I’m not a car guy by any stretch, but I do know enough to know that they’re not supposed to like, leak big pools of stuff out of them.

I also barely know most of my neighbors and would rather eat a porcupine than strike up a conversation with a stranger.

So what I’m saying is, I feel this story.

AITA for doing nothing while my neighbour unknowingly destroyed her car

I (32m) stay in a block of 8 flats with a c.30f neighbour a couple floors above.

We don’t really know each other except for the occasional friendly greeting & light conversation when we pass each other in the common areas.

Then came the oil patch problem.

Each flat has its own dedicated parking space, and one morning when leaving for work I noticed a fresh oil patch in her space.

At the time I did realise it could be quite serious and that I hope she knows but as my day went on I kinda forgot about it.

Over time the patch grew larger and for some reason I just assumed she must have known about it as the oil patch was quite obvious and she must have seen it pulling in to her space.

So I didn’t ever say anything, and in my defence our paths never crossed since I noticed this – I like to think I would have mentioned it if we had bumped into each other but that’s an alternative universe.

Then, the reckoning.

Anyway, fast forward 2 weeks, I had completely forgot about this.

While out washing my car, she came home in a new (to her) car and we struck up a conversation.

I asked her about it and she proceeded to tell me that when travelling to work her car broke down and left her stranded.

After getting it recovered at great expense the mechanic told her that the car ran out of oil and needed a new engine which she couldn’t afford.

I immediately remembered that I actually knew about this issue and felt awful that I didn’t say anything, ultimately causing her to lose a lot of money.

Now he’s wracked with guilt.

She doesn’t know I knew.

When I told my friend he called me the [jerk] for not going out of my way to tell her – and with the benefit of hindsight I agree I should have done everything to let her know.

I can’t stress enough how bad I feel about it.

However, without the benefit of hindsight, AITA?

Let’s see how the comments diagnose this issue:

How could she not have noticed?

Gotta pay attention.

I think this sums it up well:

It’s very decent of you to be concerned about this. And hey, next time, you’ll remember this, and you’ll probably say something.

But given how little attention she was paying – I’m not convinced that pointing it out to her would have even made a difference.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.