VA: How Much is a Broken Down, Rusted Out, 1979 Chevy Truck Worth?
Sep 25th, 2007
(18 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)
Loading ...Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to be a Stepmother.
This weekend, my husband had his kids. Generally, when we have the children, we like to keep them fairly busy, because much like […]
Original post: How Much is a Broken Down, Rusted Out, 1979 Chevy Truck Worth?
Get the original $300 that you have already offered.
Go to his house when he’s sober.
Wave it in his face, and say take it or leave it.
If he takes it, then all is well.
If he leaves it, you’ve at least tried to do the right thing.
Go to the dump and get him another window. That’s worth about $10, right?
My question: You want to do the right thing, but for whom? It sounds like you’re built up the guilt trip on yourselves, and that you believe by offering monetary settlement, you’ll square your debt.
If you actually have one.
The dude already said not to worry about it, then you caught him when he’s drunk. Probably a bad time. I say let matters lie and wait for him to make the next move. See how important it is to him.
And I don’t think paying three hundred dollars is the way to go. If you both know it’s an extravagant amount (not a far shot from the truth, I’m guessing) then even giving him three hundred would constitute taking advantage of the situation. Say the stepkid breaks his mailbox. If you paid three hundred dollars for glass on a rusty, old truck, you might be selling your soul to fix the mailbox.
From what I can see, the issue of morality is being fabricated by you and your husband. Let it slide a while and see what happens.
Ok, the truck is worth nothing… You should pay $200 or $300 if money isn’t an object, but on the condition that you get the truck (which you’ll consequently scrap for $100, thereby giving you money, cleaning and enrichening hickland, and give the scrappers some junk to sell.) Giving him $200 would be giving him a huge free ride…
I would offer $200 plus a 12-pack of his favorite beer. If he gives me grief about the amount - I would then tell him that’s what the the junkyard said it was worth. Plus, that’s all that I can afford at this time. If he feels like more is owed to him, then I would tell him that my stepson would come over on the weekends to work off the reminder of the balance. This way you have made an offer of goodwill, and are being a responsible neighbor. On top of that, the crowbar wielding kid, gets to mow lawns or rake up leaves to learn a lesson. Remember: real drunks never turn down free booze. AND Forcing kids into learning responsibility builds character - or makes them not want to do that again.
What Jenny said. Matter of fact, depending on how many windows, it might be less than $300 to both buy the used windows, and pay a professional installer to put them in.
It is the right thing to do — replace what was broken. No more, no less. No effort on his part required, so no need to compensate him for his trouble.
I am just not sure financing a month’s (or a week, or however long it would last) supply of Bud for a drunk redneck is the right thing to do, in any situation, ever.
What is the matter with V? How does she not know enough not to capitalize “mother” and “stepmother”?
I swear to God, every time I see it, it drives me batshit. I don’t understand how someone who seems mostly intelligent can exist this long and never have figured out the proper capitalization of these words.
These words are not proper nouns! You capitalize them ONLY if you’re referring to someone by name, and their NAME to you is “Mother.”
Also, please, can we stop saying “take a peak”? It’s “take a peek.” PEEK. Not PEAK.
mother, not Mother.
father, not Father. Is he a priest? Is he God?
stepmother, not Stepmother.
For Fuck’s sake.
First I just wanted to point out that sugar in the gastank really does nothing, the engine and such would be fine. It’s bleach you have to worry about (corrodes the gas tank and such). +1 for mythbusters.
I am not sure of your financial situation, but personally I would take some of the previous peoples advice (talk to him when he is not drunk, invite him over for a few drinks). If he will not budge, just suck it up, be nice, give him the $500 (unlikely you will have to, if you talk to him sober chances are he would be appreciative of the $300) and consider it $200 to never have to deal with the guy again (probably, if he ever hits you up for money just reference the $500 thing and tell him to piss off). Oh and be sure to take up target shooting in your backyard. He might be a bit more hesitant to screw with you if he knows you can protect your property/dog/etc.
Seems like an easy problem: Your stepson broke the windows, he should pay for them. If Mr Hick thinks they are worth $500, that is your stepson’s problem. If your stepson doesn’t have that kind of money, then he can go into debt to Mr Hick and do odd jobs for him until he pays it off, and/or try to negotiate the price down. Either way, it will make your stepson more responsible, but more importantly: get him out of your house and tire him out when you have custody of him.
Little Ms. Metro vs. Mr. Hick. Sounds like some awesome coed wrestling. Whatever happens videotape it and send me a copy.
what an idiot. Talk to him when he’s sober. Truly.
PS love your blog!
Take round the $300 when he’s sober, apologise for not having the other $200 on you and you’ll give it him tomorrow if he still wants, if he isn’t just trying to squeeze every cent out of you he’ll say ‘don’t worry about it’. If he indicates he still wants it, then you know what to do.
