Would you let someone borrow your car?

ohiomommy08

New member
Here's the situation. Just wondering what others views might be:)

I work at a daycare and today one of the younger, single infant room teachers was going to take one of the babies home after her shift to babysit for the evening. Well I was getting off at the same time and saw the carseat and base and asked if she needed help installing it. (I'm not a tech, but know the basics, which I figured was more that what she would know). She said great and gave me her keys. Well the carseat was a snugride and her car is a Hyundai Tiburon (2 door). I took a glance and saw how far forward the seatbelts were and didn't see latch, so I was skeptical, but gave it a try. After playing with it for a few minutes (again, not a tech, so didn't know many tricks) I got NOWHERE near less than an inch of movement - it seemed more like 4-5 inches! So I went back and told her I couldn't get it in safely at all, but I had another idea.

We live directly across the street from the daycare. We have a '99 Malibu as our second car and my DD's Marathon installed RF - she's on the first slots, so I knew this newly turned one year old would fit well. I offered to my coworker to bring my car back so she could borrow it for the evening and take the baby home safely. Then she could just leave it back at daycare when she came to get her car and we'd pick it up this weekend. I thought this was a good plan.

When I got home, my husband pretty much flipped out that I had offered someone else the use of our car. I eventually ended up calling her back and pretty much declining the offer. She was then going to call the parents to see if they could come get her - not sure how it ended.

I can see my husband's hesitation at letting someone use our car, but I was just trying to help my coworker and keep the baby safe.

What would you do in that situation? Just curious:)
 
ADS

scoutingbear

New member
I have let people borrow my car. In fact, this summer, a friend and I swapped cars so we could take her Sienna on a road trip to Montana and she drove my Highlander for the time we were gone. If I know the person well and have ridden with them and I feel that they are a safe driver, yes, I would, especially knowing that my insurance will cover me driving their car and them driving mine.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
I would have driven the baby in my vehicle and followed the co-worker in her vehicle (assuming that the parents were picking the baby up from her house so she didn't need the seat installed). I would not have lent out my vehicle and I wouldn't let DH lend it out either. But I am super picky about that stuff because our vehicle is newish and not cheap.

ETA: the only person that I would allow borrow our vehicle is my dad and I'd confirm with DH before lending it to him.
 

Evolily

New member
I would have considered loaning it, too. Whether I loaned it or not would depend on quite a bit of things. If I didn't feel I could loan her it I would drive the infant to her house.
 

vonfirmath

New member
I would not let someone borrow my car without 1) Trusting them quite a bit and 2) discussing it with my husband.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
It would depend on how well I knew the person. If I had just met them, eh, probably not. If I had worked with them for a few months, knew where they lived, didn't here stories about their latest crash every other week, then probably.
 

pj2rc

New member
I would have let her, unless you really don't know her well. My insurance would cover her driving & the baby would be safer than in her poorly installed seat -- if she's going to crash the car is replaceable, the baby is not. I would not offer to drive the baby w/out the parents permission -- she was the one entrusted to do that, not me. I think that would be more of a liability risk than her driving my car.
 

babygirlsmom1005

New member
I may have tried out the MA in her car first before offering my whole car - pending it was just across the street. Also wanted to point out, not all 1 year olds fit into the MA's - my DS didn't get even with the bottom slots until he was a little over 14 months old....so it may or may not have fit a newly turned 1 year old.

I have a neighbor that has borrowed my suburban a few time, she has 7 kids with 2 in car seats and 1 in a booster (the others are teenagers).....she just uses what I have installed in there (I always get a heads up with her and I'll go move both car seats to the center where there are lap belts only to ensure the lap belts aren't going to get used) when she has needed to use it and I throw in the TB for her booster child.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
I would not offer to drive the baby w/out the parents permission -- she was the one entrusted to do that, not me.
I would hope the parents left an emergency contact # and she could call and say the infant seat cannot be installed in her vehicle so another daycare worked could drive while she followed.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
No, we will not loan out our vehicles. Dh's mom will drive one of our vehicles when she's visiting and we're not able to drive her someplace, and I nearly hyperventilate (and for good reason--she has a past history, but not with our vehicles). My mom will drive one of our cars if she's here and we need her too, but she usually drives her own car here, so it's a moot point. I simply don't trust other people to take the same care of our vehicles that I would and I don't want to put them in a situation where even if they do, something happens where we end up needing to fix a vehicle.
 

finn

New member
I loan out my car, I figure if anything happens that's what insurance is for :)

It wouldn't even occur to me to ask dh, if I was loaning out his car then I would ask him, but if i'm loaning out my car then it wouldn't even cross my mind to ask him.
 

ohiomommy08

New member
Thanks for all the great responses. It was a tough situation and I offered the first thing that popped into my head. Unfortunately we were in a hurry and were going out the door ourselves as soon as I got home, so I didn't have time to think of any other arrangements. I just keep picturing that baby riding so UNsafely and hope the parents were able to come up with a good solution. Sometimes it's hard knowing how safe/unsafe something is when you see it. Most people wouldn't even have thought about it. I'm glad DH and I didn't get in a big old fight about it:)

Thank you to everyone for your input!
 

MANDY1234

New member
I do and have before...In fact of of our cars is making a trip to TX without us in a few weeks :) They don't have air in their car and we do, plus our car gets better gas mileage :p
 

cookie123

New member
I'd let a friend borrow my car for something like that. I wouldn't exchange cars so they could take my car on a lengthy trip. That would be a lot of wear and tear and lost miles that I wouldn't want to give away.
 

zavyirsdaddy

New member
I have lent out my vehicle in the past, multiple times. I've also borrow friend's cars too.
I was one of the unlucky ones though and my BFF's car was totaled with me behind the wheel. I was rear ended by an SUV while driving an eclipse. After that, she let me borrow her brand new car.
 

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