RussH

Well my 21 year old daughter totaled her 2nd car in 4 months. The first total job was basically her boyfriends fault and was a single car accident w/ no one else involved. Her car was worth $6K that the insurance company paid.

We got her a Pontiac G6 that she totaled Friday when she fell asleep after working a night shift at work. She went off of the road and into a water filled very deep ditch. She had to be pulled out through the sunroof and has 2 bulged disc's in her neck and has to wear a neck brace for a while.

This Pontiac was worth over $10K and we had full coverage on it. She was taken by Ambulance to the hospital so there will be some significant cost for medical along with the value of the car. She received her 2nd "Failure to Control" ticket that she doesn't even have to do go to court, just pay the $220 fine.

We are likely to remove her from our insurance policy and my guess is she will have to go on high risk insurance. I have no idea how much that will cost per month, I've heard from $70 to over $300 a month. I don't know what kind of car to help her buy because she owes $6K for the Pontiac so she will likely only have around $3K- $4K cash and I'm leaning more towards getting her a cheap car hopefully that will be dependable so she only has to carry liability insurance. She can't afford both a car payment and a car loan, and honestly the way she is wrecking them why buy an expensive car.

She was tested and had no alcohol or drugs in her system....thankfully. She has not received any other tickets other than the 2 Failure to Control tickets.

Any advice or suggestions? What would/did you do?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Russ

Double tyme

Let her sink or swim. She's 21? She's an adult!

My folks never let me on their insurance and never bought or helped me buy any cars. I turned out fine. I wasn't a money thing, it was a responsibility thing.

Worst thing you could do is buy her another car, that's basically saying decisions don't have consequences.

Look at an older Honda accord. Safe, cheap, and runs forever.

baypro21

Bus pass, she has earned it.

chrisrack

1985 mercedes 300d

triplenet

Glad she is ok....

Its time to make her own bed ...

Good luck

theolog

Tell her to quit texting while driving. She's lucky she didn't kill anyone (or herself).

wdkerek

yea, I think she needs to ride this one out herself.
If she takes it on the chin and stays out the ditch for a year, then you can always pay her back......but she would need to figure this one out on her own.......FWIW I too have a 21 year old daughter in college.
I helped her but a used Honda Pilot with 130K miles......I out up 5K she the 3K and she covers her own insurance, car is her name, and she pays all gas........And has never wrecked..........(fingers crossed)

vertigo

If the first " failure to maintain control "was he boyfriends fault, why did she get the ticket?
I agree with the above comment. She is 21 and in my eyes is 3 years into adulthood. Enabling the you g ones does not teach them responsibility.
Glad to hear she is alright besides the disk's, it could have been much worse.
Buy her a Honda and have her pay you back monthly.

boatn19

Very fortunate, drivers Ed will help with the insurance hike

Mars5L

and next car get gap insurance

bamaboy473

My two boys started driving/riding when they were about 5, on little Honda 50 motorbikes. About the time they were 10 or so, they would sit on my lap while we took the SUV down winding dirt country roads to the lakehouse. Lots of hours on those roads.

No matter. They both got into dumb wrecks within a few months of getting their licenses.

I told them, "No problem. You can have whatever kind of car you want to replace what I got you".

Whatever they could pay for and pay insurance for....

I slept better that way.

One of them continued to buy MB and BMW, and hasn't had a ticket since. The other (my responsible one) has gone through more cars than I'd care to count..

I'm glad that I can sleep at night. I gave both boys one more big chance than I was ever given.

Maybe I was too lenient??

GhostShip

Ditto, I had 3 freaky situation accidents my 1st year of ownership at 17 and lost my license for 2 months. Had to ride a cycle for a year and a half to get the insurance and driving record back in shape(financial responsibility). Last tickets save one speeding ticket.

HarleyFLHP

Get her a Schwinn

waybomb

She needs a safe car. A modern car with airbags all over the place.
A cheap car may kill her with her history.
What's she worth?

muffinman51432

I paid $420 a month when I turned 17 and got my truck with just liability.....welcome to my life

Anyway...make her buy an old jap car.

bamaboy473

That's one way to look at it, but why paint a pig? You're covering up the obvious.

DamonD

First, foremost, and most importantly... Glad she is ok.

Something that MIGHT need to be addressed... Was she texting/emailing?

As far as the OP question... She's 21 man, she needs to take the 6k net she has from insurance, get a small 2-3k loan... And run the course by herself. You have already done more than anyone could ask for.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Back-in-Black

She's alive and well, everything else secondary.

Put her in a used Mercury Marquis or the Ford equivalent. Good, safe, heavy, ful size car but the resale on them SUCKS. Probably because so many were used as fleet vehicles. Because the resale sucks so bad, with some shopping, you can put here in a decent car for $2-$3K. We did that for our son. We had him in a full size P/U (wifes old vehicle) but he totaled it (not his fault) and we wanted him in another big heavy car just because as demonstrated by the previous wreck, his driving skills and reflexes just not as good as someone who's been driving for decades.

osudaddy

Glad to read she is OK. I think only you and your wife will have to make the call, as tough as it is.

strikerthree