Woman Refuses to Buy New Car for Accident-Prone Stepdaughter After Third Crash, Says She's 'Not a Good Driver'

• A woman seeks advice from the Reddit community after refusing to help her accident-prone stepdaughter buy a new car
• Despite a recent crash not being her stepdaughter's fault, the woman is sticking to long-standing family rules on car ownership
• The husband wants to help with repayment terms, but the stepmom worries it'll set a costly precedent

A woman is turning to Reddit for advice after she refused to buy her stepdaughter a new car following multiple accidents. 

The poster begins by describing her stepdaughter as “not a good driver,” noting that this has been an ongoing issue since the young woman first started driving as a teenager. 

“When she was first learning to drive, she did very fast hard breaks, and she repeatedly left her car’s lights on or left her car unlocked,” the woman writes in her post. 

When the stepdaughter turned 16 and received her learner’s permit, the family established clear rules regarding car ownership. The woman explains that while they were willing to help purchase her first car, the stepdaughter was responsible for all other expenses, including insurance, gas and maintenance. 

“If she wanted a car, she needed to be the sole caretaker of it and it was on her to ensure she was taking good care of it,” she states, noting that these rules applied equally to her brothers. 

Unfortunately, accidents began occurring soon after. At age 17, just three months into driving, the teen had her first accident while driving on ice. While not serious, it caused $1,000 in damages. 

The stepmom noted that this incident wasn’t entirely surprising given the car’s age, revealing it had more than 160,000 miles on it, and its transmission failed two months later. 

Two years later, at age 19, another accident occurred, but this time it was on a highway. A semi-truck attempted to merge next to the teen's vehicle, prompting her to speed up. Simultaneously, another car tried to merge as well, resulting in a collision that totaled her vehicle. 

While injuries were minor, the financial consequences were significant. “Because of this accident, we made her get her own insurance because our payment went up,” the poster reveals. 

The most recent accident happened less than a month ago when the stepdaughter was driving on the highway near an on-ramp. A pickup truck hydroplaned and lost control of a ladder in its bed, leading to another collision that totaled her car. 

This time, injuries were more severe as she left with whiplash, a shoulder injury and facial damage. While police indicated that this accident wasn’t her fault, the family is still waiting for insurance to make an official determination. 

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After returning home from the emergency room following this latest incident, the stepdaughter asked her parents for help purchasing a new car. But, the woman feels strongly that this request is unreasonable given their prior arrangement and the young woman's history of accidents. 

“She said that it’s not practical for her to constantly walk everywhere until she could afford a new car,” the woman writes. However, she points out that her stepdaughter lives in an area with sidewalks and is within walking distances to key locations including college, the grocery store and work. 

While acknowledging it is challenging, the poster believes her stepdaughter can manage without immediate assistance by walking or relying on ridesharing apps until she saves enough money for another vehicle. 

Though the woman is adamant on not helping out the stepdaughter this time around, her husband disagrees with this stance and has proposed buying her a new car with repayment terms attached. 

But, the woman is worried this will set an unsustainable precedent for their family finances. “To date, the only time we have ever helped buy a car is when they all started driving…If we start doing this now, we will walk down a very expensive walk,” she shares. 

The situation has sparked mixed reactions from friends and family members. Some support the idea of helping out given the circumstances surrounding the most recent accident, while others agree with the woman’s decision to hold firm on the original rules. 

Now, the woman is wondering if she’s in the wrong for standing her ground.

"She seems like she’s trying really hard to get a good start in life & had some bad luck that wasn’t her fault; why not loan her extra for a down payment on a better car?" asks one Reddit commenter.

"I don't think it's an ahole move to lend her the money and she can pay y'all back, if you can afford it," writes another. "Reading through her list of accidents they all seem like that, genuine accidents. Completely unrelated to her being a bad driver or leaving the lights on in her car ... Not even Lewis Hamilton could avoid someone aquaplaning into him out of nowhere."