pctec
19-10-2009, 09:06 AM
What a pickle this is… As some of you know my Son’s car had an unfortunate appointment with a pole. The girl he let drive his car that day was a beginner with a learners permit. To complicate matters, she was my brother’s girlfriend. (My Son and Brother are both 20 and his girlfriend is 19).
The problem is that my Son only had public liability and public damage and no collision insurance. Therefore, he gets nothing to fix his car. The day he got the car I dished out a total of $2000 for him to have transportation. So in effect, he owes me $2000 and now has no transportation.
Matters became quite complicated when my brother and my stepfather got their big noses stuck in the middle of it and “tried” to find an acceptable solution. Their brilliant solution was to take an old beat up Honda Civic with a bad head gasket and rotten body and “fix it up” for my Son. I of course though this was insane and most likely would have cost far more in cash and possible lives as I do not believe it will ever be road worthy again.
My Son was understandable upset and came to me and his mother literally in tears as to what to do. We got him calm and we came up with a solution that would surely please everyone. I am in total agreement that he should have NEVER let her drive his car to begin with but the fact remains that she could have easily said no. I got the idea that a 50/50 split in damages was fair. My Son would only end up with $1000 back and still have a $2000 bill to pay and now had no car, but my wife and I felt it to be fair.
We all headed up to my parents house where my brother and his gf lives and we presented the deal to her. She was all for it and my Mother who was also there decided it was a fair deal. No one wins but in cases like this, no one ever does.
A few hours later my stepfather calls me telling me what “we” were going to do to resolve this problem. He wanted to get the car brought here and we would fix it. I haven’t seen the car but my understanding is that it needs a front bumper, hood, rad, rad fans, and possibly a transmission because the tow truck driver couldn’t get it out of park and had to drag it onto the truck.
This was totally unacceptable and I was not willing to dump that amount of cash into a totaled car. I flat out said NO! Then he disputed the $1000 that my Son and my brothers gf had agreed to. I told him it was none of his concern and that a resolution was already made. Again he TOLD me what we were going to do at which point it got very loud and then he hung up on me.
At this point everyone is basically mad at everyone and this is gearing up to be one of those long standing family disputes.
Can I get some opinions on this matter?
The problem is that my Son only had public liability and public damage and no collision insurance. Therefore, he gets nothing to fix his car. The day he got the car I dished out a total of $2000 for him to have transportation. So in effect, he owes me $2000 and now has no transportation.
Matters became quite complicated when my brother and my stepfather got their big noses stuck in the middle of it and “tried” to find an acceptable solution. Their brilliant solution was to take an old beat up Honda Civic with a bad head gasket and rotten body and “fix it up” for my Son. I of course though this was insane and most likely would have cost far more in cash and possible lives as I do not believe it will ever be road worthy again.
My Son was understandable upset and came to me and his mother literally in tears as to what to do. We got him calm and we came up with a solution that would surely please everyone. I am in total agreement that he should have NEVER let her drive his car to begin with but the fact remains that she could have easily said no. I got the idea that a 50/50 split in damages was fair. My Son would only end up with $1000 back and still have a $2000 bill to pay and now had no car, but my wife and I felt it to be fair.
We all headed up to my parents house where my brother and his gf lives and we presented the deal to her. She was all for it and my Mother who was also there decided it was a fair deal. No one wins but in cases like this, no one ever does.
A few hours later my stepfather calls me telling me what “we” were going to do to resolve this problem. He wanted to get the car brought here and we would fix it. I haven’t seen the car but my understanding is that it needs a front bumper, hood, rad, rad fans, and possibly a transmission because the tow truck driver couldn’t get it out of park and had to drag it onto the truck.
This was totally unacceptable and I was not willing to dump that amount of cash into a totaled car. I flat out said NO! Then he disputed the $1000 that my Son and my brothers gf had agreed to. I told him it was none of his concern and that a resolution was already made. Again he TOLD me what we were going to do at which point it got very loud and then he hung up on me.
At this point everyone is basically mad at everyone and this is gearing up to be one of those long standing family disputes.
Can I get some opinions on this matter?