The "free" car

[PrincessFiona]

Alex's Kung fu master gifted him a 1993 Toyota Celica that had been sitting in her garage for 2 years that was in "perfect" condition. It only has a little over $100k miles on it. She doesn't pay him for all of his teaching and she literally insisted that we take it. Although it was a nice gesture, I didn't feel we could accept it and told her as much.

She and her husband texted and called us repeatedly and we finally agreed to pick it up. They are both very old-school Chinese and had been very offended by our refusal.

We picked up the car a few weeks ago and immediately noticed that the engine was very loud, the driver's side seatbelt was broken and the gas gauge was also broken. I had to buy a new battery immediately because it was dead.

Fast forward to yesterday. I took the car to a very trusted repair shop to have it looked at/ repaired. Getting the car safe to drive is costing me $3000.

😱

I have no choice though.

Obviously, this is still cheaper than buying him a clunker, but .... It's a lot of money for a free gift! LOL




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[Meenah]

Wow! I don't know what to say!

[ides]

Wow! Thanks for forcing the half broken car on us?

[PrincessFiona]

Wow! Thanks for forcing the half broken car on us?

That's how I feel!


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[Ladybug]

You can always junk it and tell them the mechanic declared it unsafe for Alex to drive and you know they wouldn't want to endanger him. You can probably get a much safer car or lease for 3K. Think if it as an economic and safety decision, no guilt allowed.

[MrsK]

I'm with ladybug.

[OrionGrad]

Can't you sometimes donate cars for a tax write off, too?

[ides]

I like ladybugs idea. Dh got a safe older car for 2k in fellowship off craigslist.

[metroguy]

for 3k, it's safer/cheaper to buy a newer used car.