Am I a cf or is my aunt? Is £500 enough?

[Cantbloodyrememberthenameonthread]

My car broke down a couple of weeks ago. My aunt has a car that has sat on her driveway for a number of years, unused. It is nearly 30 years old, high mileage, aesthetically damaged (moss, dents, inside leathers damaged etc). Obviously no MOT etc but she said it would pass with flying colours.

my aunt offered me to use it until I sorted a new car. I asked how much she’d want for it and she just said “nothing just sort yourself out” I said I wasn’t going to use it permanently but would borrow for a couple of weeks (was happy to pay for a couple of weeks usage) and then return it.

It failed the mot. And I spent around £500 to get it through. I didn’t say, but I was a bit irked at having to pay £500 to repair a car I wasn’t keeping, but took it as a gesture of payment for letting me use the car. Around this time, my aunt said to my brother that she wanted me to pay £1000 for the car “as a favour”. When I checked the value the car was worth £1100 in mint condition on auto trader. This was never communicated to me at all and I was shocked. Shortly after, the car has broken down completely and had to be towed.

My aunt has expressed that she’s very much put out by the fact it’s broken down and has expressed she still wants the money for it, again this isn’t to me. I’m really annoyed. I feel the £500 I paid on the mot is more than fair, and if I’d have known she wanted 1k for it I’d have declined. Not least because it’s not worth that, but because I’d have bought another run around for that amount. My aunt is now sort of talking to other family saying it’s the last time she’ll do a favour for family.

I have sent her a message about all this but she never replied

AIBU here or is she?

You lost me when you paid £500 to get it past the mot

Why didn’t you hire a car? That would have been cheaper

Well in hindsight yes it would have been but it was all very rushed and a little bit forced. Plus now I’ve looked at car hire they want hefty deposits

Your aunt is being unreasonable, not you. The car wasn't road worthy and you have paid £500 for an MOT and repairs when she said that it would pass with flying colours. It has now broken down again so it obviously wasn't worth anything like £1k.

She's basically trying to con you out of £1000 for a worthless piece of junk.

Lost me at the point where an old banger say for years was even considered a reasonable option.

Take no notice of reports from other people. They may be wrong. I would contact the aunt directly saying that the car has broken down after you spent 500 on it, it's a shame but nobody's fault and thanks for offering it. Then consider it finished.

Your aunt is living in a fantasy world where the car is in the same condition it was 20 years ago. She has no understanding of the problems with it because it was perfectly fine when it just sat on her drive!

I think you need to have a straightforward conversation with her explaining that despite paying £££ to get it through the MOT it is still not roadworthy, what a shame but it is very old so not surprising it is not longer usable. And leave her to chew on that.

Off the point, but I think I'd be asking questions about the garage which issued the MoT given that the car broke down so badly shortly afterwards.

You put the car through it's mot to the tune of £500 and it then broke down quickly after? I would be getting back in touch with the garage ASAP.

If you haven’t heard it direct from the horse’s mouth, I’d say neither of you are CF. From reading your extract it sounds like you haven’t told your aunt you paid £500 to get it through its mot?
Talk to your aunt and ignore your potentially shit stirring brother!

Just say you will return the car and you never agreed to buy it. And it's already cost you £500.

She hasn’t asked you for any money so I’d just ignore the whole thing tbh. Is your brother a reliable source?

You were a bit optimistic to think that a battered mossy old banger would be a serviceable car, but if your aunt is really asking for this money, you need to have a frank conversation with her about why that is unreasonable.

I would just give her the keys back, if it’s breaking down it’s not got much life left in it! It’s just a money trap.

A grand for a wreck? She's having a laugh. I wouldn't give her 200 quid for it.

Charge her for removing it and set it off against her demands.

Why did you spend £500 to get a 20 year old, abandoned shit heap through an MOT?

30 years old!
Could have got a nice hire car for £500.

Then that's even more stupid 😬

Should have left it at the mot garage and got a hire car. You can get good deals for a week or twos hire

Yes he is, it’s came from a few family members. I know it’s true because I text her asking her if she could explain whilst also explaining that as id spent the money on the car I was shocked to hear her asking price etc etc. she didn’t address it but relayed the message to my other aunt and my mum

Anything that has moving parts needs to be used/moved or they deteriorate. You were naive to assume an unused 30yr old car would be okay and your aunt is deluded if she thinks it’s worth much more than scrap value. Take it back and don’t give her a penny, you’ve already spent too much on it.

Enterprise holds a fixed £200 deposit as long as you have the car on hire.

Opting for a car "covered in moss" and then paying a small fortune to get it through the MOT is just bonkers, but then you know that now. Do not give your aunt any more money at all. Get yourself to Enterprise and rent something new and safe.

I’ve tried to. It’s currently sat blocking my driveway. Tbh I want to scrap it to recoup some of the money but she wants it back. It’s going to cost to tow and she’s sort of hinted that I should pay for the tow since it’s broken down in my care. She also complained that there’s mud in the car, again, the car has a ripped dash ripped leather and a glove box that falls off when touched. She has been out with my cousin (her son) to try and see if it needs a new battery or something. Seems pretty certain she wants it back and has again made noise to other family about her being left in a bad position by me

She’s a CF, but your choices were totally silly, it was obvious it would cost a lot of money to get it through the MOT and I think it was pretty obvious it’d break down soon after too as it’s not been run in ages and an MOT isn’t enough to fix that, also you asked her how much she wanted for the car so invited the request. Do some research and make better informed choices next time

Your aunt is taking advantage of you when you’re in a tough spot. I would have the car towed back to her drive and then cut all ties with her indefinitely. There will be some fallout potentially with your family, she is trying to make you look bad and chances are she’s pretty good at this stuff and well versed in manipulation.

You’ve done nothing wrong.