This is actually on behalf of my gf, but I am witnessing the story in real time, and I am completely aware of what's happening. She has given me permission to post her story here.

So a bit of context. My gf (29F) and I (31M) are renting a place with 2 other couples, so there's 6 of us in total. We all have our own space and keep to our own, but we all get along for the most part. Each couple shares a car each, and as for my gf and I, the car we share is under her name.

Due to an accident that is irrelevant to this story, her car has been written off. It was insured, but y'know how insurance can be a slow process, and we weren't covered for a loan car. Obviously, we needed a solution, as both of the jobs me and my gf do, depend on using a vehicle to get to our respective workplaces.

Enter potential AH friend who is one of the 4 other people who lives with us. For anonymity purposes, let's call him Josh (don't ask). Josh is very meticulous on who uses his car and what for, which is understandable. Since his work is at home, he hardly uses it, but keeps it very tidy and clean. We approached him and asked if we could borrow his car, and while hesitant at first, he agreed. No conditions, no written agreement. Just word of mouth. We did this every time we needed the car. We asked, he agreed, simple.

We do what any normal person does when borrowing a car from an anxious car owner. We kept it clean, paid for all our gas, drove like you'd expect to drive (pretending your mother was in the passenger seat). We even worked out the insurance cost and paid that too. While all this is not an expectation, it's just common sense.

Eventually, the insurance came through and we got our own car. So, we took Josh's car to the car wash and did a thorough clean and left it with the tank full. We did rack up 2200+ kms (that's approx 1367 miles for you americans). However, we were prepared to pay for the maintenance, as it would need it's service sooner.

Here's where the conflict comes in. Josh, apparently thinks he's a car rental company and asked for an additional $150 on top of everything else. Called it compensation for the kms used (which isn't really that much in our opinion) for "resale value". We were already paying $450 in total, which covers the service and our portion of insurance. In our minds, it made no sense to pay an extra profit to Josh of $150. Being a depreciating asset, make it make sense to ask your so called friends to help you turn a profit while taking advantage of their situation.

Of course, we can be entirely wrong about all this, but that's where we need some advice from strangers to give us some insight we might have missed.

So, AITA for not paying $150 for this supposed "resale value"?

Edit: To answer a lot of similar questions at once. We borrowed the car for 8 weeks and my gf's job is at multiple locations. Josh is fully aware of this before lending the car. She also told Josh the locations of these jobs at the start of every week, in order to make sure he was ok with that. I want to emphasize that at any point, if he'd have said no, we'd be looking for alternative solutions.

To be clear, the $450 is for the maintenance and our portion of insurance only. The cost of fuel was paid as needed.

To those that are saying $150 isn't much, it is to us.

Lastly, I'm sorry if I come across as manipulative. It's was not my intention, but I can see how I have worded this would make me the AH and you'd be right, IF Josh has told us from the beginning, or laid out what he expected in return. However, in this case, he asked for the extra $150 after the fact. So yes, call me cheap. Who isn't?

Update: We're gonna pay the $250. On behalf of my gf and I, we thank you guys for setting us straight.

I totally fudged up the math. We paid $450, but Josh was asking for $700 in total for maintenance plus usage. Still makes him an AH for asking that after the fact. However, as many of you have pointed out. He saved us quite a bit of $ in the long run, should we have gone a different direction and that 2200kms is a bit excessive for 8 weeks.

Lesson learned. Take care all.