Would this comment from a neighbour annoy you?

[Ketley67]

Elderly neighbour. Our DS is 17. She asked me to go over to help her with something. As I was leaving she said ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying but the state of your son’s friend’s cars that they’re picking him up in’ and then pulled a face, before she had chance to say anything else I interjected with ‘they’re fine, all safe and road worthy. I know all the parents. No one’s spending a fortune on their child’s first car’.

Any thoughts on this interaction at all?

Just laugh, she obviously doesn’t have any idea of costs of cars for young drivers! My elderly next door neighbour used to make comments about me painting the fence days after leaving hospital with my second child! He obviously forgot how intense having toddler and newborn was that he thought I’d be able to spend a few hours painting! Just laugh!

That’s the kind of comment you hear out, leave a silence and say ‘I don’t understand what you mean’. Though I can’t imagine even getting theoretically exercised about a comment about other people’s cars. Or just say ‘Oh, Beryl, you really do come from a different world, don’t you. These days kids buy their own first cars.’

Someone said that about my first car. I changed jobs 6m later and was issued with a brand new company car. They never said anything afterwards. You're right to ignore them.

It's fine to be less available to help your neighbour if she's regularly making nosey comments like this and annoying you. You're allowed to put your own health and happiness first.

So she’s being a snob because they have second hand cars. Just ignore her.

She might be worried about your son getting into a car with young friends- we are, we’re from an area that there’s been a number of road deaths over the last few years- all 17-25 year olds. My mums always asking do we allow him in the car with friends driving