A free car is only free while it actually works.

One teen spent months driving his parents’ car to work and school, paying them for the insurance, tags, and repairs along the way.

But the minute his parents officially gave it to him, the car promptly started falling apart.

He kept buying parts, hoping it would improve, until it finally quit running altogether.

Fed up, he arranged to sell it to a junkyard for $400, and his mom was fine with that.

His dad, however, was not. He called it a perfectly good car, then accused the teen of being ungrateful for selling it.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for selling my car?

For the past 8 months, I’ve been driving my parents’ car back and forth to work and school. I’ve paid money to them for maintenance, insurance, and tags/inspections.

Eventually, the car became his fully.

Last month, they decided to give me the car to have and own. In the last month, the car had previously been having major issues, and I’ve been throwing parts at it in hopes it would start to slightly go back to normal.

Then came the inevitable.

Two days ago, the car finally decided to stop working altogether, and I’ve grown tired of putting money into it. I told my parents I wanted to sell it to the junkyard.

His parents’ reactions to this couldn’t have been more different.

My mom was fine with it, since the car has had multiple problems since purchasing it back in 2015.

My father, on the other hand, was upset and told me the car is worth more than the $400 the junkyard is giving me.

He tries to defend his choice, but his parents refuse to understand his point of view.

I told him I went on Kelley Blue Book to get a value on the car and was unable to get one due to the poor condition of the car. He got mad and told me to just go ahead and sell it.

Fast forward to today, and I told my parents the tow truck is coming later this week to pick up the car. My father flew off the handle and told me that I’m selling a perfectly good car without his permission and that I’m an ungrateful AH.

AITA for selling a car that I thought was mine?

His parents did a complete 180 on him, and that isn’t fair.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user chimes in, curious for more information.

If it was his car, shouldn’t it be his decision?

Junkyards aren’t known for giving the best deals.

If it were this user, they’d do this.

This teen did what a responsible car owner does when a vehicle becomes a money pit, which is stop pouring cash into it.

All things considered, this teen did all he could to make the most of the situation, and that’s more patience than a lot of other car owners would have.

His dad’s reaction really doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. A car that won’t start isn’t worth much more than a junkyard offer, and the teen even tried to get a value online before agreeing to $400.

Telling him to “go ahead and sell it” and then raging about permission two days later is basically a textbook example of a bait and switch.

Who knew a free car could be this expensive?