OHTA.ca

Hello, my name is John. My 16 year old son recently got his G1 license in Barrie, Ontario.

Apparently two nights ago he was out with three friends of his in a car in a Mcdonald's/Walmart parking lot plaza. According to what I've been told, his friend that drove the car(his older sister's vehicle) has been allowed to drive her vehicle fairly regularly, although in this case, he didn't have permission to have it out this late-which was basically all night until 6am Saturday morning. I have found out that his friend who borrowed the car is only 15 years old and not legal to drive at all. Anyway, My son said he wanted to practice driving in the parking lot while one of his other friends was in Mcdonalds. He ended up backing up into a lady's early 2000's Honda SUV. The damage was to her vehicle-a medium size dent in the lower rear passenger door. I'm told my son was very apologetic and polite and asked not to get the police involved.(He is an honour roll student, works part-time and has never been in any serious trouble before.) The lady agreed to work it out privately. When I spoke to my son's friend(the one who had taken and driven his sister's car to the parking lot) along with his sister and mother that morning I was told what had happened and the rough details. The sister was furious with her brother and the mother stated that her son and my son were equally at fault and should split costs 50-50. Later that day I was told that the lady had gotten a quote for the dent repair(along with car rental cost while it is being fixed) and it would be about $1000. My son is willing and has enough money in his account to pay his half now but his friend(and sister and mother) now say that can't come up with half or I'm not sure if even any. My son will be off work in a few hours today and I believe intends to meet with the lady with the SUV. Does anybody know what my son is liable for legally, future repurcussions, and options?

We have not met this lady in person, seen the damage to her vehicle, ownership, insurance, etc. How should we approach this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

When you lend your car, you lend your insurance.

If this lady in the SUV decides she's had enough of these shenanigans, she'll go through her insurance. When she does that, the policy holder of the other vehicle (the sister) will be at fault whether they were driving or not (unless that other driver is on the policy, which a 15 year old kid is not). I don't know how her insurance company will react when they find out an unlicensed driver was behind the wheel. They may pay out and let it be, or put up a fight. I couldn't tell you either way. I'd assume the sister could chase after you with any out of pocket costs down the road.

Whether your son would be charged with anything by an officer, I highly doubt it. He's not going to be charged under the HTA.

If we're looking at it from a moral standpoint, i'd pay for the damage. Your son willingly got behind the wheel and caused the damage. He shouldn't be looking for anyone else to share the blame with.

Sorry I couldn't offer anything more, but maybe someone else could chime in.

I think your son could be in heaps of trouble so he should thank god and the easy going lady, pay the total costs and then some and be happy with that, borrow moneyif you or he has to and get it over with without involving insurance.