His Nephew Stole His $2,000 Scooter And Got It Stolen, So Now He’s Demanding His Sister Replace It

Having property broken into or stolen can really make you angry.

Especially when it’s something that costs a pretty penny, you’ve put time and effort into, and you rely upon.

This Redditor’s story is just that, but is complicated because it involves his family.

Last year I bought an EMOVE Cruiser electric scooter which I’ve since modified to add more speed, a new handlebar and some other mods.

The scooter itself was not cheap, at $1500, plus mods puts it over $2000.

I have a sister(43f) and a nephew(13m) who I always let housesit for me while I’m out of town on business. I have pets and plants that I need taken care of and they always welcome a change of scenery.

He explains how he expressly forbid his nephew from using this scooter, especially while he was away.

So I had to go on a business trip last month for a week and let them house sit.

My nephew has always asked me about my scooter and I told him that it isn’t for kids because it’s extremely fast and I’ve expressly forbidden him from riding it multiple times.

His mother knows about this as well.

Well, I come back from my trip and my sister tells me that I’m going to be mad, but my nephew took my scooter out, left it unattended and had it stolen.

I was peeved and asked them to leave.

Naturally, OP wanted that scooter back.

I told them they’d have to replace it and my sister pleaded with me, they couldn’t afford it, it was a mistake and that he could do just do chores around my house to pay me back.

I told her that it doesn’t replace my scooter.

She said that any money would have to come from their vacation fund.

I said tough.

Our parents have gotten involved and said that I’m taking it too far. They agree that my nephew should be punished and I should be paid back, but to take away their family vacation is just cruel and petty.

He details how he actually relies on this scooter, and that his sister and nephew were given ample warning.

They suggested a payment plan.

I told them absolutely no, that I use my scooter to commute to work often and that I wanted it back immediately.

Furthermore, he was warned not to ride it since it’s dangerous.

Now that I’ve started to calm down here a little, I wonder if I’m being an AH here by being so demanding and potentially punishing everyone else for my nephew’s mistake.

OP goes on to explain a bit more backstory as to why insurance couldn’t do much in this situation.

Now to clear a few things up: People are taking offense to the verbiage “let” in my original post.

Okay, let me explain.

My sister and nephew view house sitting as a mini-vacation. I’ve offered money every time to them do the job, but they refuse, so I give them free run of the house and money for meals.

I had insurance on it, but they won’t do anything without a police report. My sister did not file one, she didn’t think the police would accept the report because it wasn’t a car or some nonsense like that.

He does not want to ruin his nephew’s life over this.

And no, I won’t be filling a report with the police over my nephew. Listen I’m furious at him and my sister, but I’m not going to get him into legal trouble over this.

He needs to be taught a harsh lesson, but jail time and a record isn’t one of them.

At least, not in this instance.

That being said I’m going to take some time, and think of an appropriate and harsh punishment for my nephew.

I’ll probably ending up accepting the payment plan, but insist on interest. It’s not about the money, it’s about the principle.

It sounds like OP is at least level-headed about this, but he’s in such a tough spot!

Maybe the trusty ol’ comments section might have some advice…

Overwhelmingly, people chimed in with the NTA tag, including this person.

Another commenter thought losing out on a vacation for one year was actually a great punishment.

One person pointed out how he needs this scooter to commute.

While one Redditor had a great idea for a payment plan for the sister.

It’s never comfortable to have to scold family, or put them in a bad place financially.

But sometimes you gotta pay when the scooter’s astray.