Money Moral Dilemma: Should I pay to have the bike my ex-husband got our son serviced?

dgc188

Simple - if your son still wants the bike, it's his after all, let him keep it. If it's no longer wanted/used then YOU get it serviced and YOU sell it, if you want to get rid of it.

In no way should you get it serviced and then give it to your ex. no matter what he says he would do with it or the proceeds from the sale. Tell him in no uncertain terms where to go to - politely or otherwise.

LP53

It’s not his bike to sell! Tell your ex that you and your son don’t need help selling it. Unless of course it’s what you and your son prefer or if the ex has a buyer.

Your ex has no claims on it now so I’d say thanks but no thanks and either service it yourself or sell it as seen.

if you trust him and decide to let him sell it on your sons behalf let him deduct the service fee as I suppose it’s your son who’s been using it.

IrishRose12

I'm still stuck on the getting the bike service    I've never serviced a bike in my life.  Are we talking about a normal bicycle here??  Never heard of servicing a bicycle ever lol.  We just looked after our own bikes, parents ensured we'd oil on the chain, tyres were pumped, breaks worked etc. And they taught us, as I teach my ownm how to take care of their bike!

mira77 said:

I'm impressed at how polite posters have been in their description of what to say to your ex. 
the letters F R and O spring to my mind 

You're still being too polite lol.  The words I would tell him are far, far worse than that 

Savvy_Sue

IrishRose12 said:

I'm still stuck on the getting the bike service    I've never serviced a bike in my life.  Are we talking about a normal bicycle here??  Never heard of servicing a bicycle ever lol.  We just looked after our own bikes, parents ensured we'd oil on the chain, tyres were pumped, breaks worked etc. And they taught us, as I teach my ownm how to take care of their bike!

Regular bike servicing is now a 'thing' offered by many bike shops. Why that should be, I'm not quite sure, but for example back in my cycling days my gears were often a bit iffy, slipping if I recall, and it wasn't something I could fix myself. I'd certainly get a bike properly serviced if it hadn't been ridden for quite a while, because I know my limits ... 

Actually, before I retired we used to have a mobile mechanic come and inspect bikes during the working day, attending to minor issues and occasionally 'condemning' bikes with more serious issues (suggesting that it should not be ridden until X, Y or Z was fixed). 

bc_pink_cat

Late to the party but interested to know how this was handled.   
It would be a no...do one, from me. 
Unless your son needs a new bike/upgrade to bigger size, then dad could offer to sell to put towards that and sure, maybe a cost to share between the two of you if it was costly.  But i'm not falling for that savings account tact.  
The audacity of the guy.  It was a present to his son and he wants to make a buck out of it?!  Also even if he was given permission by your son to sell it then it's on him to sort out a service if he thinks that is appropriate.  Most people just wash their bikes to sell on - not like they hold value!  It's not only the cost involved in that, it's time and energy finding someone to service it and getting the bike to the service.  No way hosay!     

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

My ex-husband bought our son a second-hand bike that cost £180 for Christmas the year before last. Since then it's been badly damaged a couple of times, and I've paid for it to be fixed professionally. My ex now wants the bike back to sell, saying the money he gets will go into a savings account he's set up for our son. Yet he wants me to pay to have the bike serviced again so it can be sold - should I do it? I've probably paid more for the bike now than my ex did.

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