Money Moral Dilemma: My son's friend borrowed his bike and it got stolen - should his parents pay?

FredOrFritz

Your son should take responsibility for his possession and should not have left it at the friends house. Especially if you say the bike was worth £350!! 

You can get in to the friend borrowed it without consent but your son left it there so that doesn’t show much responsibility to his belongings. Lesson learnt 

honestcove

Your son left his bike in the possession of someone who is not, ultimately, responsible for looking after it - “possessions left at owners risk” is the hackneyed phrase. If you really think the bike was then taken without consent, then take action against that person for your loss. Or chalk it up to experience and, if your child is going to leave their bike unsecured anywhere, buy a cheap one.

csashleycooper

If the bike had been insured by its owners, would their insurance company have accepted a claim under those circumstances? 

Another thought: What if the bicycle had been a car that belonged to you, and the same thing had happened to it? Would you be happy to bear, or share, the loss?

If the parents of the boy (assuming he's under 18) who took the bike were to behave in the way I feel is reasonable, they'd replace the bike, no question, and sort out the finances privately with their son. If the boy was over 18 he'd work to do it himself.

If they demurred or queried, I'd present them with the car scenario and wait for their response ...

Littledaler

To Jason9091 - your second "mistake" is incorrect; the bike was left at the friend's house - not with "with someone young/careless/unreliable" but with the friend's parents. Although the responsibility for replacement should be the friend and parents, mistakes were made on both sides i.e. not insuring the bike on one side and using the bike without permission / not taking care of it on the other, so in this instance, 50/50 would be fair. 

bouicca21

Next time he has a bike, get it on bike register and make sure he doesn’t leave it a friend’s (why on earth do that?) plus some sort of sermon on just how prevalent bike theft is. Pretty sure contents insurance wouldn’t cover a bike away from home even if locked, I haven’t found any that would do that.  Specialised bike insurance is available but even that wouldn’t cover a bike away from home unless locking it with a gold secure lock and probably too expensive considering the bike in question is pretty low end.

https://www.bikeregister.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyfni1tu4gQMViNrtCh1AgAE8EAAYASAAEgJJ4fD_BwE

I’m actually more concerned that the friend probably rode the bike without a helmet.

pam_fam

An element of responsibility should be with your son for leaving it at his friend’s place. The friend took it without permission so should ideally offer to cover most of the cost. Chip in together, I think that’s the fairest way.

Southendormargate

The friend is the one who stole the bike as he took it without permission. It was then stolen again by someone else. Check if the shop is covered by cctv. 

Agent57

bouicca21 said:

I’m actually more concerned that the friend probably rode the bike without a helmet.

What an odd comment to make.

TJ41

Of course the friend/parent should pay. The bike was in their care. Doesn’t matter how old the kids are. It’s all part of learning to be responsible. Something that is often lacking these days.

confusedgranny

You say that the bike was 'borrowed without permission' but I wonder if your son would have objected if he'd found out that the bike had been used if it hadn't been stolen. Is he always careful to lock it or was the friend just doing what they would usually do together?