Neighbors and friends that want to borrow tools

[Grizzly]

I learned the hard way, over and over, never to loan power tools or my truck to anyone other then my son because he is the only one that takes as good of care of them as I do. Neighbors are always trying to borrow my 8hp TroyBilt rototiller. I tell them that I do not loan my tools, but I will do the work for them for $50. 00 per hour. I get a lot of side work that way. By the same token I never borrow tools. If I need a tool I don't have, I will buy it or rent it.

 

[Nightram]

I don't mind borrowing my tools, they stay at my parents house. The only problem I have is my brother uses them without saying anything, and he them never returns them, so when I need them, they have walked away and I have no idea where to begin looking. Tha gets frustrating. But otherwise, no issue with borrowing, they usually come back better than they left

 

[WyattEarp]

You know its simple but we all want to be nice and say yes... I think hmmm does he change his own oil, does he know where his dipstick tube is under the hood, or does he have all his work done at the dealer, if you answer yes to the first cple your probably safe, If YES to the second one, then heck no...

If its someone you know that is mechanically inclined and you know them very well your probably safe to say yes.



But my usual response is NO, sorry, for you guys that live in the suburbs lending to the neighbor isn't a wise decision, as the accountant next door couldn't tell you what kind of engine his BMW has much less where you check the oil.

 

[MSLiechty]

I loaned my truck out once, Only once to a friend who used it to move, I got it back with a crease in the tailgate when he unloaded a 1200 lb cast iron bandsaw! Got a quote to get it repaired he didn't think it was necessary no I ate the $700. 00 repair and need less to say we havn't spoke in 2 years.



Michael

 

[Allnew2Me]

1 2

 

[Island Dodge]

the neighborhood where I live, we've all helped each other pour the slab or push up a wall when building our homes over the years, but no one asks to borrow your truck or your wife and if you don't have a power saw in the country you better go get one pronto I've never had a problem

 

[Rotty]

My rules if I borrow a tool is use it, and return it promply in the same or better shape than when you borrowed it.

Prime example is when I borrowed my neighbors pressure washer turbo nozzle, I used it for 1/2 hours and it worked fine but when he used it rgiht afterwards, it didn't work. Whoops, no problem, I orderd him a new one and that was that. No way for him to complain.

I also have friends wanting to borrow my kubota tractor, :-laf

I said a $20,000 cash deposit non refundable and you can borrow it all you want.

Borrowing/Lending tools really depends on who is involved.



When I used to work in a garage, the saying was "Snapon man comes on thurdays", Don't touch my ******* tools!

 

[HOBrian]

I am very lucky, none of the neighbors are handy at all. Even if they wanted to borrow tools they wouldn't know what to do with them.

 

[nickleinonen]

I also have friends wanting to borrow my kubota tractor,

I said a $20,000 cash deposit non refundable and you can borrow it all you want.

Borrowing/Lending tools really depends on who is involved.

i have done similar things before. if someone i don't really know all that well [friend of a friend... ] needs to borrow something [like my little 115vac mig welder], i will lend it out, after i get a copy of their drivers licence, health card, social insurance card, credit card. after that no problem. they F me over, i charge their credit cards the full replacment costs through the store i use to work at plus some extra for my time wasted. all of this i tell them up front, and all of it goes on audio tape... usually at that point, they say forget about it.

 

[guava]

My family knows that my tools and shop are off limits. Now if I am home and they need to put a muffler on there car, I will be happy to help them. But, my tools do not leave my shop, without myself going with them...

I never thought I'd find something we agreed so strongly on... My wife understands that I haved willed the keys to my shop to her.



In the interest of being neighborly though, I do have a collection of tools that I will loan out. Every last one of them comes from Harbor freight. They can drool all over the nice tools and walk away with the cheap ones... .

 

[TJarecke]

There are a couple things that bother me about lending things. One is that when you tell someone they can borrow something once they think they can borrow it anytime they want. Another problem I have is when I allow others to use my things, tools especially, it is ok, but when I ask to use their tools they are very reluctant. This is a problem where I share a garage with roomates. 3 of us are very flexable as long as things get put back, but one of the roomates is very protective of his things even though he uses ours. The worst part is that his tools are generally much lower quality than ours and he has a lot less of them. Maybe I should start to lock the tools up, But I don't like to do that. I would rather trust everyone to respect each others things

 

[JayWm]

AMEN!



