If you spend a lot of time deciding what car to buy, would you also feel the need to explain your decision making process to your family and your girlfriend’s family?

Sometimes saying less is actually better, as the man in today’s story finds out the hard way.

When he explains why he wants to buy a particular car, his girlfriend’s family gets offended.

Let’s see why.

AITA for telling my girlfriend’s family that I don’t want to give rides?

I (24M) recently got my driver’s license, so at the moment I’m choosing a car to drive.

Here where I live, a car is usually quite expensive and it’s not something that people change so often (because it’s difficult to have the money to change) – so at the moment I’m choosing a car that suits my needs:

Here are the details of his situation and why he needs a car.

• I live with my parents (temporarily), and they have their own car;
• I go to work in person twice a week, the other days I work from home;
• I usually go out with my girlfriend (25F) at weekends;
• I go to the gym (which is about 400m from home);

So, I found a car that suits me well: the Fiat 500. It’s a car that’s cheap to maintain and consumes very little.

He mentioned his car choice at his girlfriend’s house.

Well, that said, there was a lunch at my girlfriend’s house recently and there was me, her and most of her close family.

While we were talking, I mentioned that I’d finally gotten my license and that I was looking to buy a car.

Her grandmother asked me which car I had in mind, and I said I was thinking of the Fiat 500 and jokingly pointed out:

“That car would suit me because I don’t like giving rides”

His comment rubbed her family the wrong way.

As it turned out, the atmosphere at the table became tense, and we soon changed the subject.

The next day, my girlfriend calls me and says that after I left, her siblings and her brother’s girlfriend told her that they were very upset by my comment, saying “Gee, we’re always willing to give rides” and that I was selfish.

My girlfriend and I have been together for 6 years – and if I’ve almost never asked for a ride.

When my girlfriend tells me this, she says “You need to understand that my family doesn’t understand you the way your family and I understand you” – as if I have some kind of “problem” because I simply don’t want to give them a damn ride in my damn car that I haven’t even bought yet.

He doesn’t think he should have to apologize.

I take a stand and say to her, “I didn’t say that if I have to, I’ll refuse – it doesn’t even make sense for the three of them to be hurt by a situation that didn’t even happen. They all have cars, they all know how to drive and they would hardly NEED a ride from me.”

In a way, she wanted me to apologize for the comment and sort of say, “I was joking!” and laughed it off

But I don’t see why I’m wrong in this.

AITA for telling my brother and sister-in-law that I don’t want to give other people a ride in a damn, comically small Fiat 500?

It probably would’ve been better not to be so honest about why he wanted a small car, but he doesn’t owe anyone a ride.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

He should’ve just thought it not said it.

It was a pretty rude thing to say.

This person calls him “weird.”

It’s okay to say no if someone asks for a ride.

He shouldn’t have been so blatant about not liking to help people.

Some things are better left unsaid.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.