody result!

Stealth, take a look here

Your DH is a total twerp. I live on a private road and when cars are left here (it happens more than you'd think) I wait a week, check with all the neighbours and then report to the council who arrange for it to be towed and crushed. When the owner turns up to get their car the council then give them a bill to cover the cost of disposing of their vehicle.

So if you end up with 350 he should be bloody glad because he could have ended up with a pile of crushed metal and a big fat bill.

Blimey! Tell him there are other things under the "your machines" label and he won't get any use out of that for the next week or so!

Im with GoingtoBonniedoon its the poor residents on the street I feel sorry for getting to look at some van mouldering away and taking up a no doubt valuable parking space. Grrr

A taxed car cannot be towed and crushed just because it's been left for a week!

OldLady yes it can.

From a council website (not my council, don't want to say where I live):

If, in the officer's opinion, the vehicle is in such a condition that it ought to be destroyed then it will be destroyed as soon as this can be arranged. The council does NOT have to wait for the expiry of a licence

If, in the officer's opinion, the vehicle is NOT in such a condition that it ought to be destroyed:

If there is neither a licence displayed nor a registration mark then the vehicle will be destroyed as soon as this can be arranged.
If a licence is displayed then the council must take steps to identify the owner of the vehicle:
If no owner can be identified then the vehicle will be destroyed as soon as this can be arranged.
If the owner can be identified they will be served notice requiring them to remove the vehicle in 7 days.
If the vehicle is removed, reclaim costs and fines, e.g. FPN.
If the vehicle is not removed then the council can dispose of the vehicle however they think fit, including sale.
The council will inform the relevant authorities that the vehicle has been disposed.

It won't be crushed after a week, I mean I wait a week to contact the council then they look after it from there. They start by putting a notice on it which is often enough to make someone move it, but as the OP's DH is in another city he wouldn't see the notice.

Thanks, GoingToBonnieDoon, but that genuinely shocks me; you can leave a legally taxed, MoT'd and insured vehicle legally parked while you go on holiday, and just because some council official thinks it looks a bit skanky, they can destroy it!

Glad I have plenty of safe, off-road parking!

[farm dweller]

OldLady if you were just going on holiday then you'd be ok, you'd have a notice on it at worst when you got back (unless you were on a really long holiday!).

Mind you, I think parking on a street and leaving it whilst you go on holiday is still really rude but thats another thread

Obviously I mean some random street, not your own. If you parked outside your own house it it wouldn't be reported because the neighbours would know that it was your car and it wouldn't look out of place.

I was about to mention that...

Personally I think you're a saint and you could just about scrape the appliances with that/ Left to dp you'd have nothing...except a fine to pay for towing the untaxed van.

I am still amazed he has said anything other than 'Mamateur - you're a star!! xx'

YANBU - good for you, I had a rotting old car sat on the drive for 6 years, because when I got a newer car I was going to sell it to a friend for a cheap price, but DH said NO its worth more than that, but didn't do anything about it, eventually the tax and mot ran out, tyres went down and it actually housed lots of bugs, birds and fauna. After years of telling him to sort it out, it was finally towed away for £30.

I think ccpccp is Mamateur's dp!

Just had a look on Wisebuyers website. Unfortunately they only go back to 1999 for prices, but for a 1999(T) Escort Van with average mileage you would expect to pay anything from £105 (poor condition) to £565 (good condition). Bear in mind, that these are prices for a van which is 2yrs younger than yours was.

As the van hasn't been driven for over a year, needs MOT'd, taxed and has graffiti daubed on it, I would say you have got a very fair price at £350 and your DH should be bloody grateful.

ChippingIn my sentiments exactly.

Rosiegirl, that is exactly the scenario here. Another couple of weeks and it would have been scrap.

Actually, possibly stupidly, I've told him I was so insulted by his words I have contacted the seller and told him unfortunately we have to retract the sale which is quite untrue. I wish I hadn't because I'll look a bit of a twat myself ultimately, when the house is garlanded with white goods but the sour look on his face warmed me...

It's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it - end of. Money in the bank is what's important so you did the right thing.

And you can inform him that your machines are unavailable when he wants his clean clothes and clean dishes...

I'm astounded that you posted the keys to someone but you got the job done in the end! Agree with the others- if he really cared all that much, he'd have done it himself. TBH he doesn't sound too smart in terms of economics, if he can't understand the train costs + taxes and whatnot you'd have had to pay if you'd kept it any longer. Also, what something is 'worth' is what a buyer is willing to pay for it, not what a seller is wishing he could get!

YANBU!