We sold our SUV to family friends and lived to regret every single moment

We sold our car to family friends four years ago. We tried to be nice, agreed to payments, and ended up getting a bucket of trash dumped on our heads – they didn't pay what they owed, and completely frayed our nerves. So much for friendship. If we'd known how this would turn out, we never would've gotten involved. But at least now we know what kind of "friends" we had.

My husband and I bought our first car about four years ago. It already had quite a history, but it ran pretty well. Foreign make, SUV. Of course, we had to tinker with a few things, replace some parts here and there, but the car still did its job just fine.

Our situation changed recently, and we didn't need the car anymore. We rarely drove anywhere, and when we did, it was just easier to take an Uber. Meanwhile, we still had to maintain the car so it wouldn't completely die on us. That meant unnecessary expenses.

At first, we thought the car might still come in handy, but then we crunched the numbers and realized it wasn't worth it. Once we'd fully accepted that, we decided to sell it. Of course, after getting it in proper shape first.

My husband replaced some consumables, took it to the shop for diagnostics, wrote everything down carefully. We fixed some of the issues ourselves since we could, and left some for the new owners. We were prepared to tell the buyer about all the flaws.

We never imagined someone we knew would want to buy it, so we listed it online. People came, looked, but it wasn't selling. We weren't in a rush, so we weren't about to slash the price in half.

Then our friends found out we were selling our car. Turns out they were ready to buy their first vehicle and started showing real interest in ours. Of course, buying from friends is easier – you know they won't rip you off. And we had no intention of doing that.

My husband honestly told them about all the shortcomings, what needed repair, and roughly how much they'd need to spend on it. The friends thought it over and asked us to sell them the car on a payment plan. They didn't want to take out a loan, which was completely understandable.

We figured, why not? We didn't need the money urgently, we'd be getting a problem off our shoulders, and we'd never had reason to doubt our friends' honesty before. We shook on it. Drew up a contract, a receipt, everything by the book.

Problems started literally right away. First, the new owners took forever to re-register the car. Meanwhile, my husband kept getting tickets for the sold vehicle for a whole month. Our friends laughed it off, promised to pay and re-register, dragged us along with this for ages. They supposedly paid their tickets, but there was very little pleasant about the whole thing.

Then the payment delays started. Every time they asked us to be understanding, to wait, not to push. Their paycheck came late, or unexpected expenses came up so they couldn't pay the full amount they owed, or they forgot, or they didn't have time.

My husband and I got no joy from reminding them, calling, asking. But we also couldn't just let it slide and wait forever. We'd agreed to payments, but we'd only done it as a favor to friends. We wouldn't have offered those terms to other buyers.

For six months we dealt with irregular payments. Barely, but they were paying. And then they started claiming we'd scammed them on the sale price. They'd shown the car to some buddy of theirs who supposedly knows cars, and he found a ton of problems, claimed we'd overpriced it by double.

They started demanding we reduce the contract amount, which we absolutely were not planning to agree to. Our friends had been perfectly aware of all the flaws that existed at the time of sale. And whatever they'd managed to damage in six months shouldn't concern us anymore.

Of course, they told us they drove very carefully, so they couldn't have damaged anything, but judging by the tickets my husband got at the beginning, that claim was far from the truth. We sold the car with a good suspension, and how and where they managed to trash it was no longer our business. It would be one thing if the car had fallen apart two days after purchase. But six months had passed, and the new owners only started having complaints about its condition after six months.

But our friends stood their ground – we'd deceived them, overcharged them, and sold them junk. So they weren't going to pay us. They were willing to give us back the car, and we should return the money they'd already paid for it. We refused that offer.

Now we're heading to court, because there's no way to resolve this amicably. My husband and I are just in shock – we tried to help people out, and this is how they act. Now we have to spend time and nerves on lawsuits just to get our own money. If we'd known what selling a car to friends would cost us, we never would've gotten involved.