They finally did it, they killed my Tacoma

just to put an end to this sub-discussion: I won't be trying to ruin this kid's life. I'm just confused as to why the police chose to use their discretion to not even check if he was intoxicated. at this point there's nothing that can be done about it. if I go above the borough police to the state police for example, it's going to obviously end in an investigation that finds no wrongdoing and the local cops will then just have a beef with me. nobody needs this.

what I will be doing is going to a borough meeting and presenting what happened and demanding we get speed bumps and signs as this isn't the first time someone has sped through the curve and crashed (they usually just end up in the woods instead of our driveway).

please cut out the weird talk about this kid and his mom. yes the family is obviously connected and wealthy, but welcome to the real world where (as said above) some people are "more equal" than others.

 

For those worried about junior - if he's connected, none of those things will stick to him. I knew a couple kids who collected reckless charges: one guy got it for doing donuts in the snow at night in an empty parking lot; the other road raged a lady off the road in to a a ditch in his bro dozer (knowing him, he was probably drunk too). I will let you guess which one had hell to pay and nearly had his life ruined, and which one had well-to-do parents and just had everything dismissed without a slap on the wrist.

 

yep. call me a pushover, but I'd rather expend my limited time in life doing stuff for myself rather than chasing after some perception of fairness. the kid will either learn or he'll have a much more harsh lesson. I've done what I can and will do what I can to make my area safer for kids and families. I can't stop the kid from being an idiot.

 

Ok, but this is the same kind of shit the other poster is pushing. If you want to go anecdotal my son has a friend who was caught driving drunk the summer before his Jr year. His dad is a high powered attorney. He made his kid go through the court ordered diversion program, and go through his entire Jr year with no car or phone. Basically grounded to school activities and home for the entire year. Being “well-off” doesn’t necessarily equate to being without repercussions.

I guess I just don’t get everyone wanting to pile on this situation with the info at hand…seems ridiculous to me.

OP: I’m sorry this has happened to you, but I’m glad you and your family are ok. I hope insurance does the right thing without you having to fight it too hard. These situations always suck starting at the massive inconvenience they introduce into our lives. Hopefully life returns to normal soon.

 

I'm not advocating vigilante or legal action one way or another. That can easily go absolutely sideways and backfire. And you're correct in that we don't know what's going to happen to him in the Court of Ma. But I'm not going to say I feel bad for the kid..not even remotely, considering the breaks he has already gotten relative to what happened (and what could have happened).

 

Oh I don’t feel bad for him either (I don’t think any commenters in this thread do), but I am glad his physical injuries are minimal and recoverable, although I hope his financial injuries are consequential and instructive. We will likely never know, although if his parents are the kind of people who we would hope they are, after all the insurance and legal wrangling are over, I would hope they would make their son offer an apology to OP. That’s what I made both my kids do after their first fender benders (both parking lot incidents).

 

He, yes. Not sure about the folks legally as well as ethically.

This. All this.

I do think LE could have done a little more in this one here..and who knows re the family here, though your example you did what you could.

That dad is doing it right.

 

Spoke to a few law firms. They all said the same thing: getting a court involved is a waste of time since nobody was physically harmed, and it's just "minor property damage." Basically, the only thing I can do is individually try to sue GEICO if they screw me on the value of the truck. My hands are tied. The teen who crashed into us gets away with upending the lives of our family (my kid's birthday party was the next morning and almost wasn't able to get a rental in time) and essentially we just have to put up with it. Life is unfair sometimes.

In more positive news, this has pushed the town to agree to install signage, barricades, and speed humps.

 

Restitutio in integrum

 

Yep, Overland Tailor Tuning has you covered.

 

If he's under 18 the parents are absolutely legally responsible right?

 

I know you both have the same insurance but can they at least pay for your rental?

 

A wiser feller than myself once said, "Sometimes you eat the bar...and, well, sometimes he eats you."

 

yes

I had to fight them on it but they eventually caved and got me a rental truck (NJ law forces them to, I had to remind them of the law) so I'm driving a F-150 XLT for now (too big but I'll take it)

that some kinda eastern thing?

 

Far from it dude

 

At least that piece of good came from this, though it sucks that it is at your expense in terms of inconvenience and such. Grrr

Not sure how it works here. Long ago when I was 17 and wanted to drive I was told to get my own stuff (car and insurance) so if something bad happened my parents wouldn't be at risk. IDK if they researched it and found that to be the case or not, YMMV of course.

 

I guess it would depend on what you're being "charged" with.
Fender bender, accident, something typically covered under car insurance?

Something more criminal like recklessness, negligence or property damage seems like it might be out of the normal realm of what car insurance covers

I'm not sure exactly how it works either

 

That too re the actual charge/loss. If it goes above the limits of the policy that's an issue..almost ran into this recently with my wife's accident (someone hit her) where it got close to the policy limit.

 

After reading the OP I came here to say that the kid is probably in a wealthy family well connected..... utter bullshit for this type of crap IMO and you confirmed it.

Glad no one was hurt but there might be a reason to go after the family in civil court given they have $$$ and obviously want to keep it hush hush.

 

I'm selling off some parts here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/totaled-canadian-2007-tacoma-part-out.859159/