A lot of us heard our dads say, “A car is not a toy!” when we were young…

And most of us rolled our eyes and said “Sure, dad” and then that was the end of it.

But the dad who wrote this story has a legit reason for being fired up about what happened to the car he helped his son buy, and he’s done playing around.

Let’s take a look at what he had to say.

AITA for demanding my son repay the car I bought him after he totaled it street racing?

“I (49M) helped my son (20M) get a car when he started college about 2 years ago.

I co-signed and put about $12k down on a used but pretty reliable car for him. From the start I told him it was not a gift, it was more like a loan from me.

He was clear about his expectations.

The idea was once he had a job he would start paying me back monthly, and also that if he started driving like an idiot I would take the car back.

Last weekend he completely totaled it. Turns out he was doing street racing stuff with some friends. The car is gone and now insurance is pushing back because it happened during illegal activity.

There is still about $8k left on the loan so right now I’m the one stuck with it.

He does have a part time job but honestly most of his money goes to partying and games.

He’s pretty upset about this.

I told him he needs to start paying me back, I asked for $300 a month until its paid off. I also said if he refuses I might take it to small claims because I really don’t want to be the one paying for a car he destroyed doing something stupid.

He blew up at me and said I’m heartless and kicking him while he’s down because the accident “traumatized” him. He said parents are supposed to help their kids not treat them like debtors.

My ex wife (his mom) is also on his side and says if I didn’t want this situation I should have just given him the car.

Some friends say $12k is a lot of money and accidents happen so I should just let it go. But to me the deal was clear from the start and he broke it in a pretty big way.

AITA for expecting him to stick to the deal and pay me back?”

Check out how readers reacted to this story.

This person said he’s NTA.

Another individual agreed.

This Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Another reader weighed in.

And this person also said he’s NTA.

He’s teaching his son a big life lesson!

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.