Experiences: Friends & relatives borrowing your car I was talking to my friend from Krishangiri (TN) yeaterday, and a common aquaintance of ours asked me for my bike to run some errand of his.
I refused in a nice manner. He was not pleased and left our company.
After that sour incident, the Krishangiri friend consoled me not to feel bad, as I had done the right thing and narrated his experience which, I don't know, made me feel bad for him or good for me.
This is a thread to post experiences of instances when things went wrong, after lending a vehicle to a friend/aquaintance.
I am sure there are going to be a lot of horror stories and lessons learnt, for the benefit of the members/community. Story 1: (As narrated by the Krishangiri friend)
He owned a RX 100 back then in Krishangiri.
A friend casually asked for his bike for some errands.
He obliged and handed over the keys. The dude returned in the
evening with a twisted mud guard, defective fork and handle bar.
Since it was almost dark, the extent of damage was not clear.
The reason he cited was 'He hit a buffalo crossing the road'
Since they were good/ok-ish friends, he did not mind too much.
The horrific ordeal started next day late afternoon. The TN Police
came hunting for Mr. Krishangiri. The cops asked him if he owned a vehicle
with the registration number (that of the RX).
He replied in affirmation. The cops asked him why did he flee the
accident scene yeasterday and asked him to accompany him to the Police
station since an elderly man was knocked off on the road and broken a leg & registered a complaint against him.
Mr. Krishangiri was shocked beyond belief as he had never been to
a Police station let alone being arrested. He kept on arguing, that he did not ride the bike and was used by an aquaintance. The police didn't pay any heed (and rightly so) as the vehicle was registered in his name.
The aquaintance who created the mess was no where to be found. Finally they found him but he denied all charges and refused to comply with any proceedings.
There followed a long ordeal and the lawyer of the elderly man concluded that he was the only earning member of the family and full compensation be paid along with imprisonment for Mr. Krishangiri.
After a lot of talking and discussion, the matter was settled out of court and Mr. Krishangiri paid the old man 40 grand (long time back).
You think its over ? No. The old man re-appeared an year after and demanded that the rod stuck in his leg had to be removed and due to complications more money was required.
The man was bluffing. Mr. Krishangiri flatly refused. The old man threatened to re-open the case and left. (The gloomy side of out of court settlement)
The next 2-3 months were gruelling for Mr. Krishangiri as he kept anticipating a court notice, which thankfully never came.
For the aquaintance, well, lets say they are not friends anymore.
So guys think twice before lending your vehicle to some irresponsible bloke next time. Story 2.
Night time. Crashed a Xansa party (Pancard club Baner road) to pick up a friend who was not exactly sloshed, but, lets say not walking in a straight line.
Guess what, he wanted to drive. It was my car registered in dad's name. I refused in a nice manner. He sulked the whole time till we got home. To this day we are not in that good terms. I mean we talk when we are in the pack of old friends, but never one to one.
So there we go. This is a big big decision to make whenever a friend or even a relative asks for such favours.
At one side there is the whole ordeal and the other side are sour relations.
People need to know/understand the protocol of 'I don't drive your vehicle and you don't drive mine'
Over to you guys.
Last edited by prince_pervez : 27th August 2009 at 08:08.
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