Older sister waits 6 months for younger sister to pay for thousands of dollars in damage after crashing into her parked car, parents keep making excuses instead of holding her accountable: 'The car is legitimately unusable'

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Jul 29, 2026 7:15 PM EDT

When family protects the wrong person, someone else has to pay the price.

Most people expect their family to help make things right after an accident, especially when one sibling causes serious damage to another's property. Instead, this teenager spent six months watching promise after promise fall apart after her unlicensed younger sister crashed into her parked car. 

While her parents repeatedly insisted repayment would happen "eventually," they never required the younger sister to get a job or take responsibility. Now, with her damaged car needing expensive repairs and her father denying previous promises to replace it, the older sister is left wondering if she'll ever recover the thousands of dollars she's owed.

This specific situation really speaks to me because I'm the older sister, and this could probably happen to one of my siblings. I do believe that the parents are the ones who are making this situation worse by not holding the younger daughter accountable. Instead of making excuses for her, they could use this case and use it to teach her a lesson. 

They aren't doing any good by promising the older daughter a car as well. And I bet they promised her a new car just so she doesn't bother her sister with the money for their repair, and this is something she clearly states in the story. So, essentially, the problem here is regarding the way they raised these two girls. Let me disclose below my opinion on how I would have dealt with this. 

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  • For instance, I would be more careful about my vehicles and wouldn't let my younger daughter use them because she doesn't have a licence. Then, if my oldest suffered the damages of that action, I would help the youngest get a job (or help her find a way to raise the money) and pay her sister back for the damages. 

  • Driver making a phone call while inspecting serious front-end vehicle damage.
    via Unsplash+ (via Getty Images)

    Driver making a phone call while inspecting serious front-end vehicle damage.

    Image is a representation of the story and is not an authentic photo of the individuals involved.

  • My sister is 16 and doesn't have a license, and I'm 17 and own a car just for context. A couple months ago my sister stole my step mom's car and crashed into the back of my parked car, causing thousands of dollars In damages
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • She's unemployed and obviously not insured so there was no way for her to pay me back right at that moment, but my parents promised me that she would get a job and pay me back asap.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • Obviously it's been like 6 months and she hasn't even attempted to get a job and fully believes she doesn't have to pay me back. I've been sending both her and my parents job listings to encourage her to apply but she hasn't yet.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • Damaged vehicle after a collision.
    via Unsplash+ (via Usman Malik)

    Damaged vehicle after a collision.

    This image is for illustrative purposes only and does not depict the actual vehicle involved in the story.

  • About two months ago my dad began telling me he'd just buy me a new car this September.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • However, my breaks on my car are broken and because I drove on them for a while i guess it messed a lot of stuff up and now to fix it it'd be around $1k to fix.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • My dad wants me to pay for it asap and has really been on my back with everything I spend and even past purchases (I bought an iPad in February and he's still mad about it :/).
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • So in my head it makes no sense to spend 1k on a car if he's just buying me a new one in September, which he told me explicitly he would.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • Or why not just pay for my breaks and my sister wouldn't pay me back? But yeah my dad disagreed with both of these things and actually said he wouldn't get me a car in September and apparently I made up that he said that.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • So anyway her paying me back for my car would be really nice right now as the car is legitimately unusable. My dad quite literally told me she'll get a job "eventually" and pay me back.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • It's like the timeline keeps getting pushed back as he said she'll get a summer job but with summer being almost over he's telling me now she'll get a job during the school year.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • My sisters also fully under the impression she won't have to pay me back because her mother (we don't share a mom) told her she doesn't have to. It's like, ok are you going to pay me then?
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • Frustrated young woman looking at her phone beside a damaged car.
    via Unsplash+ (via Getty Images)

    Frustrated young woman looking at her phone beside a damaged car.

    The person shown is a model.

  • I understand that I can't do anything legally, which s ks because in any other situation she'd probably go to jail for this but whatever. I just genuinely don't know what to do in this situation and I feel like I'm likely not getting my money back.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • Artistic-Tough-7764 The vehicle owners insurance should cover the damage. Your insurance can cover it and subrogate against the other vehicle vehicles insurance.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • Own Expert2756 You should have done a police report and she should have to face legal consequences.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • liv4my2 I don't know if it's too late but you should try to make a claim on your insurance. It would come out of the insurance of the car that hit you. It's terrible that your parents don't seem to give a cr ip if you are ever paid back. I doubt your sister will want to pay you when she gets money since time has passed.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend
  • christine-bitg You have bigger problems than just getting your car fixed.
    via Da-canari-gonnaend

  • We can all learn from this situation that mistakes can happen, and although the parents could've prevented the youngest from stealing the car, the issue arises with the way they don't teach them a lesson, and find easy ways to calm both of them.

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sisters sister drama car crash younger sister step mom
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