Drawing pictures with a rock!

[JOZRVHLR]

Was there a sign near the front door of dealership “ children are responsibility of parents and any damage done will be billed to your insurance “ ... when damage was found out - kindly ask the parents to witness the video and then look at the sign ...

[r carl]

To be expected with a Country full of self entitled parents with spoiled kids.

[B Wilson]

He is just being a kid. That’s an excuse he can use until he is 37. The parents need to take responsibility for their little darling and work out a solution with the dealership. Insurance claims, by the way are not free. The cost is higher premiums.
If the parents refuse to be adults, the courts should solve it.

[gypsydad]

For those who missed it, the sales person from the dealership responded in post 65 and 70 in this thread. Happens a lot of the time he says...life goes on.

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by 1931Cali

Most damage happens inside the unit, so it's hard to pinpoint the source. The dealership I work at is right off of one of the busiest highways in California, so we get a lot of curious people who aren't always interested in owning an Airstream.



This particular incident is still unresolved. That being said, since I have been here, I haven't seen a guest get confronted about damage.

A cost of doing business in a country infested with self centered ....... s

[75Bob]

Originally Posted by B Wilson

He is just being a kid. That’s an excuse he can use until he is 37. The parents need to take responsibility for their little darling and work out a solution with the dealership. Insurance claims, by the way are not free. The cost is higher premiums.
If the parents refuse to be adults, the courts should solve it.

Careful ,when I said this I was chastised.

[JOZRVHLR]

My FIL has. Ford dealership so I asked him - he says “ eat it “. His main concern is coat zippers and belt buckles as people “admire” cars and look in the windows in the showroom . Never had a concern like expressed in this thread and had no opinion on how to proceed if it did happen .BTW - his parking lot is totally paved..

[75Bob]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

For whatever it’s worth - I agree completely the parents should pay for the damages directly. I’m not judging the parents for missing the action, or the child whether autistic or not. I’m simply saying, the parents should be responsible for any damage their 5 year old child causes. The only reason I mentioned insurance is if the cost of the repair was more than the parents could afford, they could possibly take care of that debt to the dealer through their liability protection - accidents do happen.

I do not believe the dealer should use their insurance policy for this for reasons I stated elsewhere.

If the parents can't afford to cover the damages, why are they shopping for a $100,000 Airstream

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by 75Bob

If the parents can't afford to cover the damages, why are they shopping for a $100,000 Airstream

I don’t know.

One of a million options could be a cash-strapped couple going out on a date that involves looking at what they hope to be their future and dreaming about owning an Airstream. And in that scenario, hiring a babysitter might be too expensive this month so let’s bring Johnny along and...hey, have you seen Johnny, honey?

What’s that awful scraping sound.

JOHNNY - nooooooooooo!

What do I know? Anything’s possible. They are responsible and should write the check on the spot. If they can’t - call their agent or carrier and be done with it.

The idea that the dealer should just absorb it or have their premiums hiked because of the Claim makes me queasy.

One guy’s $0.02....

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by 1931Cali

I'm the sales guy who was there that day. (We are called adventure advisors &#128540 It was shocking to see the rock-drawn circles on the back of the 33. That being said, it happens all the time. I would say it happens 2-3 times a month. Thanks for stopping in that day, it helps when we have someone to share the pain of such things with ��.

Hi, OK we have 7 pages and 90 posts; What was the outcome? [who paid for the damage?]

[Foiled Again]

Don't forget the price WE pay to buy an RV includes all the damages that the dealership "eats". Hate that.

OTOH, the dealer who sues some schlep is likely to get a lot of bad social media and losing customers before they get in the door is also expensive. And a large cage (euphemistically called a daycare center) meh?

Kids do NOT think like adults and surprise, surprise, actually have to be learn all their behavior by being coached, taught and having good role models. They mirror what they see.

In many parts of Europe young children wear halters with leashes. Americans react with horror until they notice a parent yank a child back as he or she starts to jump off a curb - and into traffic. Holding their tiny hands looks sweet, but they can all too easily slip free.

[RandyNH]

Here-here, all kids should be (inner voice - on leashes and maybe muzzled) they're all just so darned cute though. Right?

[SteveSueMac]

See Bob’s reply #39....

Would really love to know WHAT the dealer did to resolve?????

[emoji3]

Merry Christmas all y’all! [emoji3]

[3wd67rg]

Originally Posted by 75Bob

I'm sorry if I sounded so cold hearted, but I don't think this is why we have insurance. I was a the president of a 750 home HOA when 3 10 year old boys threw rocks through the community club house windows. I had the police round them up with their fathers and return to the broken windows where I was waiting with pre-cut plexiglass that I had the fathers install while the boys looked on. This is the hard way to teach responsibility but then they can all move on and maybe teach a good work ethic. I think running to the insurance co. is like saying my little guy didn't mean to do anything wrong , it must have been the rocks fault or why did the AS co. leave so many rocks around. I just believe that a child's behavior is a direct refection of the parents parenting skills. Some felt bad for the kid, the parents or the agent. I felt bad for the trailer.

10yr old boys throwing rocks at windows is vastly different from a 5yr old boy drawing with a rock on a bumper.

