Chevy & GMC Vans

my son (step-son) .. is 17 now and has been driving on his own since January. made it through all the bad winter storms without issue. i bought a 97 Z24 for him to mung up if it came down to it. he's a very good driver actually, very cautious and conscious of the road and other drivers.... until yesterday... and he wasn't in the Z24 .. he was in my van.

his Z had leaked some power steering fluid 3 days ago. i tightened the pressure line as best i could access, the nut was loose going into the rack. the next day he drove to school and in the afternoon Jen called and said it's leaking again, not badly, but enough that she wanted him to leave the car at home. she let him take the van to get his friends back to school even though he was finished for the day. i get another call an hour later, he got gas and was leaving the station and with the pass side of the van scraped the back corner of a venture van. braking her tail light. he wasn't doing anything improperly, hard to describe the scenario, it was his fault misjudging how much room he had, not being used to the van from his little Z24. she wanted the police called. so he did.

the cop was laughing and joking with him about it when he arrived. cop said "you're not charged with anything, it's private property, but you are going to practice driving around some pylons this weekend right? LOL" ... he said "yes sir, absolutely". .. cop was actually shaking his head that she wanted the police called. anyhooooo... here in Ontario we have no fault insurance, meaning, regardless who is at fault of a accident, each insurance company takes care of their clients damage and will pursue retribution from the other company if it's worth perusing. in this case it isn't worth reporting. she can if she wants to, but that will end up having nothing to do with us. my son has a job, i know a bodyman/painter and i work at a parts store, he's paying for her repair. he's getting off really easy but has learned something really good from this. patience, awareness and dealing with the police. his first accident was a minor one, I'm actually happy with the whole thing believe it or not.

here's a pic of our damage.. don't mind the frost on the slider, other than the scuff it's frosty out this morning. most of ours will come out with some compound and some touchup paint leaving a small ding in the one spot on the wheel well.

Hate to say it but I too am waiting for the call. Seems like all kids will get into an accident pretty early on. Hopefully they'll be small ones like this. Glad it was very minor and that nobody got hurt...that is the most important thing right there. All the material things in the world can't replace a life!

I think a just punishment will be to hand wash/wax the van for a year as well.

Glad it was minor and the police were called learning how to deal with that type of situation early on is a good thing. Also to learn what the consequences could be. Like wreckless and careless charges so on and so forth if it was more serious. Nothing straightens out your driving faster than being told by an officer he is going to charge you with careless driving. Then pausing and saying well maybe the insurance bills and Repairs is punishment enough.

My first and only at fault was when I was 17

lol i was doing to ask lifted when if first accident was but decided i didn't wanna bring up old wounds.

on topic it's a good thing that this event was so minor, did "crash junior" look worried when you say his face.

Cobra wrote:lol i was doing to ask lifted when if first accident was but decided i didn't wanna bring up old wounds.

on topic it's a good thing that this event was so minor, did "crash junior" look worried when you say his face.

Jessie hasn't had her first accident YET. She just got her license in Jan and hasn't really driven that much since we only have two vehicles on the road for the winter, however now that the "hotrod" is back on the road she is driving a lot more and we are waiting for that dreaded call. Hopefully we won't ever get one but chances are ............................

holy smoke i should reread my posts BEFORE i post them

Cobra wrote:holy smoke i should reread my posts BEFORE i post them

LOL.. i read and reread your first post and reread it again.. lol.. i think i got it..

he was sooooooooooooooo apologetic [-o< , repeatedly.. i'll pay for it, repeatedly [-o< ... i think he was actually surprised that i wasn't angry and was laughing about it. now, if this happened to be my dakota when I had it, it may have been a different story

Great story, thanks for sharing Crash.

I work at a european autoshop, and if you are contemplating buying your kids their first car I highly recommend a mid-late `80s Volvo 240 4 cyl 2.3 . They are cheap to buy, very safe/strong, the engines and trannies will go way past 300K if they have been looked after, parts are easy to find in the wrecking yards. The bad points: they have no street cred and are fugly looking....

But they are a safe/ cheap car for a sixteen year old kid to crash in their first year of driving....

Darren you forgot "slow", which in the case of teenage drivers is a good thing.
My daughter had three accidents in about the first three months of driving. totaled my favorite jeep the first time. rearended a minivan the second, and backed it into my astro...parked right behind it in the driveway.
The first accident I didn't get upset about. I've had my share. When she backed into my van, parked immediately behind her, I went a bit ballistic. That was just flat dumb.
My son hasn't had his first accident yet. It's coming I know...

I remember my only at fault accident - when I was young - a little over zeolous backing up on a slippery night and I got a little side action - into an old Chev Malibu - POS - 80's type - but original owner and original paint - kinda sucked.... other than that a total write off of a new Jeep TJ (wrangler 1999) on a total black ice highway - even the cop almost fell on his butt when he exited his SUV. It was instant Not At Fault..... NICE.... I actually compression skidded when I downshifted to slow down for a driver in front of me.... crazy..... but crap happens - hopefully we all do our best to not kill or be killed - remember driving is the MOST dangerous thing we do each day.... think about that!

Safe driving to all and remember keep it rubber side DOWN!

my roof racks have rubber on them

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Hi crash (Crash Sr. - LOL!!) .

As I read your initial post about your son's "side swipe", it reminded me of my wife's last accident - with our previous 1995 RWD Safari van. She was pulling into a parking spot (doing a typical 90 degree turn) into the parking lanes, and the sunset nailed her directly between the eyes. Most people would stop and pull down the sun visor. Instead of stopping, she was in motion and figured her van would fit. Ya, it would fit between both yellow parking lines (that seem to get skinnier and skinnier every year) but she mis-judged the turning radius (just like your son). The guy's parked F150's rear bumper went directly down our van's side door and front on rear quater panel. (Vision the borge space ship laser slicing down the side of Enterprsie ship. LOL!!!) Ya. Same type of damage to your van. Simple hundred door fix? Nope. It took a new siding door, mud on rear quater panel, primer, paint and new side factory strip. The factory strip cost more then its base body work. Over $3,000 in damages - no kidding. And, our sliding door never worked properly again. Probably because of after market door replacement.

Long post short... Accidently miss-judging one's turning radius can happen even to the most experienced drivers. My wife's previous accident (where she got rear ended) was 25 years before her "sunset blinding" accident. With this in mind, don't be too hard on your son (Crash Jr.). Things like this happen to all of us.... Even to the experienced drivers... That's why they are called "accidents".

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I remember back in the day when I was 17, I had this sweet 1990 Thunderbird SC.... well it was sweet back in 1997 anyways... It was quite the opposite, every time I lent it to my mom It came back with a new ding or a scrape down the skirt on the side. I never wrecked either of my parents cars... but I do remember taking my dads 67 firebird for a joyride, eiher right after or just before I got my liscence. I let it rip at a stop sign turning a corner and learned what posi was... ended up facing the other direction, inches from the light post. The feeling of the look on my face is still strong in my memory... I was going to insert a smiley here, but I could not find one to describe it!