Dad faces 21-year-old daughter's car problems, boyfriend gets annoyed because he wanted to do it: 'It was starting to make her nervous to drive'

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  • A man picking up a tyre next to car parts in a garage
  • Am I wrong for fixing my daughter’s car when her boyfriend said he’d handle it?

    My daughter (21F) and I have always been pretty close. She moved in with her boyfriend a couple months ago.
  • It was a little tough seeing her move out but I know she's an adult and building her own life.
  • She drives an old Corolla with a lot of miles on it. A couple weeks ago she mentioned the steering wheel had started shaking when she got up to highway speeds and sometimes the front end would shudder when she braked.
  • She told me her boyfriend said he would take care of it. Another week went by and it still hadn't been looked at.
  • Last weekend she came by my place and said it was getting worse and it was starting to make her nervous to drive.
  • So I took it for a quick drive and sure enough the wheel was shaking pretty good around 60 mph and it shuddered when I hit the brakes.
  • I pulled the front wheels off in the driveway and it was pretty obvious the front brake rotors were warped and the brake pads were worn unevenly.
  • I ran to the parts store, grabbed new rotors and pads, and swapped them out that afternoon.
  • Took a couple hours and after that the car drove smooth again. My daughter was really happy and thanked me a bunch.
  • To me it wasn't a big deal. I've worked on cars most of my life and she's my kid.
  • A few days later she and her boyfriend came over for dinner. At one point he pulled me aside and told me I shouldn't have fixed the car.
  • He said it was his responsibility as her boyfriend to handle that kind of thing and that by doing it myself I stepped on his toes.
  • I told him I wasn't trying to prove anything. The car was getting worse and I just fixed it while she was there.
  • Since then he's been pretty short with me and the vibe has been a little weird.
  • My daughter says he feels like I undermined him. From my point of view she's still my daughter and if something on her car. is unsafe and I can fix it in an afternoon I'm going to.
  • A young woman driving a car
  • Absolutely_Not_Kevin NTA - when was he going to fix it? When she got in an accident? That's your BABY, you care for her more than he ever could. He's risking her safety by not fixing it sooner when he said he would
  • Outrageous-Jelly8777 Original Poster's Reply Glad someone understands. He makes it out to be weird that she stayed with me into adulthood and now that he's in the picture, she doesn't need me for anything.
  • NHFNCFRE Red flags to me... he's more concerned about how he looks than your daughter's safety. I would honestly suggest she think about what other ways he tries to control her.
  • loopylandtied She's not property. She can get help from whoever is available and willing to help her. This is red flag behaviour
  • Trishshirt5678 I'd keep an eye on him, he's too lazy to do the job he offered to do, but too egocentric not to get sulky when someone else does this necessary work. How else does he let your daughter down?
  • SuZe_Q_Skates NTA at all. The boyfriend showed that her safety was not a priority. Worn rotors is a safety issue. Hope she realizes this and ditches the boyfriend. If he can't make her a priority for something as important as her safety when driving then that's pretty telling
  • Temeriki NTA: "Well she brought it up to me several times and you hadn't fixed it yet so I did. Next time have a sense of urgency when it comes to my daughters safety if you think your a "real man".
  • poyotimebaby my boyfriend picked up pretty quick if he wanted to help me with something he would have to do it quick, or my dad would do it that's how it goes. if he wants to be the one responsible for helping your daughter, then he needs to learn to take initiative. NTA
  • Dust601 Nta I'd be having a discussion with my daughter about how messed up it is that her boyfriend would rather have her driving around an unsafe car that could possibly hurt/k | her, and others for however long it took him to get around to it as opposed to just being thankful it got done, and she's safe.
  • TrustTechnical4122 NTA. To be clear, you are asking should you have refused to use your vast car knowledge to fix your daughter's dangerous car for free when she asked you to, rather than possibly her di on the way home, because her boyfriend had said he would fix it a week ago and hadn't even looked at it?? She needs to ditch this j
  • AcanthocephalaOne285

    AcanthocephalaOne285 NTA Your daughter's safety goes beyond his ego.

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