Those 10yr old boys were wantonly destructive.
The 5yr old boy was not likely to be so.

10yr olds should be held responsible for their actions, unless they are incapable of understanding right vs. wrong; appropriate vs. inappropriate, etc.

Your discipline for the boys’ fathers was spot-on appropriate to the situation, there was nothing hard or harsh in it. Your discipline was a form of “Natural Consequences”, which is something I used with my kids. Unfortunately only the fathers were disciplined; the boys received no discipline at all. I might have added some Saturday Morning Clean-Up work for them for a few months. Nothing hurts a kid more than losing one of the only two days a week in which they have a full day of playtime. I am not against discipline, every child NEEDS discipline, I am against physical punishment in the form of beatings and it’s kinder name, (but no less child destructive), spankings.

Insurance is exactly for this kind of situation, but it’s the parents who should use their own insurance, not the HOA. The same way that it’s up to the parents of the 5yr old boy to pay for the damage he did in whatever fashion they choose to do so. The reason we pay for insurance is to cover accidents and mistakes, if not to use it, then why invest into insurance at all? My .02c

[3wd67rg]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

Don't forget the price WE pay to buy an RV includes all the damages that the dealership "eats". Hate that.

OTOH, the dealer who sues some schlep is likely to get a lot of bad social media and losing customers before they get in the door is also expensive. And a large cage (euphemistically called a daycare center) meh?

Kids do NOT think like adults and surprise, surprise, actually have to be learn all their behavior by being coached, taught and having good role models. They mirror what they see.

In many parts of Europe young children wear halters with leashes. Americans react with horror until they notice a parent yank a child back as he or she starts to jump off a curb - and into traffic. Holding their tiny hands looks sweet, but they can all too easily slip free.

I’ve always felt a harness/leash, while looking horrible, is an excellent idea. When you have a child that will bolt and run at any chance they get, better to look horrible than to lose your child. I had two such children, but they had stopped selling them at the time. Those numbskulls who see it as child abuse made such a horrific cry out against them that Stores stopped selling the harness/leash sets for a while.

People who think that 5yr olds should know better, please explain then, why do they run out into the street without looking?!! Because if 5yr olds really DID “know better”, they would obviously NEVER run into streets without looking.

[rmkrum]

Last I looked, ‘kid safety harnesses’ can still be found. Seen a lot of toddlers at Disneyland last October sporting harness and short leash.

My kids, and grandkids are taught to behave properly at a very early age, and know to hold hands with parents and remain close and calm. Admittedly you have to start training them right after they are born, which does not seem to be the norm nowadays.

[3wd67rg]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

Or... coach your kids immediately before any new or strange activity. And respect their short attention spans by listening for warning.signs. The whole congregation will crack up when a child yells, "Mommy I gotta go potty! But if the kid has been shushed for tugging her sleeve and trying to use his inside voice.. uh duh.



The problems with a good ole arse whoopin is threefold.

1. All too often it is done by a furious parent... the child ends up knowing that.he has done Something wrong, but what was it? How serious? What should he have done instead? lost between the parent's rage and the child's terror?

2. Lack of "proportional response" the punishment bears NO resemblence to the severity of the offense. At age 3-4 I played with about a dozen kids that ran loose together. One day I went home and in total innocence said to my mother, "What is a N*****? Joe says Tyrone is a N*****.
I was grabbed by the hair, thrown acroas the kitchen, slammed into and under the kitchen faucet and given the classic "wash the mouth out with soap, then go stand im the corner and think about what you've done. An hour or so later I learned what the bad word meant...

Learned a lesson? Eventually:

Parents cannot be perfect... marine basic training is a walk in the park compared to being a parent. Bootcamp will end in a few months, parenting feels like a life sentence.

Most parents do whatever their own parents did, even when they swore they never would... because they never learned or practiced doing anything ELSE.



But I turned out OK, Right? Actually YES, I am generally happy and at peace with myself, but I was pushing 35 before that was normal.

Generations in my extended family paid a heavy price for "good whompins" Five sisters produced only 8 cousins in total.
Three of us chose never to have children when we were in our early teens, two others were also childless but kept silent as to why. Only 3 had small, but normal families - thanks to finding remarkable spouses and working at being parents with both humility and kind of ferocious intensity.

Best family story ever? At a reunion, One of the "normal" cousins was on the verge of losing it in a classic family rage, stopped and said to her child between clenched teeth, "I am giving MYSELF a time out. I am too angry to discipline You now. Go away - quickly!" She stood facing the corner for 15 minutes. Then did a teaching moment.

The assembled aunts immediately stuck their oars in and opined that the brat deserved a good whipping.
No one died that day,
The most pithy comment? Mom, I bought a dual plot when dad died, and every time i visit his grave, I dance on yours.

--------------
A six year old knows it takes money to buy a popsicle, and maybe should have some sense that art belongs on blackboards.

Coach your kids.

Thank you Foiled Again for bravely sharing your story. I’ve done the time out thing for myself as well. I’m sad that so many of us had to be beaten in order to teach this lesson. Because there are still people who insist beatings are the only way to teach children, children will continue to be beaten at their command. Because children should never be beaten, I will always speak against it.