tough situation.. opinions please
 

I'm selling the Grand Cherokee that I had posted about here as well as my Cherokee for some money for car payments for the other cars. I brought it up the other night when I was at my cousins and she wants my cherokee and her mom (my aunt) wants the grand cherokee as a first car for her son who just turned 17 (also obviously my cousin). Neither of them can pay in full, and I'm not worried about my older cousin and the cherokee because although she's not great with money, i know she doesn't like owing anyone money, least of all me.

on the other hand, my aunt is in a very tough financial situation, and had to take on a part time job which she's not allowed to technically have, so its under the table. They can barely get their bills paid, and she has borrowed money from my parents and my grandmother and not paid it back when she said she would, if at all.

That's where the tough part comes in. I'm only asking $2000 for the Grand Cherokee, but she called me today and said she could only pay $100 a month, more some months depending on the commission she gets from this job she's got. That would mean it would be almost 2 years before its paid for, and as I said, she has a bad habit of coming up with "oh, next month" type excuses.

It's easy enough to say "well then just don't sell it to her" except she gave me a place to live when I needed one last year for a month and a half completely rent free. Didn't even ask for money for groceries, even though I offered, and I know the financial situation they're all in. She said she couldn't even think about asking me for money because she's my aunt and godmother and that's her "job" so to speak, is take care of me when need be, no matter how old I am.

So what I'm thinking of saying is that I will accept $100 from her a month, but I also want her son, who the car is for, to get a job, and also pay $100/month. Currently I don't think he has a job, and I know he just graduated high school, and he's a member of his towns volunteer fire dept. As good as it is that he wants to get involved with volunteer work, I think he needs to know that mommy isn't always going to buy things for him, and volunteering doesn't pay the bills. Even if he does go to college (i'm not sure what the plan is as of now) he should be able to hold down a part time job too.

This side of my family I'm very close with, and my cousins and I are much more like siblings than cousins, so I may be able to say that and get through to him. Anybody have any other ideas?

ill take the grand cherokee for 1800 at 113 a month

Sell the jeep, use the money to help them out? Tell the kid to get a job to pay for a car?

question really seems to be how much do you need the money?

i need the money pretty badly.. thats why im going back to my old job and got the hhr for the fuel mileage, to save money and make more.

The idea about making him get a job and help pay for it is a good idea, but what if he quits a week later and the Jeep is already in his name? What if they cant pay each month and they come up with excuses? Selling things to family that you are close with can sometimes lead to driving you apart and not being close anymore. Tough call.

If I was in your place I would either:

a. Donate the car to them, because of what they have done in the past for you. Think of it as karma for her, although I do not believe in that stuff sometimes you gotta help people out that are in need, and if they are your family you can sometimes help out a little more.

b. Sell the car for the full price to someone else.

I don't know how much of a difference 100 dollars means to you, but that is what I would do. Now you just have to think if you want to be nice or if you want to have extra (possible) 100 bucks for the next two years. Personally, I'm leaning towards option a.

That's what I was thinking and why I asked how bad she needed the money :-?

yeah, if i was more financially secure i wouldn't think twice about giving it to them, unfortunately thats not the case. I'm only selling it because I need the money, and now she's got her heart set on giving it to him.

Maybe donate the red one to them and do the deal with the white one?

She doesn't live at home, she's perfectly fine paying for the red one so thats all figured out, its her mom and brother buying the white one that i'm having a tough time with. I just got off the phone with her and she said she also knows how slowly her mom tends to pay for things, and if there's ever a time that she doesn't make a payment and I need it, she'll pick it up and her mom can owe her the money. I guess thats probably the best situation.

Anyone who knows me well knows that typically I'm not a person who cares about money. I put on a lot of parties in college for people here and never asked for anything in return, and generally when people need to borrow money, I don't ask for it back. Recent events have made it so that I am in a tough spot, and need money just so I can pay my bills.

that is very tough, but i guess i would suggest the son picks up a paying job and helps to purchase the jeep with his mother. he is going to have to insure it, gas it, fix, and maintain it so he will need money.

since you need money and she has little why not offer her the truck at a super cheap price??? 600 bucks or something??? that way you get something and she gets a ride

I don't know you but I'm in the same boat as far as finances go. I think a lot of people, even those with jobs that pay a decent wage, are feeling the crunch lately.

The problem I see with all of this is that your aunt wants to buy the Jeep from you for her son (Presumably as a graduation present). If this ride was specifically for her, then I'd be more apt to make the deal with her and not complain too much if the payments were late (The old 'blood is thicker than water' adage). If this car is for someone who is 17 or 18 and capable of getting a job, I'd try to make the deal with him instead of her. You want the Jeep? Fine. Get a job and make payments on it. I don't know what he's planning on doing with his life, or whether or not college is on the horizon in the fall, but obviously he's not making money as a vollie firefighter. He needs to step up and learn some responsibility.

If it were me, I'd sit down with her and explain that money's tight right now and you need to sell this Jeep to someone who's going to pay for it, and if it's for him, he needs to shoulder the responsibility. If you're as close to her as you say, she should be able to listen to that. This just seems like an event where someone's feelings are going to get hurt whether you do it or not, so why not make the terms?

Just my two bits.

ok, sell it to her (and her son, whatever), and make that "he gets a job" part of the deal. if he loses the job, you repo the car. easy enough.

raise the price to $2500 and if all the payments are made in a timely manner, give her the last 500 as an incentive. so, if she makes all the payments on time, she'll only be paying the 2k you originally wanted. but, if she misses a payment, for whatever reason, then she'll pay the 2500. i think that is easy enough on her. it's not like you're giving her charity. you're just going to make sure all the payments are on time, since she'll be saving 500 if she does so.

Yeah, that's what I would do too.

Good info here....dealing with family with money is grounds for losing family. Trust me, it gets bad....been there, done that, both sides of the family and it isn't as nice as it seems.....

Get whatever you get in writing, and PLEASE, even if its family, get it notarized just to protect you later on. 2 years worth of payments now sounds reasonable, but 9 months from now when he's unemployed isn't going to help you any....

Plus the 'incentive' is a good mark. Even if you 'write it off' at the end of the term, its still a good deal for everyone.

Regardless....I hope that it all goes smoothly for you. I know about tough times....

I think we might be related....I have the same aunt....you're either my long lost sister or a cousin that we don't speak of...

Tsar actually made a pretty good statement that I'll back in this case, either give it to them with nothing expected in return or move on & sell it. Best thing to do would be to tell her the truth in that this will help pay your bills & that $100 a month for 2 years just isn't feasible right now.

That $2000 even at 5% interest would earn you an extra $205 interest over the next 2 years that you could have selling to anyone else.

If you wanna do the karma thing thats fine but you can get out of this by telling the truth as well IMO