Insurance help: I damaged my mom’s car today, what should I do? - Help.com

I damaged my mom’s car today, what should I do?

Ok, so I’m 18 and have been driving for 2 years, but my family (which consists of only my mom and I) has one car. Because we can’t afford another one at the moment, I leveled with my mom to be able to use the car occasionally.

Today, I was following my friend to a party (because I needed directions and I needed to leave early, so I needed to drive myself). As he was turning around because he took a wrong turn, I myself was making a 3 point turn, and as I was backing out, my friend passed me. I was shouting something at him, I was careless and backed up into a tree at about 5 mph.

Thankfully, it was a small tree and the only damage were 2 hairline cracks in the rear bumper no longer than 3-4 inches each. (Another segment of the bumper clicked off, but I placed it back in.)

Since this is my mom’s car and not mine, maybe I don’t appreciate the severity of the situation, but when I told her the truth, she flipped out on me. I said it wasn’t visible from far away and the integrity of the bumper is not compromised. Besides, we had this car for about 5 years and we’re only going to keep it for about one more before moving on.

Anyway, she’s threatening me to make me pay for the damage because she insists on it being repaired to keep her car in “perfect condition”. However, there are other things wrong with the car, like the rear door lock doesn’t work, there are tons of scratches near one doorhandle and bumper, and other little things I’m unaware of. Yet, the one mistake I make with the car, she flips over.

She told me I should pay for the repair of the bumper, in which they have to replace the whole thing (for 2 hairline cracks no longer than 4 inches), and it’s gonna run me about $1500 (because it’s a Mercedes).

First of all, I don’t have that kind of money. (I only have $850 on me, and that money is going towards a laptop for college. Which to me, and I think many others is an absolute necessity, and I shouldn’t be deprived of it.)

This is my first ever “accident” in 2 years of driving and I don’t know if I should be punished this severely, especially since I’m only able to use the car under my mom’s strict terms. For example, if I’m at a party that ends at about 11 or 12, we then agree on 9. I ask, “Why not later? Do you need the car then?” She responds, “No, I just want it home.” Then I call her while at the party to ask if I can stay later, and she says, “No, you said you would be home at 8.”

Nothing pisses me off more than when people put words into my mouth.

I even reasoned that when you rent a car, I understand any damage you make is your responsibility. However, you get to use it at any time, for any reason, and don’t have to reason with anyone to use it at a whim, just as long as you return it by the deadline. So unless I get to use the car whenever I want or at least with less restrictions, I don’t believe I should pay the entire supposed $1500 for repair.

Please help me out here. I think my mom is being delusional and is just trying to accept the fact that something happened to her car, as minimal as that sounds. I explicitly said I’m sorry within 2 minutes of showing her the damage and 10 minutes later into the conversation, my mom remarks how through all this, I never even apologized. Again, I get pissed when people pretend I didn’t say something when I did. And when I pointed it out when I said in, I was told I had an attitude. What???

Anyway, as you can see I’m really in a dilemma and I honestly don’t think this should be repaired in the first place. This isn’t visible unless close up, and it’s the rear bumper which is never even seen when driving by anyone or anyone driving near it. Yet my mom tells me she can see it? Right…

This open post was written 4 months, 3 weeks ago | V/U/S: 220, 3, 4 | Edit Post | Leave a reply | Report Post

Cars, Driving, teen, repairs, Insurance, accidents (How Tags Affect Reciprocity)

A logged in and verified Help.com member has the ability to setup a Friends List and invite others to help with posts.