Here's a good story for the mix. Let a friend borrow my nearly-new (1 year old, not used much) Delta 12" compound miter saw to build his deck. I let it go reluctantly, and told him to keep it as long as he needed it (long project).



Last week he comes in and tells me a small piece of wood snapped off during a cutting operation and jammed itself in the little plastic dust guide behind the blade. It ruined the dust guide. A replacement cost $5. 40. Instead of replacing it, HE OFFERED TO BUY ME A NEW SAW! So I got a brand new saw, but didn't charge him the full replacement cost. That guy can borrow anything he wants from me now... except maybe the wife.



-Ryan

Yeah but if loan him the wife, won't you get a new one. Better yet, maybe he'll keep her and get you a new truck!!!!

 

[Dl5treez]

When I worked in the truck shop, our rule was if you borrow it 3 times, buy your own.



We were a tightly knit group who looked out for each other. If anyone was caught with sticky fingers, their life at work was hell until they quit.



Where I'm at now the biggest problem is the production staff 'borrowing' something out of my tool bag and not returning it. Been lucky so far, only had a thief one time and he fessed up after the 'meeting'. :-laf



At home I only lend to people I trust; I don't trust many people but the ones I do can use pretty much whatever their heart desires, as long as they ask first. People know what I expect from them & I know what they expect from me. It works out pretty well, especially in a group of friends because if one guy borrows something and doesn't return it, or breaks it and doesn't ante up to replace it, the whole world finds out and his life sucks until he makes the situation right.

 

[daveshoe]

Just tell the borrower that you would certainly trust him to borrow your tools. The problem comes when other neighbors who you do not trust always seem to find out that you loan tools out. Then they get mad at you because you loaned their tools to someone else and will not loan to them. Just explain that you do not wish to lose any goodwill to the other neighbors who are accident prone with your tools.

It is entirely possible that one person could loan your tool [after damaging it]to another,causing an injury,and then person two could in turn sue you for his injury. Tell the borrower that your insurance agent advised you about this and then you were forced to institute a no loan policy.

Both of these tactics ''put the blame'' on other people and you do not have to come across as the bad guy. As for me,I just loan my stuff to just one person and we trade work around as well. This resulted in the very situation described in paragraph one. Since I am a contractor and this other neighbor had someone else build his barn--not a big deal.

 

[Grizzly]

Many years ago I had a new F250 Ford. My neighbor came over wanting to borrow it. I asked why he wanted to borrow my truck. He said he had a load to take to the dump. I told him, oh, I never haul trash in my truck. The neighbor asked, what do you haul trash in? I said I haul it in my trailer and pull it with my truck. I pointed at my very old International pickup box trailer. I told him, you can borrow my trailer. The neighbor asked, how will I pull the trailer. I pointed at his new Cadillac De Ville and said, put a hitch on your Cadillac. He said, I can't do that, that's my Cadillac. I pointed at my truck and responded, see that Ford, that's my Cadillac.

 

[RDupree]

my father-in-law always wanted to borrow my truck,so,one day he calls wanting the truck,i went out and filled the bed with trash,when he got here i "asked" him if he minded taking the trash to the dump!!a month or two later he wanted to borrow it again (slow learner!) i had just gotten some nice used tires for it,they were in the bed,so,when he got here,i "asked" him if he could get the tires mounted while he was out!! he did,and never gave me a bill,he bought a truck for himself. .

 

[Rebel Ram]

I guess I'm lucky. My neighbors must be scared of me. All the sparks, grinding sounds and other noises coming from the garage... ... They don't even make eye contact. I love my neighborhood. :-laf

 

[Nyoest]

Borrow it twice, BUY IT! I strictly enforce that rule upon myself :-laf and my brother in-law

 

[Mike Ellis]

I don't mind loaning out my tools and books and such, might be different if I depended on them to make a living. Won't loan out the truck, camper, or guns though. They are too expensive to fix when people screw things up, and I learned long ago not to count on folks stepping up to pay their freight. As for the guns, if somebody committed a crime or accidentally hurt themselves with it, I am the type that it would haunt me forever. Don't want that burden on my conscience.