Back in October I purchased a newer vehicle. Then I decided to sell my old car. I posted it on Facebook and didn't seem to get too many serious inquiries. There were several people who asked if I would be willing to take payments. After a lot of people had asked to see my car and didn't show up to look at it I decided that it might be a better idea to start accepting payments from someone instead of letting it sit around.
I contacted the first girl who inquired me about payments and asked if she was still interested and if she wanted to come look at my car. She said she was. She came to look at it later that day. She said she wanted it so I asked her to give me a day or two to come up with a contract for payments. I made up the contract and meet her a few days later.
The contracted had one section that stated if she was ever more than one day late on a payment that she would be responsible for a $50 late fee. This was only set up to discourage her from stopping he payments. This contract started October 17, 2014. Its now January 26, 2015 and I still have possession of the car. She has made every payment thus far with out being more than a day late. Now it's her last payment and she is three days late. Technically I have every right to collect this $50 late fee but now i'm conflicted because of other factors.
This car has been sitting around for three months while shes been making me payments. Now it would not start this morning. I had the battery tested and it was no longer any good. The cold caused the battery to no longer carry a charge. So I went to the store and bought a new one for $109. I feel like at this time it is no longer my responsibility to be putting money into this car. I've considered asking her to pay me back for the battery and telling her not to worry about this late fee.
What do you guys think about this whole situation? Should I just make her pay for the battery, or just the late fee, or both?
Hmm..this is kind of tricky. And since we need to comment on someone elses blog and you asked for opinions, I thought mine culdn't hurt, although it might not be much help. I think that if the car is actually officially hers and you explain that it was because it was sitting for so long is the reason the battery stopped working, she should pay for the battery. Now with is being the last payment and the battery was probably a expense she wasnt planning on, I would probably waive the late fee. Hope I helped at least a little:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your opinion! this is exactly what I did.
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