Making SD Pay for Car Repairs
Quickly sum up situation: we gave my 18 year old SD a car several months ago. She has become more impossible than ever over the last few months – as most of you know from earlier posts – surly, hateful, lying, etc. Now she’s gotten a speeding ticket and drove her car into a pot hole at such a high speed she damaged the undercarriage. We took the car in for repairs because it was unsafe for her to drive it. We want her to pay for the repairs. My problem is this: how do we pay bring the car home and keep her from it, when it is in her name, until she pays us back for the repairs? What can we do legally aside from leaving the car at the shop, which seems like a bad thing to do to a local business that has treated us well? Any ideas? I think it is high time this brat has to pay for something she's done.
TAKE IT AWAY
michelle2303
This is kinda one of those tricky things but we did this with my sd bought her the first car which by the way was not good enough for her (in her eyes) same thing happend she was 18 but she lives with bm and she starting saying out all night. We kinda got lucky she needed a minor repair done to it so her father my husband offer to do it with keys in hand he than had it locked into a friends garage boy there was ALOT of temper tantrums with that one she had to agree to abide by the rules to get it back .Legal I don't know what she could have done to us but she was to busy throwing her temper tantrums to find out .Good Luck this is a rough one.Pay for the repairs and make her agree to pay them back (maybe in writing would help)small payment whatever it takes than she gets the keys back.
Slippery
I would write up a legal agreement which in effect gives you lien rights if she fails to pay for the repairs....
My sister found herself in a similar situation. Bought her 20 yr old a car (after trashing several others)and was to pay them back. Never made a payment. My sister placed a anti-theft device on the steering wheel and refused to remove it until some payments were made. Her daughter called the police and thus it was removed. The title was in her daughter's name. The cop explained that she probably should have written up a prom note using the car as collateral, in which case my sister could have repo'd the car. Well after that cop left, my sister's DH (quitely) removed the spark plugs. Then because the car was "not" working my sister gave her notice to get the car out of the yard gave her several days to do so and eventually called a tow company to have it removed. Sounds extreme, but very passive if you knew their whole history.!!
You could ...
I like the locking it in a friend's garage idea ... but I think the way to teach her responsibility is to put something in writing that she has to pay you back, XX$$ per week, month, whatever, or a due date for the entire amount. She is 18, and therefore an adult. She should be paying for some of her own way, especially since it was her negligence that caused the damage.
If she doesn't pay as agreed, then NEVER offer to help her again - and stick to your guns!!!
~ Katrina