A decent while my brother (now 21) was gifted a car by my grandparents it was a 1994 Mazda MX-5 and my brother hated it. He said it was a hairdressers car it was cheap terrible and wasn’t a “mans car” he effectively abandoned the car so for his 19th birthday my bought him a new car.
I always loved the style of these older cars so when he was gifted a new car I asked if I could have it and he just shrugged and said he didn’t care. We transferred ownership ti me and I began saving up to fix up the car. I spent near the value of the car on restoring it change the seats tyres alloys etc by the end of it I had fully modded up the car and in my opinion it looked really good and didn’t seem that sorry anymore.
Eventually I had to go to uni and had to leave my car at home. And after coming yesterday my car was missing. I had to badger my parents demanding to know what they had done with it until they relented and said that they gave it back to my brother. They told me he had the spare keys and that I should go over to his place now and transfer over everything and give him the keys.
So I did go over there and simply just got into the car and drove off and parked it at a friends. And now my parents my brother and his wife are pissed off at me saying that I’m a thief that the car was given to my brother by my uncle for a reason for him to keep me having it was always a loan and that I’ve always been jealous that my brother gets more attention from my uncle.
ata?
Edit: i feel like i should state my uncle favouring my brother is a whole seperate thing he did not buy me the car it was my grandparents
Ownership was transferred. Tell them if they steal it again you will call the police. My guess is that his wife wants a car. Offer to sell it for what you put into it along with a hefty tag for all the work. NTA
Was the car a gift from grandparents or uncle? How can you steal something in your name?
First it was your grandparents, now it’s your uncle, at least get your story straight before writing bullshit.
The bot account got banned already lol
You are the owner and you sunk a lot of money into it. If they want it back, they need to buy it from you. Charge them extra. NTA
Nope. He transferred ownership to you correct?
He gifted you the car. Thats on him.
It is YOUR car now.
Not his. If anyone is a thief. It is your brother.
Tell him “lets go to court about it. I have all the paperwork showing you transferred the ownership to me, being you gifted the car to me. I have no need to return a gift if I dont wish to after I put all the work I to restoring it.”
He will probably drop it. He can kick rocks.
NTA
NTA.
I’m a little confused. You said the ownership was transferred to you, right?
If that’s the case, I don’t really understand how your parents could just give the car back to your brother.
Also, from what you described, your brother didn’t even want the car at first and basically abandoned it.
No offense, but it honestly sounds like he didn’t appreciate the gift back then, and now suddenly everyone expects you to just give it back after you spent time and money restoring it.
Why are your parents siding with him in this situation?
bro u fixed it up and made it yours, that’s not stealing that’s called investment and care damn ur parents are tripping
He gave you the car and transferred the paperwork. No take backsies
NTA. Ownership was legally transferred to you, you spent your own money restoring it, and your parents gave away your property without your consent. You didn’t steal anything you took back what was legally yours.
I had to re-read the post once more to figure out who did the gifting
From what I can understand the car was originally gifted to OP’s brother by the grandparents. Bro hated it and was given another car by the uncle
When OP left for uni, the uncle then took the Mazda and gave it to the brother “for a reason” (to use OP’s words)
If that’s right, then NTA. If the car is in your name, it’s yours. There’s no thievery there. If they’re hard up about it, tell them to take you to court.
They probably won’t do that.
But then those are fighting words … I hope you aren’t dependant on your parents/family here. If so, do what’s best for you in the situation until you can get out from under their thumb
Divorce your toxic family. NTA.
NTA
He transferred ownership to you so the car is now yours.
Both he and your parents stole it from you so you did the right thing in taking it back. If they escalate then file a police report so you have a record of what they did.
See if you can get the door locks changed in case they have another set of keys and hide something like an Apple Air tag in there so you can track it if it goes missing again.
And your brother is wrong, the MX5 from the 90s is a brilliant car.
The car was transferred to your name. You repaired it.
Why are we here in AITA?