Am I responsible for my babysitter's broken car glass?

[Anonymous]

My babysitter's car window was broken (nothing stolen) during the day while parked on our street. She asked me to cover the cost of the broken glass? Am I responsible? This could happen on any street. Actually, we live in one of the safest neighborhoods in DC, and I never heard such thing happened before since we moved here 7 years ago.

[Anonymous]

She just came right out and asked you to pay for it ? How did she word it ?

[Anonymous]

It happened yesterday. She first called and let me know that she had to call police and her insurance company bc her car window was broken etc. She said she just wanted to let me know so we can be careful. Then she texted me this morning and said that she has $1000 insurance deductible and the cheapest window she could find was $265, and whether we would be willing the cover the cost.

[Anonymous]

I don't think your responsible. But if this is your full time nanny it would be a nice gesture to pay for it or at least 1/2. It did happen on the job. Now if she's a babysitter who comes a few times a month or so I wouldn't feel as obligated.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Yes, if you like her and have a good relationship with her, I'd offer to pay half (even though you are really under no obligation to do so). I just always figure $100 is a whole lot more money for a nanny (or other service provider) than it is for me.

[Anonymous]

She sounds immature. I'm surprised she would ask. I'm not trying to be insulting, just honest. I've been a nanny a long time. I see driving and parking at work as my own responsibility. If I worked for a large company and someone broke the glass in my car while it sat at work, why would I expect my job to be responsible for that? I chose to accept the job and I choose to drive my car to work and park it there. None of that is the NF's responsibility. It's part of owning a car, having a job, and going to work. It's called grown-up life. Even if it's a lot of money for her, it's part of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She sounds immature. I'm surprised she would ask. I'm not trying to be insulting, just honest. I've been a nanny a long time. I see driving and parking at work as my own responsibility. If I worked for a large company and someone broke the glass in my car while it sat at work, why would I expect my job to be responsible for that? I chose to accept the job and I choose to drive my car to work and park it there. None of that is the NF's responsibility. It's part of owning a car, having a job, and going to work. It's called grown-up life. Even if it's a lot of money for her, it's part of life.

Yes I completely agree. But offering to pay 1/2 is a kind gesture but by no means nessasary. I can't believe the nanny asked, very immature

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She sounds immature. I'm surprised she would ask. I'm not trying to be insulting, just honest. I've been a nanny a long time. I see driving and parking at work as my own responsibility. If I worked for a large company and someone broke the glass in my car while it sat at work, why would I expect my job to be responsible for that? I chose to accept the job and I choose to drive my car to work and park it there. None of that is the NF's responsibility. It's part of owning a car, having a job, and going to work. It's called grown-up life. Even if it's a lot of money for her, it's part of life.

Yes I completely agree. But offering to pay 1/2 is a kind gesture but by no means nessasary. I can't believe the nanny asked, very immature

I would probably also offer to pay half, again because the money is "worth" less to me. But, carrying a $1000 deductible that you can't afford needs to be a lesson learned for her. She cheaped out on the insurance, and there you go.

Curious, though: did you run a driving record on her? Our current nanny has a "super speeder" ticket on her record that causes the same damage as a DUI to your insurance rates. As a secondary driver on our insurance, it wasn't a big deal, but it made it impossible for me to get our car insured with another company at reasonable rates (I wanted to bundle things to get Worker's Comp), and she was paying $500/mo for insurance on her own car for a while. The high deductible may be all she can afford.

[Anonymous]

Your nanny has such nerve to actually come out and ask you to pay for her window.

No, you are not responsible for that at all.

However, if it was me I would offer to pay half just because it seems like a fair offer.

But you do not have to if you do not want to.

[Anonymous]

That depends. Do you require her to use her own car to drive your kids around? And does she have to park in the street instead of your driveway? I have to park my car on the street because that's where my NF requires me to park, and if my car was damaged because of that, I'd probably harbor bad feelings if my NF didn't offer to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She sounds immature. I'm surprised she would ask. I'm not trying to be insulting, just honest. I've been a nanny a long time. I see driving and parking at work as my own responsibility. If I worked for a large company and someone broke the glass in my car while it sat at work, why would I expect my job to be responsible for that? I chose to accept the job and I choose to drive my car to work and park it there. None of that is the NF's responsibility. It's part of owning a car, having a job, and going to work. It's called grown-up life. Even if it's a lot of money for her, it's part of life.

If she's required to have the car for work, she can't leave it at home. In that case, the family should be responsible.

[Anonymous]

No you are not "responsible." This could have happened anywhere, to anyone.
If you already pay her gas money or the IRS rate then you are paying for "wear and tear," gas AND INSURANCE premiums. Not your fault if she picked a policy with low premiums and super high ($1k is super high, usually is $250 or $500) deductible.
Did she even shop around to see how much the window replacement costs? Bet it is less than $1k and she shouldn't even horse around with her krappy insurance's claim.

[Anonymous]

What I'd be asking is what did she have in plain view that caused someone to break the window and risk being caught. Ask her what was stolen and I bet she left her purse, ipod, iPad, laptop, something of that nature in plain view. No one breaks a window unless they know there's a quick payoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I'd be asking is what did she have in plain view that caused someone to break the window and risk being caught. Ask her what was stolen and I bet she left her purse, ipod, iPad, laptop, something of that nature in plain view. No one breaks a window unless they know there's a quick payoff.

OP says in the first post that nothing was stolen.