Q: I borrowed my friend’s car, and the police pulled me over because the registration had expired. The car was impounded, and I had to pay $175 to get it out. Am I responsible for that $175, or is my friend required to reimburse me?
A: In the previous issue, we explained that you were not required to pay the impound fee. Since you did pay it, the question that remains is whether you may now demand that the car owner reimburse you.
Although it might seem logical that he is required to repay you, according to basic halachah, he has no such obligation.
The halachah is that if Reuven pays a debt that Shimon owes to someone else, Shimon is not required to reimburse him (Shulchan Aruch, C.M. 128:1, with Shach 5). Several explanations have been offered for this halachah.
The Gemara (Nedarim 33a) states that Reuven’s having paid the debt is not considered as though he provided Shimon with direct benefit. Rather, it is considered akin to mavriach ari, someone who chases off a lion to prevent it from harming someone, and in such a case, the person who was saved is not required to pay the person who saved him. Similarly, Reuven is considered to have chased off the lender so that he doesn’t demand payment from Shimon, not as though he provided some new benefit to Shimon.
Talmud Yerushalmi (Nedarim 4:2 and Kesubos 13:2) explains that Shimon is not required to repay Reuven because he can claim that he would have convinced the lender to forgive the loan (see Tosafos, Bava Kamma 58a, s.v. I Nami).
Others explain that we presume that Reuven paid off the loan as a mitzvah, and he gave the money as a gift. Although he is now asking to be repaid, he is not entitled to change his mind (Rashi Bava Kamma 58a, s.v. Eima and Shach loc cit. 8).
(Notably, Rabbeinu Tam writes that the halachah that someone who paid off another person’s loan is not entitled to reimbursement is limited to a case in which someone financially supported a woman whose husband traveled overseas and did not leave enough money for her. The reason the husband is not required to reimburse that person is because he can claim that had that person not stepped in and supported his wife, she would have made do with the amount of money she had. But if someone pays off an actual debt, then the borrower is required to repay him [Tosafos, Kesubos 108a, s.v. Ha and Bava Metzia 31b s.v. Im Yeish]. But this opinion is not accepted; the Poskim rule that the borrower is not required to reimburse him [Shach 128:5 and Ksav Sofer, C.M. 18, cf. Sema 128:3]).
This halachah holds true even if the lender is pressuring the borrower to repay the loan, and even if the lender has collateral from which he can recover the loan (C.M. 128:1). In the latter case, if the lender gave the collateral to the person who paid off the loan, that person is required to return it to the borrower.
Some say, however, that if the person who paid the loan has access to the borrower’s money or to collateral belonging to him, we do not seize it from him, because we rely on the Poskim who maintain that in such cases the borrower is not absolved from repaying the person who paid off his loan (Shach loc. cit.).
Returning to our case, if you wanted to continue to drive the car after it was impounded, so you had a specific reason to pay the impound fee, it is not considered a case of paying off someone else’s loan. Rather, since the car owner would have been required to give you a car to drive for the remaining period of time he said he would lend you his car, you had a right to pay the impound fee on behalf of the lender to get the car you originally borrowed, and he is required to reimburse you (see Eimek Hamishpat 2:38).
But if you do not want to continue using the car because it is not registered (actually, it is unclear whether you would be allowed to continue driving it, because it is possible that when it was impounded, that ended the borrowing period [see C.M. 341:6 and Mishpatei Hachoshen ibid., note 14, p. 488]), then your payment of the impound fee is considered paying someone else’s loan.
In all likelihood, he will be willing to reimburse you (and he might even be mandated to do so latzeis yedei Shamayim [to avoid Heavenly justice]; see Chiddushim Ubi’urim, Kesubos 107b). Nevertheless, someone who finds themselves in such a situation should contact the car owner before paying the impound fee and ask whether he will reimburse him if he pays the fee.
