17-year-old son dinged my car while parking at home (teenagers, support, parent)
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... He went to Target to buy me some stuff, and returned home... the parking space adjacent to mine had a minivan in it, making it a tight squeeze for parking. Unfortunately, my son turned too late and hit the pole....
It sounds like he was doing you a favor. Punish him for it? No. This is why you have insurance. Use it or don't, but I can't see how charging him for the damage is quite right.
Another way to look at it: Son was working for you. If your boss sent you on an errand in the company car and you dinged it, would it be right that he'd charge you to have it repaired, even though he (should have) had insurance on it? No. Same thing.
My son drove his (and our) cars hard, but the only accident he had as a teen was because his mom was sitting next to him and told him to stop and wait for the oncoming traffic before turning left. So he stopped. And got rear-ended -- totaled a cream-puff Porsche.
My daughter drove like a sissy-girl. The day she got her drivers license she asked if she could take my (new) car for a spin. She wrecked it -- rear-ended a couple at a stop sign in their brand-spanking-new car that they were driving home from the dealership! She was afraid to tell me. *shrugs* Nobody was hurt. Dents can be straightened. Accidents happen.
Six months later we were in Denver. We'd taken one of her friends with us to a Bronco game, and the night before the game they asked if they could take the car about a half-mile to a Dairy Queen. They didn't get out of the hotel parking lot before crunching it. Accidents happen.
Another six months and she got rear-ended in my pickup. This one wasn't her fault. Accidents happen.
If you loan someone your car, accept that it may get dinged. It might get totaled. Carry insurance. If they're using it at your request -- running an errand for you -- and ding it, that's definitely on you... whether it's your child or not.
It's a purely cosmetic problem incurred by accident while the kid wasn't doing anything wrong, and was in fact being helpful. Clearly you have a good kid there if that's the worst vehicular incident you're getting from him. Let it go.
Don't replace the bumper. There will be more dings to come. Look at it this way - maybe there will be a fender bender someday that will be the other driver's fault, and their insurance will have to pay to replace the bumper. If you really must, take it to a body shop and ask them what they can do, without replacing it, at low out of pocket cost, to make it look better. You'd be surprised what can be done without replacement. You might even find a youtube video showing you what can be done - that's how we fixed a dent in the bumper on my last car before we sold it.
This accident wasn't due to negligence on the part of your son - it was inexperience. He learned. No reason to punish him.
My son has had his license for about 10 months and has never had any tickets, never been pulled over, and has never been in involved in any accidents....until today. He went to Target to buy me some stuff, and returned home. In between the two parking spaces my husband and I own is a stone pillar. Today the parking space adjacent to mine had a minivan in it, making it a tight squeeze for parking. Unfortunately, my son turned too late and hit the pole. The car is fine, but has a 3-inch-wide dent and some small strips of paint were scratched off. I'm afraid I might have to replace the whole bumper for almost a grand..... Should I give him a warning this time, and make him pay in full for the next accident (hopefully there will NOT be another accident in the forseeable future!!), or make him pay me the sum it costs for the bumper? Thanks!
Pay for the repair yourself and do your own errands.
No he shouldn't have to pay for this, it was a simple fender-bender an accident. you should be very thankful that he didn't have an accident between the store and home involving another driver and the police. he will learn from this and i'm sure he feels bad enough already. At least you have the option to fix it out of pocket or let your insurance fix it. But if you tell them it happened with your 17 year old driving, i would guess your premium could go up.
My son has had his license for about 10 months and has never had any tickets, never been pulled over, and has never been in involved in any accidents....until today. He went to Target to buy me some stuff, and returned home. In between the two parking spaces my husband and I own is a stone pillar. Today the parking space adjacent to mine had a minivan in it, making it a tight squeeze for parking. Unfortunately, my son turned too late and hit the pole. The car is fine, but has a 3-inch-wide dent and some small strips of paint were scratched off. I'm afraid I might have to replace the whole bumper for almost a grand..... Should I give him a warning this time, and make him pay in full for the next accident (hopefully there will NOT be another accident in the forseeable future!!), or make him pay me the sum it costs for the bumper? Thanks!
Obviously, claiming it on your insurance is out of the question, unless you really want your insurance to skyrocket. I've had two teenage drivers that somehow managed to make it out of their teens unscathed, so I can empathize with your situation.
Quick question for you -- is the bumper a chrome bumper, as is found on some SUVs? Or is it a painted bumper? If it's chrome, there's not much you can do. But if it is a painted rubber bumper, and there is no hole in it, I would see if there is someone in your area that does cosmetic repairs. We have someone around here called "Carsmetics" that does just that -- cosmetic repairs on cars. Whether it's a door ding that needs to be removed, or a bumper that has paint scraped off, these guys can do it and do it for A LOT less than a dealership. Check Craigslist or the Yellow Pages (does anyone still use those? lol), and as a last resort, you can always ask the used car manager at your dealership who does their "lot work". Those guys often will do the same type of repairs.
You're driving an SUV, not a Ferrari, so my gut instinct says to chalk this up to a learning experience. But if the dent/paint scrape really bothers you -- I'm a detailer, and it would annoy ME everytime I looked at it -- I would try to take the path of least investment to get it repaired to your satisfaction.
My son has had his license for about 10 months and has never had any tickets, never been pulled over, and has never been in involved in any accidents....until today. He went to Target to buy me some stuff, and returned home. In between the two parking spaces my husband and I own is a stone pillar. Today the parking space adjacent to mine had a minivan in it, making it a tight squeeze for parking. Unfortunately, my son turned too late and hit the pole. The car is fine, but has a 3-inch-wide dent and some small strips of paint were scratched off. I'm afraid I might have to replace the whole bumper for almost a grand..... Should I give him a warning this time, and make him pay in full for the next accident (hopefully there will NOT be another accident in the forseeable future!!), or make him pay me the sum it costs for the bumper? Thanks!
Can you just make him pay the insurance deductible or split it with you?
This is why we pay for insurance and why they call them "accidents." He didn't intentionally do it, and I'm sure he feels bad, but he hasn't done anything every one of us hasn't done at one time or another.
yes the dent and the sheared off paint is really an eyesore...And this SUV was purchased by my husband as a Christmas gift in 2011....
edit: yes the whole front part of the SUV is one assembly so the whole bumper must be replaced.
SO, did you actually have a body shop look at it? I seriously doubt that the whole bumper cover would need to be replaced with than little bit of damage. Most body shops can repair bumper dents and refinish the plastic bumpers like new, even if they have holes torn in them. On my car, the prior owner damaged the bottom, drilled holes in it for fog lights, and it has several chips/gouges on it. Two local shops said they could repair it and repaint it back to 100% new condition for about $250-300. As long as it is not torn away from the car (with damaged mounting points) or does not have a big rip in it, they should be able to fix it.
And I would probably not punish him too much for it. Maybe he could pay a portion of the repair so he has some sense of responsibility for his actions. I bet he was very sorry about it, and it was an accident. I am willing to bet he will be EXTRA careful from now on. I know I am on left turns, as my first accident was a result of me making a left turn without totally checking for traffic. Now I NEVER go unless I make sure there is no traffic. I learned, and so will he.
I agree that he should not have to pay. How did you find out that the car was dinged? Did he tell you when he came home or did you see it happen? If he told you to me that shows taking responsibility.
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Should I give him a warning this time, and make him pay in full for the next accident (hopefully there will NOT be another accident in the forseeable future!!), or make him pay me the sum it costs for the bumper? Thanks!
