Damage. Who pays?

I did say that in the interest of fairness, if he actually paid me I would come back here and let you know.

Well yesterday, after he had been driving the truck for 5 full days he texted me. He said that he had just left a tire shop and had to replace 4 tires because "while at the tire shop (5 days after he was back driving it) they found 3 more ruined tires. 1 from "having been run flat" and 2 from to many nails screws and other punctures to be repaired.

I carefully inspected all 6 tires no less than 5 times. In fact, because he had not equipped his dodge dually with a spare and refused to allow me to replace the damaged tire on the road and the fact that I was very concerned with the integrity of the obviously damaged front tire, I went to a Loves tire center and had them rotate the damaged tire to the back and bring one of the backs to the front. During this rotation both myself and the tire tech carefully inspected the 2 rear tires including putting them into the water tub. Neither of us saw any problem.

So I guess I'm supposed to believe that all 3 tires on the other side of the truck were damaged 5+ days ago and the owner who drives 500-600 miles every day never noticed.

I had not mentioned it before but this owner put me in the truck with with 100% knowledge of the following issues:
1) Fuel leak. Anything above 1/4 tank and there is a constant and steady drip.
2) Left rear fender held on by 1 cracked front bracket and in the rear a ratchet strap.
3) Left front headlight - as a result of a minor incident where he says a gravel truck made a right turn from the left lane in front of him (yet no tickets were issued?) The left headlight housing is broken and hanging by the wires. It is aimed about 6' from the front of the truck.
4) BOLs. Of the 5 cars on the trailer, only 2 had BOLs and there were no blank ones to use for the cars picked up on the way back.

I SHOULD HAVE just walked away on the spot. I was an idiot for having taken a truck in such poor condition (and no proper paperwork (BOLs) across town much less on a 1,500 trip across several.state lines. The fact that he has been running the truck in that condition for 3+ months is irrelevant. It was on me not to accept a vehicle in such poor condition and I failed. I suck. It will never happen again.

My rig will pass a level 1 inspection anytime. I keep it in the very best possible condition. I am constantly looking for potential problems and proactively repair and replace.

I need my ### kicked for being this stupid. Will NOT happen again..

Oh, I guess I digressed from my initial intent here to tell you about the financial aspect of this mess.

As I noted way back in this thread, he had already owed me $300 and I put out $560.70 ($860.70 total) to buy the fuel for this trip.

He grossed roughly $2,500 on the run. After reducing my pay from 30% to 20% and deducting what he feels is "more than fair" he generously offered to get me a check for $1,000.

So, after financing the fuel to make the trip even possible, $139.30 is to be my pay for driving 1,400 miles, delivering 5 vehicles, picking up 4 vehicles and thoroughly cleaning the inside of the truck upon my return.

That is of of course if he doesn't find something else wrong on his rig that he wants to blame on me and IF he actually does get me a check (or direct deposit) for the promised $1,000.

We'll see. I'll let you know.

 

Correct, he is a businessman. One who chooses to operate his business in a way that is so far different than mine that it is now (in hindsight) abundantly clear that the modus operandi styles are so far different as to be completely incompatible.

I was raised to have integrity. To stand by my word. That a handshake between men was as good as or even better than a written contract. To respect women. And if feasible open the door for the person behind you. To respect the flag of your country and the men and women who fought and died to protect it.

I'm realistic enough to realize that in today's world most of that means jack squat to 99% of the people.

However, after having known him for roughly 2 years, having gone well out of my way (on several occasions) to help him and he calls me a friend I (obviously incorrectly) assumed that there was at least a certain minimal amount of respect, trust and integrity there. Obviously I was wrong. Obviously this makes me a sucker (at least in your opinion).

What a sad sad world we now live in where thinking that a friend will actually treat you with respect, honor and integrity makes you a sucker.

What a stupid way to throw away a friendship

Sad and stupid indeed.

His loss.. on many levels..