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Ds1, 12, has just caused £100's of damage to a car!!

12 replies

lilibet · 26/05/2005 22:04

He kicked a ball into it really hard and his little brother came in and told us. The dent in the tailgate is awful. We found out whose car it is and marched him round to apologise. The lady is baby sitting and didn't want to come out and look as it would mean leaving the baby in the house so she is coming round when the parents return. At best, it's a dent to be knocked out and a respray, at worst it's a new tailgate on a 51 reg Peugeot 206.

So we reckon somewhere between £200 and £1,000 worth of damage. He gets no pocket money to be stopped, he has just over £1,000 in an account that he doesn't know about, which was from a 10 year policy type thingy and is supposed to be for when he is older. What would you do? If we make him work it off, he'll be doing it till he is 19!

Dreading this woman coming round - we told her that we would pay for it, but I'm sure that she will throw a fit when she sees it, rather than appreciating our honesty!

And after he had been round and apologised and we had gone bloody mad at him he said "does this mean that I can't play football in the street again tonight"!!!!!

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Milliways · 26/05/2005 22:21

Sorry to hear this.

I would strongly recommend you contact dent devils . My DH uses them a lot as part of his business, if the paint is not damaged. If it is, contact Chipsaway. Will save you a lot & they do insurance jobs. Free quotes etc.

Personally - I wouldn't empty his savings account - but make him work around the house to earn some of the money.

Hopeit sorts itself out soon.

lilibet · 26/05/2005 22:29

Well she came round and was lovely. Kept saying "accidents can happen" and thanked us for our honesty, she has had work done before at a local garage and said that they were quite reasonable. She is getting a quote and letting us know.

Still not sure what to do about ds'1!

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hatsoff · 26/05/2005 22:32

I don;t think there's any point taking it out of his £1000 - first coz he doesn't know it's there so he won't think "shit, I've lost £200" he'll be thinking "weh-hey I've got £800 I didn;t know about it"; secondly coz you'll probably end up replacing it, one way or another, sooner or later. There's also the issue of how he did it - has he been repeatedly warned that this might happen and that he needs to be more careful - in which case his crime is greater than if not. He needs to understand a bit about consequences - but ethre doesn't seem to be a way of making him pay the actual cost. I would come to an agreement of some sort that makes it clear this thing is his responsibility: eg "You need to pay £200 for this car to be repaired. We are prepared to pay on your behalf as long as [insert suitable penalty]. I'd be tempted to make him do community service! wash your car every week for ?6 months/ and/or find himself some voluntary work

hatsoff · 26/05/2005 22:33

glad she was understanding!

lilibet · 26/05/2005 23:10

dd (16) has suggested we sell him as a slave - problem is - he would never do any work!

Wash my car every week for 6 months - my car hasn't been washed in 6 months!

But I think the idea may be a good one! I could think of what jobs I hate and give them to him to do for the next year [evil laugh icon]

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Janh · 26/05/2005 23:16

I am astonished that he could that much damage just by kicking a football against it, lili - do Wigan know about him?

lilibet · 26/05/2005 23:19

lol Janh - he did say "it's not my fault I have a powerful kick" - to which I responded "yes, but it's your fault you have no aim!!"

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Chandra · 26/05/2005 23:21

I would suggest just giving him half of his pocket money for a month, is not as much as the damage is worth but it will make him understand what are you going through.

lilibet · 26/05/2005 23:24

He doesn't get pocket money Chandra !

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Chandra · 26/05/2005 23:49

Then every time you are out and he asks for a regular thing (ice cream, or something in the like) say something like , oh no dear, we still need to pay for the fixing of the car...

CountessDracula · 26/05/2005 23:52

Why not start giving him pocket money and defer it until car is paid off? You never know it may not be so bad. Surely the woman has insurance? If she is fully comp with protected no claims she may be ok about it.

pixiefish · 26/05/2005 23:52

Accidents happen. That's why people have insurance on their cars. She can claim for it on her insurance surely. He's 12- don't be too hard on him

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