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Regular Contributor
Posts: 157
Registered: ‎06-07-2010

Having a talk with my 16-year-old granddaughter . . . any thoughts?

I posted last week that my 16-year-old granddaughter, Drew, totaled my car. I will be shopping for another car sometime this week (or as soon as the insurance company gets around to sending me a check).

I will need to sit down with Drew and explain to her why she will not be allowed to drive the new car. It won't be a real problem until my daughter (who broke her foot in the accident, and if any of you saw the photo of the car, was darn lucky that's all she broke . . . we were all very, very lucky) . . . anyway, I will be driving the car until my daughter's foot (her right driving foot) heals, which won't be until the end of the year. What we had been doing was sharing the car, which she had in her possession most of the time because she works and drives the kids to and from school.

I plan to say something like: "Drew, I love you very much, and that's precisely why you will not be allowed to drive this car. I'd rather you be angry with me than you and/or others get hurt or worse while driving my car." I will expand more upon it, but that is the gist. I have to be very firm and get her promise . . . but again, she is 16 and I don't know how much a "promise" would mean to her.

Drew is 16 going on 12. She is not ready to drive a car. If her father (who had originally promised her one of the cars from his business) wants to let her drive, that is up to him. I can neither afford financially or emotionally anything happening to anyone while she is driving a car that belongs to me. Especially for a second time.

Any thoughts?