That’s if you’re not up for buying the glass.
Um. Manipulate the situation. Tell him you talked to your insurance company and that they were “Very happy to handle it and cut him a check for around $50,” but then give him the sad, sad, “Wow, that sucks for you,” eyes and say, “BUT… my husband and I talked it over and decided that’s really just not fair so instead of only getting $50 from our insurance, which is what they established as fair value, we’re just going to do this out of pocket and let you have $200, if you like.”
If he won’t agree to it (trust me, if you make him think you’re doing him a huge favor, and technically, you are, he’ll cave in a heartbeat.) Also, throw in a lot of, “That damned kid got the beating of a lifetime for this,” and “His sorry ass will be working for months to earn back the money he owes us,” just to make the dude feel guilty for making some kid’s life miserable just because he’s a greedy pig.
You got an eight year old kid that goes around smashing windows with crowbars and you’re worried about five hundred beans? Jeezus Chrysler, that’s only like first grade already and he’s already a violent vandal. If you get overwrought over this petty shit, imagine the nervous breakdown you’ll have when he’s sixteen and you’re getting sued because he burned down a school.
The best thing to do is to stop it now before it gets out of control and your evil stepmonster stabs you to death with a clothespin for crack money. You should be able to raise the five hundred by selling his kidneys in Tijuana, and maybe have enough left over to see a donkey show. That should distract your husband while you drop the kid off at the “doc”, and you can claim that the little bastard just went to the bathroom and never came back. Just make sure they pay you for both kidneys.
I’d agree with Liberty. Why people are always so absolute with their options? It’s either this or this. Hand over 500 or go to court. It’s black or white. Maybe life’s simpler over the Atlantic, but the questions in my life never have only one or two right answers. I definetly wouldn’t pay the 500 and his drunken rambling would’ve made me reluctant to pay up even the 300. As a principle.
If you’re a big boy and say “gimme 500″, I’ll be a big boy and say, naw, 250. You say, “no, 500″, I continue: “Naw, 200.” And then it’s court time. But that’s how I’d most likely do it once it goes to principles - for example if I even feel like there’s any blackmailing or extortion going on, I do exactly the opposite I’m asked regardless of the damage to me - as long as the extorsionist suffers. (I don’t negotiate with terrorists. And yes, this principle has caused pain to me. :) - And to emphasize this paragraph’s point: I mean, as my own principle, and when any given thing goes to principles. Once a thing goes to principles, you can forget about reason and common sense.
I think Liberty’s ideas are more productive. Manipulation is easy and works. And I don’t think that neighbour has lot of tools to handle subtle manipulation. And I’d be concerned about that 8-year old hurricane too, like anchorite said… Maybe I would not sell him to spareparts, but still…
Here’s what I would do:
1. Offer him the option of taking $300 OR having the windshield replaced. Everyone would agree that if you replace what was broken then there’s no problem, and I’m someone could be found to replace that windshield for a couple hundred bucks.
2. If the guy sticks to $500 then say that for that price you expect to take ownership of the truck, in which case you have it towed to the junkyard and sold for scrap metal. This is a double bonus because not only do you get a good rep with drunk guy but you also get rid of an eye sore in the neighborhood.
3. Walk over to this guy’s place with a couple 24’s of Old Milkwaukee and 2-3 bottles of Jimmy Bean and ask if this is good enough for the windshield. The guys face should light up like a kid’s on Christmas morning and you’ll be a god who has a goon on your side whenever someone doesn’t pay rent ;-)
Just an observation but if V is so well off then why does her neighbor seem like he lives in the ghetto?
“Walk over to this guy’s place with a couple 24’s of Old Milkwaukee and 2-3 bottles of Jimmy Bean and ask if this is good enough for the windshield. The guys face should light up like a kid’s on Christmas morning and you’ll be a god who has a goon on your side whenever someone doesn’t pay rent ;-)”
Friggin’ excellent idea! I’d fall for that. (Goes for that “manipulation” genre, though.)
V,
This is for your blog about the glass in the pickup.
I would call one of the Auto Glass companies that come out and replace glass, and get a quote from them.
Then offer to pay to have them replace it or give him a little less in cash.
Pretty sure, from first hand experience, that it should come in less then $300.00
I second 16’s number three.
O.o
“Just an observation but if V is so well off then why does her neighbor seem like he lives in the ghetto?”
“Well-off” doesn’t always equal class, Dan. It’s possible that her neighbour seems like he lives in the ghetto…’cause he moved out and has forgotten that he no longer lives there (he did mention that he bought a $500 dollar truck for the sole purpose of messing around in it until it broke, after all - so he can’t be all *that* hard up for money, I’d think..)
Equally possible is the fact that Mr Hick doesn’t actually live in the house next door - it’s possible it’s his girlfriend’s house or something, and he just mooches off of her. All we know for a fact is that he owns the lot in back of that house.