Why wouldn’t you help them out now that you know about the problems? Because you tried to help them with those problems ahead of time, and can spend whatever charity you would spend on them on other people. I just don’t see how it’s a good thing to teach them that they can just go back to the seller and ask for a handout.
Frankly, it appears they are trying to guilt you into helping them, because otherwise I couldn’t think why they think it’s remotely appropriate to even ask.
The most I would do is tell them how to get it done cheaper (reusing an old transmission) and advise them that, if they can’t get done any cheaper, they might as well look for another vehicle.
Well, they’re going to learn something from the experience itself.
It’s not free to have a vehicle checked out before purchasing, so that could play into the decision not to get that done. I don’t think you are obligated to them, but I do think I’d try to come to some sort of compromise with them.
First off, motherofthyme, welcome to the Straight Dope. I hope you enjoy your stay.
If you gave, you could carefullyexplain how most people wouldn’t give (IMHO), that you’re not obligated to, and you are doing so out of generosity. For them, suggest they ‘pay it forward’ when they can do so. Generosity can not only be money, but also goods or services or time.
Hear hear!
My short answer to the OP here is no, you certainly are not obligated to help them out. Your struggling with what to do tells us you’re a kind and generous person.
Years ago when I had very little money I was on your buyers’ end of a similar situation. I bought an old car from a friend. It ended up being a very good car that I used for a long time, but early on the water pump failed. My friend the seller felt badly and I didn’t want him to. I said then that it was fine, I knew the car was old and that things would fail (hey, it’s a machine, and parts do eventually fail). I fixed it at my expense - I found a way to come up with the money and the car went on to serve me for a long time before I sold it to someone else, another friend’s sister who had little money. It served her for a long time, too.
I don’t know about Canada, but here in the states, you can lease a decent vehicle (new Toyota Corolla) for $150-$200/month with $2000 down. If I couldn’t afford a decent used car, I’d go that route.
So there are options for poor people who really need a car.
They asked for something ridiculous and inappropriate. Why create the impression that their request was reasonable? To refund them would teach them something as well, but the lesson would be that they needn’t bother to look out for themselves or act like adults, because probably someone will take care of them anyway. This could be very expensive for them later.
Um, what? Poor people usually don’t have the $2000 down, often have bad credit, and when they turn the car back in, they may end up owing a lot extra. Leasing is not a cheap option.
The people in the OP paid $1800 for the vehicle in question.
Leasing may not be cheap, but owning a car isn’t cheap. It’s one alternative for people who cannot afford to pay cash for a decent used or new car, as well as people who cannot afford to pay for a mechanic.
They also could have bought a car and used the $1800 as a down payment.
They should just grab a Chilton or Haynes manual and swap out the transmission themselves. People with no desire to get their hands dirty should stick to cars under warranty or be prepared to pay.
True. The point is that this buying this van wasn’t their only option. The fact that they chose to buy a 14 year old car, which runs the very real risk of needing mechanical work done sooner rather than later, when they had other options available to them, is not the OP’s fault or problem.
Wow. Do you have any idea what “poor” actually means?
First of all, the numbers you see advertised for leasing usually don’t include taxes and other fees, and the payment amounts are generally based on having excellent credit ratings. Guess how many poor people have excellent credit ratings?
Second, even if they could get this great leasing deal, you’re asking them not only to come up with two grand right now, but another $2000-2500 per year for the length of the lease (generally about three years). This annual payment can make the difference between eating and not eating for plenty of actual poor people.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, what happens when the lease ends? Now your archetypal leaseholding poor people have a choice: they can either come up with the buyout price for the car (guess how many poor people have this just lying around), or they can hand the car back and start the whole process over again, with another two grand down and another two or three grand a year in lease payments.
And none of this even takes into account the cost of insurance (usually higher for a new car than an old one), or the fact that leases have pretty strict rules about the condition of the vehicle and the number of miles you’re allowed to drive. If this is a family’s only car (not unlikely for a poor family), they might have considerable trouble staying under the 10K miles a year that is standard on many leases. They can, of course, drive further, as long as they’re willing to fork over 10-15c per mile for every extra mile they drive.
Yes, there are economies that come with buying a new car. It comes with a warranty, for example, so you’re less likely than a used-car buyer to be confronted by large or ongoing repair bills. But many of these economies only really come into play if you actually have the credit and can afford the payments in the first place, and i think you’re far too blase about how easy this actually is for poor people.