I had to borrow my boyfriend’s car to visit my family. He wants me to pay him $50 per day for rental use of it. I am upset by this, but I think that maybe I am just being too sensitive.
Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem. I would just take my car, but it is being fixed right now. This meant that in order for me to drive to see my family in Malaysia, I would have to either rent a car or borrow someone.
Since my boyfriend was flying out to the UK for work and wouldn’t be using his, I asked him if he would mind if I borrowed it. He told me that of course, I could borrow his car.
Nothing else was said about it until today (other than some minor things). I texted him to thank him again for helping me. The way I worded things apparently made it clear to him that I was only planning to cover the petrol I used, and he told me that he expected me to pay him a “reasonable” fee for using the car.
Reasonable to him is $50 a day plus replacing the petrol I use (so the visit will cost me at least $250 in addition to whatever the petrol costs).
It is his car, so I don’t think I can really argue with him about this. I do understand in principle.
I don’t think being his girlfriend entitles me to use his stuff whenever I want, but I am hurt that he is being so stingy. We’ve been together for a year and my only other option was to rent a car through a private company.
I guess I would have hoped that he would have been more sympathetic, but maybe he has a right to expect that he be paid for use of his car. I don’t know. I very rarely ask him for any favours and cover all of my expenses myself, so he can’t say that I am using him or exploiting him financially.
This has never come up before, so I have been taken off guard. Maybe I am being too sensitive?