Entitled driver refuses to pay for teen's old car after they total it, falsely claiming it was the teen's fault, teen's parents take driver to court and win: ‘They made three grand on a $300 car’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 8, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

No parent in their right mind should buy a brand new car for their kids when they have just passed their driving test. If you want to buy them a vehicle, the only logical one should be a rusty, old, barely functioning car that they would be able to practice on and that no one would feel bad if they destroyed.

Which was probably why the parents in the story below bought their daughter a $300 car that matches the description above.

Surprisingly, that investment turned out to be quite profitable, after an entitled driver backed into the $300 car and completely totaled it. Instead of agreeing to pay the girl $300 to replace the car, this driver refused to admit that she was at fault for the accident. She blamed to girl for what happened, and claimed she should be the one paying for the replacement. This led the girl's parent to take the driver to court, and with enough evidence, they won the lawsuit.

Believe it or not, they made $3000 out of the entire deal. Keep scrolling to read the full story…

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  • 01
    Car Accident on the Street
    via Andrew Poplavsky

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    Take you to court? Okay...

    This was many years ago, so I apologize if some of the details are incorrect. Twas was the year of our Lord 2006, my big sister had just started driving on her own.
    via casserole422
  • 03
    My parents did as most parents did at the time, they bought her the biggest pile of sh car that they could find.
    via casserole422
  • 04
    Relatively reliable, but it was a mid-80s gold Geo Metro. It was a beater, rusty, dented, and dinged, very ugly, and importantly for this story, one of the mirrors was duct taped on.
    via casserole422
  • 05
    One afternoon in the fading light she was driving to our local Pizza Hut to pick up her paycheck.
    via casserole422
  • 06
    On that fateful day, as the sun was going down, someone in a big black suburban type of vehicle backed into her front driver's side pretty hard.
    via casserole422
  • 07
    So hard in fact that the car was completely totaled. But luckily my sister was fine.
    via casserole422
  • 08
    Both parties had insurance, they called the police to take an official report, and my parents started the hunt for a new car.
    via casserole422
  • 09
    Some time passes and they get a letter from the suburbans insurance agency asking for our insurance to cover the cost of the damage done to the suburban.
    via casserole422
  • 10
    The suburban driver was alleging that my sister had been speeding through the parking lot and was therefore at fault.
    via casserole422
  • 11
    This was news to them, they grilled my sister, who swore up down and sideways that she was not speeding, and actually that she was going much slower than normal because as the sun was setting it was hitting the windshield in such a way that made visibility difficult.
    via casserole422
  • 12
    After some digging they found in the police report the sheriff's deputy had noted that the mirror that was duct taped on fell straight down.
    via casserole422
  • 13
    So not only had my sister not been speeding, but she was very nearly or completely stopped at the time of the accident.
    via casserole422
  • 14
    My parents insurance sent a letter back stating that my sister had not been at fault for this accident, and they were willing to accept the total they had paid for the car several months earlier, a paultry sum of $350.
    via casserole422
  • 15
    new car for teen driver
    via sturti

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 16
    The lady who hit my sister responded back that she would not be paying for anything as she was very confident that she was not at fault, and told my parents that they would just have to take her to small claims court.
    via casserole422
  • 17
    My parents responded "bet" and did just that. In order to get all of the paperwork in line for small claims court they had to take this little geo metro to an auto body shop and get an estimation for how much it would cost to replace the panels that this lady had totaled.
    via casserole422
  • 18
    Well, a car that old was difficult to find parts for, and so they were unable to find anything to replace the panels and the door.
    via casserole422
  • 19
    So they gave her a quote for how much it would be to repair those panels, as well as replace the tire and suspension bits that she messed up by backing into it.
    via casserole422
  • 20
    About $4,000. Just before court they did attempt to go to mediation with her to attempt to get her to just pay the $350 that they had initially bought the car for.
    via casserole422
  • 21
    Unfortunately, or fortunately, she was still convinced that she was not at fault... Long story short, my parents were awarded the full four grand, as it was determined that the lady did not check behind her thoroughly enough before backing out of the parking spot.
    via casserole422
  • 22
    And that's how my parents made three grand on a $300 car.
    via casserole422
  • 23
    prw8201 My first car was a 93 geo metro. There's no "speeding around" in those things. 60mph in 12 seconds, going down a hill, and wind blowing in the right direction. Was about the best I could get her to go.
    via prw8201
  • 24
    1 quirky1 I love it when people give out unreasonable trouble and get more trouble back than they gave. I hope it teaches a lesson. My beater 20yo Prius has become even more economical in its old age by getting hit while parked. The repair quote included repainting and I pulled out the fender dent myself. They won't give it up without a hassle. It was hit while my 17yo son was sitting in it with the ignition off. Their insurance was getting sticky with me and tried to involve my son (as a new dr
    via Take you to court? Okay...
  • 25
    imgrendel Nice! Taking it to court is a hassle. I'm glad it was worth it! Glad your sister was okay.
    via imgrendel
  • 26
    JGCii FAFO rules! LOVE IT!
    via JGCii
  • 27
    Gypsy-Danger-TMC I had a car that I was fixing up to turn into a mini camper, all in all I had spent perhaps 800 total on it. so far but it Turned out I screwed up the engine tinkering with it. So I put it on a flat bed and towed it to the garage, lowered it off the trailer and parked it outside the garage doors. I was speaking to the guys inside about getting it fixed (it was not looking good) when a you kid flew around the corner and totalled both his old hunk and my car... his dad came down a
    via Gypsy-Danger-TMC
  • 28
    NocturneSapphire Back when cars were cheap and insurance was actually occasionally useful
    via NocturneSapphire
  • 29
    rdking647 many years ago we lived in New York city. At the time a lot of new yorkers who lived in the city registered their car at their parents home out of teh city. since insurance was much cheaper. me and my wife were crossing 59th at 5th. we had teh light. a woman turning onto 59th street hit us in the crosswalk. there was a cop sitting right there who saw the whole thing. we wernt badly hurt,just vbruised witha few hundred dollars in medical bills. all we wanted was to be reimbursed. the wo
    via rdking647

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teens malicious compliance kids car teenagers accident court reddit story driver lawsuit Reddit money parents children entitled people
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