More details to this question:
In July of 2010 I had $2000 of my own that I intended to buy a used car with. My uncle offered to help me buy a car. Instead of him pitching in money to the $2000 that I already had to purchase a better used car as I suggested, my uncle stated that he would like to purchase me a brand new car. His reasoning for wanting to do this was that I was a college student that traveled back and forth from home and school (a 3 hr drive) & I needed a dependable car. One day at random my uncle called me to meet him at a local ford dealership. When we got there he had already purchased a brand new car and said that he purchased the car for me as long as I give him the $2000 that I already had. He said the 2000 would go to the down payment that he made on the car. For the yrs that I had the car he constantly threatened to take it back. I finally agreed to give it back and asked for the 2grand that I put as a down payment on the car. He refused to give it back & he took the car. He broke a verbal agr.
1 ANSWER
If your uncle agreed tp give you the car, he would not have been able to take it back had you not given it back voluntarily. Had he taken the car from you by force, or stolen it, he arguably would have breached your contract (although the more applicable cause of action would have been the tort of conversion.) Asking for the car back, a request with which you were in no way obligated to comply (again, assuming that the facts are that your uncle gave you the car) is not a breach of contract, nor (unless you were under some sort of duress, or were not competent to make decisions) does it give rise to any other claim.
The question is, when you gave the car back, was it conditioned on your uncle returning your $2,000, or did you just decide to ask for that after the fact? If the two of you agreed that you would give him the car in exchange for $2,000. he has breached that contract. If, however, you gave him the car, and only later asked for $2,000, your uncle was under no obligation to give it to you, just as you were under no obligation to give him the car in the first place. Not that it really matters, but, after several years, the car has depreciated much more than $2,000, and it would have cost you much more than $2,000 to lease the car for that long.
Answered on Oct 16th, 2014 at 9:40 AM