The insanity, it burns

After he had been a part of our lives for so long (43 years!) we never expected to be betrayed so badly by Danny.

The horrible things he said to my mom before he went on his supposed two week trip around California turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg.

He couldn’t get access to more than a certain part of his money either through withdrawals or use of his debit card. He couldn’t temporarily extend the limit on his debit card because his account was less than six months old. So when it looked like he wouldn’t be able to get the rental car in time to pick up his cousin at the airport to start their trip around California, my mom gave him a hand. Yes, in spite of the horrible things he’d said to her just days before. She can’t drive. Hasn’t driven once since her stroke. But she allowed herself to be put on the contract as primary driver and the rental guaranteed on her credit card to give this man who’d just verbally attacked her a helping hand. Again. Such a horrible monster, she is.

Danny said that as soon as he could get the rest of the money from his account to cover the rental fees, he would have the contract rewritten to remove her and her credit card form it. He didn’t.

The car was supposed to be returned 11/10. It wasn’t.

Danny has not been returning our email to him. He has not returned our voicemail. He has not answered his cell phone when either of us has called him, except one time. And then he hung up as soon as he realized it was my mom on the line. He has been refusing to contact Enterprise about the car.

Thursday, Enterprise called my mom and told her that they were going to be reporting the car stolen. Since she was on the contract as primary driver, she was legally and financially responsible. Both she and I had visions of the police showing up and hauling her away in cuffs to jail for grand theft auto.

I talked with the manager of the local Enterprise, who felt sorry for us since he knew this was something that my mom had done to help someone else out. He said the was on our side and would help us to try and hold Danny accountable, but my mom did sign the contract so what help he could give us was limited. I did get him to promise to hold off reporting the car stolen until Monday so we could redouble our efforts to try and get hold of Danny. Also so I could talk with the police myself to see if there was any legal out for my mom so she wouldn’t wind up in prison.

I went directly to the police after the conversation with the Enterprise manager. I spoke with a detective there. He said that while on the surface to the layman, it seemed like grand theft auto, it wasn’t actually a police matter. And he’d be telling the same thing to Enterprise when they talked to him the next Monday. There was a contract signed, and Enterprise handed Danny the keys. He did not break into the car and take it without permission. That meant it was not grand theft auto, but breach of contract, and was therefor a civil matter. So at least my mom wouldn’t be thrown in prison for Danny’s actions. And since the Enterprise manager didn’t want the responsibility to fall on my mom, in a suit we might be able to negotiate with Enterprise for them to go after Danny in court instead of my mom.

We finally got hold of one of the people Danny had planned to move in with when he moves out of here. He said that last he’d heard, Danny was in El Paso, but would be returning to California in time to take care of it. This was another way Danny was in breach of contract, in addition to being well past the time he was supposed to return the car. The contract stated he was not to take the car outside of California.

Danny’s statement that he was going to come back to California and take care of it was, however, another lie.

He, for the second time since he rented the car, ignored the gas gauge until the car ran out of gas. This time, instead of leaving the car there and walking to a friend’s house to get help, he called Enterprise. He wanted them to tow the car because he wanted to change to a different one. He lied to them and said that he’d broken down in California. This was when it was discovered that he was actually still in El Paso. Enterprise towed the car and refused to give him another.

Danny did not volunteer to pay the outstanding balance he’d run up. Which means that my mom has to pay the $3,000 bill, something we can not really afford but now have no choice.

The manager of the local branch of Enterprise where the car was originally rented also told us that when Danny finally did contact Enterprise, he demanded that Enterprise cease calling my mom about the car. Not because any of this was his fault. But because my mom is on psychiatric medication, is crazy, and should not be listened to about anything because her craziness makes her a horrible monster. Another lie. My mom is not on psychiatric meds. Danny is, and he is the one who has completely flipped his wig.

My mom figures that he had been planning to not return the car and just drive cross country, staying with friends along the way, until he was in Philly where he planned to move, leaving us to foot the bill, and possibly buy him the car altogether since I don’t know that he planned to *ever* return it. We are also left on the hook to deal with his car, which is undriveable, uninsured, unregistered, and two years behind on payments so likely to be reposessed. It is a PT Cruiser, and parked at the head of the driveway, with my mom’s 300 behind that, and my PT Cruiser behind that. We can’t roll it out onto the street because then the city will have it towed and we will have to deal with impound fees thanks to its unregistered and uninsured status. And there’s the danger that a repo team will take MY car, thinking it is his. I don’t trust them to necessarily check the VIN to make sure they have the right one. Plus we now have to deal with the huge amount of his junk he left here, that he kept saying he’d come back for and then never did.

My mom and I, we’ve often been hurt and betrayed for trying to give someone a helping hand. But this one is by far the worst, coming from someone we had loved and trusted so long.

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