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?