Mercedes 320CLK and House - Both Written OFF
 

On TV News last night.

19 Year Old took out Mothers brand-new 320CLK whilst Mother and Father away on business. (Shades of Ferris Beuler)

After impressing friends and local girls he headed home at high rate of knots.

On the last corner, approaching the house, he clipped the curb and went ballistic.
He demolished the rear garden fence, cleared the garden without touching the lawn and entered the house via the kitchen window, putting the nose of the car into the lounge.

He was, luckily, uninjured, but car is a write-off and so is, at least, half of house.

Mother would not comment to the press but father muttered something about being on way home to have a "chat" with his son.

Police have charged him with "driving without due care and attention" and "driving without insurance".
They are considering other charges.

I am trying to find a picture of the incident.

If this was your son what would you consider to be a suitable punishment. ???

Mike Stone

It is on the mbworld.org site in the clk section. I tried to attach but I am not sure I got it.

LOL - My son will be driving a 1983 240D :).

Re: Mercedes 320CLK and House - Both Written OFF
 

Since it would be illegal to kill him - Jail. Let the kid learn what the consequences are for breaking the law. :eek:

WOW, what a mess!:eek:! The real issue, as I see it, is who's going to pay to fix/replace everything? Hopefully, the unfortunate parents have insurance. However, their son should get a full-time job and repay his parents for everything - including the increased insurance premiums his parents will have to pay when they renew their insurance coverage - if they can renew their insurance. Teach the son a lesson in what things cost and the penalty for immature/unlawful conduct!!

Tom

He'd owe me a new car first off. Then he'd owe me for the piece of my house he took down. Of course there's Interest involved, that can be paid off with manual labor like:

cutting the lawn with fingernail scissors
sweeping the lawn of the trimmings
washing the car for the rest of his life
running trivial errands for me


and as far as a social life MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


I'm sure if it actually happened to me I'd have some even better things for him to do.

What I would do
 

I have two sons now in their 20's. If your son was mine - I'd buy back the car from insurance and buy him a auto body tool kit and make him pound out every dent he put in the car - then I'd make him sand the whole damaged area down to the metal and make him body putty the remaining imperfections and sand it to perfection - That should take him 3 months of intensive labor. Then I'd part out the car and get my money back.
Both my sons got beat up VW old jettas that didn't run and needed body work as thier first cars. After 6 months of mechanical and body work under my supervision and them being sick and tired of sanding - I got the cars painted and they looked like new. Both guys always parked their cars where they had no chance of getting a "ding" as they now know what is involved in fixing it. Both guys drive with prudence as they now know what keeps them on the road and how little metal there is between them and death from collisions. They used to think of me as an OGRE -now they thank me for teaching them - they now do their own repairs as required.

...and then let him learn carpentry, and enough insurance experence to make that his career and spend the rest of his life dealing with people like himself.

Well, I'm still someone's son and don't have any of my own and I'll admit I've taken out my parents' cars when they have been gone. However, I've never done anything that stupid. Perhaps some of the blame rests on the parents here?

I mean, your son is young and impressionable and at an age where image and peer acceptance is critical, and you leave the keys to a brand new, high-end Benz at the house?!? Taking your friends for a ride in a killer Benz is gotta be worth about 100 Instant Cool Points.

That's like leaving a water pistol in front of a kid and saying "Don't shoot it".

Furthermore, after seeing the kind of performance Mercedes are capable of, I've always vowed to properly teach my kids one day how to drive such cars - to show them how the car can perform at high speeds and how to control it and most importantly, why NOT to drive at such speeds. The alternative is to let them find out on their own...

JMHO, ;)

Zeus,

What are you smoking, and can I have some?:D ;)

Zeus
In other words - "don't do as I do - do as I say"?? My guys would not have bought that. If I drive high speed fancy to show them how to handle the car properly and then said "Don't ever do that" - they would have done it secretly to prove they could drive just as good as The Old Man.Let me tell you - once you have kids - parenting can be tough. Many years ago an old woman said to me "enjoy your children - when they are small you have small problems but remember when they are big you have big problems" Boy was she right!

Having a licence means YOU are responsible, no matter how many water pistols there are around.

There may be some additional blame for the parents, but that would be above and beyond what the driver has sholdered.

A couple of weeks ago near here some kids did about the same thing, except it was a 320 wagon and they killed themselve.

And just this weekend about a half mile from me a teenager, and a friend, with his modified Mustang and a reputation for driving fast but no licence tryed to do 100 in a 50. Thats definatly capitol stupidity, but I am wondering about HIS parents.

Sad isn't it? When parents abdicate teaching children when they are young and make video games, TV and friends the teacher - you get what you put in. I'll bet the parents of the kids killed never asked "Where are you going and with whom?" with the admonishment "Call if you have any problems". And when they return " so how was it- everything OK?" Repeating this meassage year after year eventually lets it sink in so that by the time they are 16 they have a little common sense from parent's teachings. I'm not saying that doing that will prevent them from getting into trouble - but it sure as heck will reduce the chances. I think that sometimes we forget - we are not our kids best friends and we should not treat them as such- we are their parents and teachers and guidance councillors- when they become adults then we can become best friends and with God's help - all will be well.

OK, sure. So you just leave them with access to the keys to a high performance car and hope that they won't speed?

That's the real pipe dream.

I would rather they have some knowledge and experience about how to drive at higher speeds than to simply leave it to chance, hoping that they can handle it themselves when it does happen. As we all know, and probably most of us have experienced, if the car is fast, you WILL drive it fast, especially a male teen driver with friends in the car. Whether or not he wants to prove he can drive as well as the "Old Man" isn't going to matter. He may be prompted by a friend to have a "friendly race" or a flat out dare. Either way, it's going to happen at some point. I'd rather they have some prior knowledge and a stern warning than to just give them the keys and say "Drive carefully now, don't go too fast".

How many of you out there can honestly say you've never had a close brush with disaster when you were a teen driver? It's almost always related to a stupid decision. All of your arguments are from a mature adult's point of view, not too applicable to a growing teen. Pride and hormones usually win over brains and logic.

Above all, it's the parents who will leave an impression on their kids. How the parent drives and behaves will go a long way towards how the child will drive.

Re: me as a teen driver
 

No comment:rolleyes: