AITAH for repossessing my car from a friend?

A Reddit user (38M) leased a car to a friend (35F), Jill, for $200 a month with a formal lease agreement. Over several months, Jill failed to make consistent payments, only making a few partial payments. After she stopped paying entirely, the user repossessed the car after giving her a 60-day grace period to get caught up. Jill then returned, offering to pay the outstanding amount but later backed out of negotiating another lease.

Despite the agreement and repossession, Jill’s family and friends have taken her side, accusing the Reddit user of taking advantage of a “girl in need.” The user is questioning whether they were in the wrong for repossessing the car and insisting Jill owes the remaining payments. Read the full story below to understand the details of the situation!

‘ AITAH for repossessing my car from a friend?’

I (38m) am fortunate enough that I have a few vehicles. I typically only drive/ride 2 or 3 of them though. A friend of mine (35f) we’ll call Jill, hit me up and asked if I would be willing to sell her a car. Jill is always in some sort of predicament and is always relying on someone’s kindness to bail her out of a jam, so I know she doesn’t have the money or financing to purchase a car.

I tell her I’d be willing to help her out but we need to have a lease agreement. We verbally agreed on $200 a month. I let her take the car on the agreed $200/mo. I have all of my vehicles GPS tracked with a global remote start etc.
After not receiving any payment for about 2 months I contact Jill and ask for an update as to what’s going on. She explains that she’s trying to find a job and looking at new apartments etc but nothing is panning out yet.

I give her the benefit of doubt but I do write up a lease agreement and have her sign it. The agreement basically just covers the monthly lease cost, late fees, cost of collecting the vehicle in the case she doesn’t pay. She makes a full payment the following month, a half payment the month after, and a full payment the month after that. So $500 in total. She then goes radio silent.

I contact her to find out what’s going on and get an update and she says that she needs the title to the car because she can’t drive it without it in her name and that’s the reason she’s been unable to make the payments. I refuse to give her the title. Shes leasing, not buying. I then explain that the car is GPS tracked so I know she’s lying to me about not being able to drive the car.

She was taking trips to Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, Minnesota. She gets angry but relents and asks if I’d renegotiate the terms of the lease. If she has the money to take road trips without a job, then the $200 we agreed on is more than reasonable. I gave her 60 days to get current with payments or I’d have to take the car back. 60 days goes by with no attempt to get current with payments and she wants an extension. Not happening.

I get the car back and explain she still owes $700 for missed payments. She agrees and apologized and went on her way. She comes back a few months later saying she has the $700 and wants to know if we could negotiate another lease. I tell her if she hands me the money she owes me, we can discuss it. She bails on that idea. I tell her that if she doesn’t pay me the $700 she owes me, I’m taking it to small claims court where I’ll be asking for $1100 for the time she had the car and we had a verbal agreement plus court costs.

She blasted me to everyone she knew to the point I had people angry at me for “screwing over a girl in need” and that’s probably the nicest one. Her family, friends, mutual friends, seems like everyone is on her side in the situation. They say I got the car back so she doesn’t owe me anything. It’s blowing my mind how I seem to be the only one seeing it my way. AITAH?

See what others had to share with OP:

NanaLeonie −  NTA. She lied to you, tried to manipulate you into gifting her the car, she lied, lied, lied and she owes you money. $200 a month lease wouldn’t even cover the insurance plus the wear on the car. I say take her to Small Claims Court if for no other reason than to disabuse some of your friends of the evidence that you are a push over who can be taken advantage of.

[Reddit User] −  NTA!! Definitely not. And well done for foreseeing things and trying to mitigate them. You were more than correct with her. Clear and gave her chances. NTA on my books.

Lunar-Eclipse0204 −  1000% NTA but this is truly a legal thing – talk to a lawyer. IMO she does owe you the $700 – she wanted the title so she could try and say she owed you nothing.

Walktothebrook −  NTA. She did not honor her agreement with you. It does not sound like you sold her a car, only leased it at 200 per month?

Satiricalistic −  NTA she signed the agreement.

pottersquash −  NTA but I see their side. Look, you aren’t stupid so clearly after month 2 you realized this was not a business transaction but charity. That you decided to keep giving her chances, bless your heart, is more on you than her (I know I know but any contract there must be a reasonable expectation for performance you know/knew damn well she wasn’t). So once you do FINALY repossess the car, that literally should be the end of it.

But she comes back and says I have $700 lets do another lease. The answer is not well pay the $700 and lets talk. The answer is not no. The answer should be “new fone who dis” cause why are you engaging? So when you ask for MORE money and threaten to sue her for it, you look kinda silly cause you know thats a waste of your time.

Its not that anyone is on her side, its that for you to continue to entertain this nonsense makes one believe certainly your getting SOMETHING out of this cause otherwise why are you even answering her calls? You think your gonna fix her? Think you’ll get her on the financial straight and arrow? You won’t. Everyone else knows that yet here you are throwing around threats if she don’t comply…..she ain’t complied to a debt in how long???

Revan1114 −  Dude make a posting showing the money she owes you and all the locations she’s been. Calling out all these people. Saying you don’t understand how people in need can make all these trips that hard working people can’t make. Take her to court. Up the price for the harassment she been doing.

NectarineAny4897 −  Take her to court for every penny. The friendship is already a goner.

Individual_Metal_983 −  NTA She didn’t pay as agreed. So what of you got it back? what about wear and tear and additional mileage. You knew what she was like and covered yourself. She agreed to the terms.

Koolest_Kat −  Anybody has says you’re an AH, thank them for stepping up to gift her new car!!