When you lend your car/truck to a family or friend ....

I’ve enjoyed the comments. True it’s a luck of the draw loaning my truck. My gen 2 was returned with a small dent on the right rear corner. No mention of it let alone offer to get it repaired. One old friend. Done. I loaned my gen3 to on older(older then me) he used it to pick up a swing set for his grandchild. It came back with a full gas tank. No wash but I use to always do it on Saturday morning so no need. Going forward you borrow the truck… you get the driver too.

 

OK, this is a no shit story I swear! My neighbor 5 houses down from me has (had) a Barcelona Red SR5 and he lent it to his friend yesterday. His friend drove it literally 200 yards from the house, took a right at the stop sign and got creamed by a SUV he did not see coming. No one seriously hurt but the truck is a total loss.

Can I change my answer?

 

he completely missed it

 

What happened to the saying, “if you break it, you buy it?” That should be standard statement when loaning out anything.

 

who can afford any of those things!

So you're saying that would never happen to the current owner?

 

Usually do not lend out vehicles. if you need help to move something maybe I'll go with you to get it.
I lend tools to friends I trust often. One has a new tile cutter I've not even go to use myself yet, but I trust him and if he breaks it he'll get me a new one.

 

My answer would be a big NO! (This comes from bitter experience.) And my wife and I each have our own vehicles, and we don't drive the other's.

 

‘Lend’ my truck? Hard no.

Help others? On my very first Toyota truck, I helped transport folding metal chairs to an event. When it was over and we were loading the chairs back into the truck, one guy grabs three chairs and throws them across the top of the bed side, taking the paint off. WTF! His response: “What - it’s a truck.”

Your perception of what you’re loaning and their perception of what they're borrowing may not align.

 

NO to loaning anything. Whatever they need comes with me if I feel like it.

 

This is one of half a dozen options they can do - if they need help with the $$$, I'm happy to help and it's cheaper than destroying a good friendship.
F250 Flatbed Truck Rental F250 - The Home Depot

 

don't do it... when i first got my 2nd gen tacoma, my dad asked to borrow it one day. turns out he picked up a bunch of dudes at the train station to do some yard work at his house, stunk it up, and scratched up the quarter panels badly, like they just roughly threw brush into the bed or something. when he returned it and i complained, he said, "hey, its a truck". after that i told him to go pound sand

 

Yep - people think that just because it's a Truck they can treat it like a CyberTruck... or garbage truck take ur pick.
If it's a 25 year old Ford or Chevy that's been to hell and back that's one thing, but I keep mine in as pristine condition as I can.

It needs a good slow wash and wax but I can't get through a quarter-panel without popping a baby-aspirin and I keep my nitro
within reach at all times. This getting old business sucks - I might wash the tires and wheels on Tuesday and get to the top and the
cover the next day and then finish off the rest over a few more days....

 

Way back in college, the next town over organized a river paddle event. It looked like a blast.

I already had my canoe strapped to the roof of my truck when a classmate came calling, begging to borrow a vehicle so he could get his kayak to the launch point and participate. The girlfriend lent her Exploder.

When she got it back, the interior was stomped with mud like Rick James on a couch, and the gas tank was on fumes. That good friend stopped being a friend that day.

I remember thinking, I could have probably found room for that yak on my truck and he could have been a passenger in the back seat. And if I didn't get a thank you, so what, we could still be friends. But no, he borrowed a car and didn't display common courtesy of washing and filling it on the return. So fuck him, the uncool bastard. His number got deleted that day.

 

I will rent a car for my family or friends before I will loan them mine.

 

I think I'm a no except for my brothers or sister who, luckily for me, would never ask to borrow my truck. Anyone else I am offering to help but not loaning them my truck. I did borrow a truck from my old roommate's GF for a camping trip. I offered her my car to drive while I used her truck and offered my car as a 100% guarantee against her truck which was a beater. No issues with the loaner truck and she got to drive a nicer car for a week. That was a long time ago and not sure how that would play out today.

 

For those Friends and Family I am willing to loan my car out to, I never have to think about these topics because I know they would treat it as their own. If I did not feel a Friend or Family member exhibited this type of character, I would simply say "no".

 

If it was a really good friend, I didn't worry to much. For my Family members, this was the line I told them whenever they borrowed any vehicle.

If you Wreck it, Drive Straight to Mexico

Looking back I realize that telling them that didn't really make any sense. At on point in time I quit allowing my family members access to my cars or trucks, because they had wrecked them to many times in the past.

 

My family knows better because of strong personal responsibility and ethics we were given. And they have the resources or will find them to rent a U-Haul pickup for far less than the intra-family stress it can cause.

They would ask me to help by using my truck, but not just "thanks for the keys, see ya later!".

 

I remember going to see my truck before I bought it, I already knew I could get about 4.5 or so at my credit union and that it was probably the best going. But I let the salesman do his job figuring I'd watch his face sink when I dropped that on him. Says "I don't have to tell you your credit is excellent". I mentioned I was taught "guard your credit with your life, in many ways it really IS your life". Figured I'd tug the hook a couple more times and then he dropped that I'm approved for the financing already. I was just about to tell him I'm not interested and he said "oh and your rate is 0.9 percent confirmed". Haha..I kept my mouth shut and nodded in approval. Took my sweet ass time paying that loan off and continued to power pay my mortgage.

Rick James nods in approval of your post..and I hope you both gave him hell.