Uncle Played Favorites And Broke Into His Brother's House While They Were Away To Customize His Niece's Car As A "Surprise"

OP starts off by explaining that he and his 3 siblings grew up watching their "huge car dork" dad work on many cars over the years

While initially it was for OP's mom, his parents ended up gifting their Volkswagon Beetle to his eldest brother's 16-year-old daughter

But to OP's annoyance, his brother has imposed rules on the car, specifically that it must be shared with her stepbrother

OP continues to explain that originally, the car was baby blue, but noted his niece is a "pink gal"

So naturally, he and his other brother decided they needed to "surprise" their niece for her birthday

While his eldest brother and his family were out, they used a spare key to get into his home and took the car out for a makeover

Basically, they turned it into Barbie's Dream VW Beetle

The surprise was quickly discovered when the family returned home, much to the 16-year-olds delight, but her dad was less than pleased

OP's brother feels that they should have taken the stepbrother into consideration, but the brothers argued the car was intentionally gifted to their niece, and no one else

He went on to accuse them of trying to embarrass the step-son and made it so he has to buy him his own car

OP felt pretty secure that they weren't in the wrong, but started to feel conflicted when their Mom weighed in

OP really stirred up controversy with his post, drawing in a lot conflicting opinions

Making OP's 16-year-old niece share a gift is definitely an a-hole move on his brother's part

Since OP's dad legally owns the car and has no issues with the changes, then OP did no wrong

This is definitely a gift that OP's niece will treasure for a long time

Reversing the logic in these situations never works

And there's nothing that is keeping her stepbrother from still using it

Nothing, except for the toxic masculinity, maybe

The owner consented to the customization, sooo

The gift was intended for OP's niece, so she should be considered the owner

OP's brother should have bought his stepson a car in the first place, not use his daughter's gift from her grandparents

So long as the title of the car is not in OP's brother's name, he has no say about what happens with the car

The fact that Homer Simpson drives a pink car is a great point, too

If the story was told from the stepbrother's POV, would people feel differently?

OP deliberately started a conflict where there was none

I feel like this is the best take - everyone acted like a jerk in different ways

But folks still think the intent behind the gift is a critical part of the judgment

It was gifted to the niece✅, she loves pink✅, she loved the car✅

On paper, it sounds like everything is fine

It does seem like OP came up with this to keep the stepson from using it

Okay, but how did everyone else skip over the break-in and grand theft

I totally get where OP was coming from with wanting to do something special for his niece. However, it does feel like they intentionally leaned hard into the Barbie Dream Car theme to keep her step-brother from using it, and we’ve gotten a glimpse of the fallout from that.

Do you think OP was out of line, or was he justified in pinkifying the shared vehicle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!