doomgaze

I'm trying to decide what the proper etiquette is in this situation. We borrowed a 2001 Ram 3500 6 speed from our friends to haul our gooseneck trailer to a horse show this past weekend because my truck was in the shop.

Literally, as we pulled into our driveway at 1:30am last night the tranny died. (I believe its a cylinder issue... no clutch pressure at all) I had to stall it out to keep from plowing into the other trailers in our driveway.

Anyway... what do you do when a truck you've borrowed breaks down? Are we expected to pay for it? What would you do?

raymond21

Several of my friends and I borrow trucks and equipment from each other all the time, sometimes without asking (that's just how we roll). If we break it we call and tell them what happened, when, and how we are going to get it fixed. This is when the decision get made. We either say go ahead, or, don't worry about it, that was probably gonna give me a problem next time I used it anyway.

Depending on who you borrowed it from you may try that approach. Offer to make the repairs and be fully prepared to follow through. They may realize the failure was going to happen anyway and let you off the hook.

Hope this helps.

Ray

Chrisreyn

Id talk to the owner and work something out, it may be an issue they were already aware of and if not, it at least shows that your being up front with them.. goes a long way towards keeping friends as friends!
They may have a certain shop or mechanic they want it taken to , or have an extended warranty etc, so talk to them first!

capt.Ron

That's a touchy one. Unless it's a major expense to replace that cylinder I personally would replace it myself. Kinda consider it rental on the truck. If it's a major expense that you know you didn't cause then I guess calling the friend and telling him about it would be the first line of business.
You might check to see if you can just refill the cylinder and get it going again.
I've got a Corrolla that was leaking down over a period of a couple of months. I just kept refilling it until the leak got to the point of every couple of weeks. It's much smaller but the cylinder for the Corrolla was pretty cheap.

ripping r

tuff call. this is why i would never borrow someones stuff. or lend mine out. can cause bad blood quick. that said if it was ME. i would feel that it was up to me to fix it if i used it. if someone borrowed my stuff and it broke. i would want the same.

whitebuffalo

i just had this happen to me on a tractor. i went ahead and fixed it and then told him about it....he paid me back for the part, said it would have happened regardless or might have even happened before i got it. IMO, the risk of borrowing stuff is if something happens, your fault or not, the blood is on your hands.

rockcrawler304

I fully agree!
If I borrow it and it breaks, too bad. My bad luck and I will fix it.

rich

same here, borrowed a friends dump truck since mine was down. clutch went out wasnt our fault his driver rode it. paid for half of the repair.

Lary Ellis (Top)

I agree with the above as well, but that's just how I roll...others may see it differently and be correct.

I borrowed my BIL's truck one time while mine was down for a few days and NEVER moved it out of the driveway from where he parked it when he brought it over.

I got mine back on the road and then took his to town, filled the tank and ran it through the car wash, he asks me on a regular basis if I want to borrow it again

Chrisreyn

amendment to my earlier post.. I also agree that what ever you borrow needs to be returned in as good or better shape than when you borrowed it.. its YOUR responsibility to get it fixed!
I am just saying that you need to let them know about it first... I would be VERY unhappy if someone did work on my truck without consulting me first regardless of the situation!
I have a few very specific people I like working on my truck, folks whose work I trust... and if I were in your friends place, I would want to have the opportunity to decide where/what work was done!

Mlucas

The question on my part-did you break it? If not, then it was going to fail anyways....

If you did, fix it.

cbrahs

fix it. yours is in the shop and your buddy was generous enough to keep you on the road for an event you wanted to attend. Kind gesture for you to fix it and just tell him, "hey, this is what happened and I fixed it" as it is a mechanical item and not if it breaks, it is when.

Purplezr2

Fix it, tell him, if he wants to pay you back let him, don't be mad if he doesn't. The price you pay to borrow stuff.

Pull Ya

Tell him about it, offer to have it repaired, either by you or whoever he chooses, then tell him to keep his stuff in better condition before he loans it to you so it doesn't happen again (just kid'n)
Jay

nelrod

I don't necessarily disagree with anything said. However, If I loaned a buddy an 8 year old truck, I would not expect him to repair my transmission. (Unless something out of ordinary like his teenage son dogged it and broke it.) If I were in your shoes I would have to do like someone else said, talk to them and see how they wanted to handle it, and I would go along with what they said.