'AITA? My friend got into a car crash while I was in the car. Now she says I owe $400.' UPDATED 2X

"AITA? I was in the passenger seat when my friend got into a car crash. Now she and my other friend (Owner of car) want me to pay $400."

Let me start off by saying i(16f) am a minimum wage worker at Starbucks. So are my two friends in this story who i’ll call Bee(16f) and Tana(17f). Bee has her license and her own car, Tana has her learners but doesn’t have a car. I have neither since my mom lost my citizenship and i barely have any ID. Anyway, we all work at starbucks. Tana was hired by reference from me and Bee.

Bee lets Tana drive her car around ever since she took it for a spin without Bees knowledge and filled up her tank. long story short, about 2-ish weeks ago me and Tana were waiting for Bee to get off her shift so we could go to the beach. While we were waiting me and Tana went to go fill up Bees tank at the gas station Tana used to work at.

Jokingly Tanas old co worker suggested she bring them all drinks from starbucks which we did. Me and Tana had also made 2 drinks for ourselves. While parked at the gas station we placed our drinks on the dashboard since the cupholders were occupied by Bees 2 water bottles.

When we were leaving we had somehow forgotten that the drinks were up there, and during a turn the drinks had spilled all over the car. Tana panicked and hit a parked volkswagen. The lady we hit was understandably very mad. The payment for the car ended up being $1300 which Tana and Bee agreed to split since Tana was driving and Bee let her drive.

Now today, they had suggested i split it with them since my drink also spilled. I argued that the drink Tana had would have spilled regardless if i was there or not and my drink didn’t make much difference. They said it was the “principle” of it and that i should do it because i’m their friend.

I don’t feel $400 is fair for the amount i contributed. I would’ve felt 100-200 reasonable but 400 doesn’t seem reasonable.. i blocked them both after this argument because i’ve just had a rough day and can’t deal with this. But what should i do? am i the a$$hole for not wanting to pay 400?

EDIT: Yes, i did help clean the interior of the spilled drinks. luckily most of it got on parts that were easy to clean rather than the seats so it just took a few alcohol wipes. Yes, we should have been driving with a DL.

We went to an insurance company and turned ourselves in (we filed a claim lol). And yes bee was fully aware we were taking the car to fill up her tank and give Tanas old co workers drinks. And there was no injuries from both parties of the crash

What do you think? AITA? This is what top commenters had to say:

Global-Fact7752 said:

That is ridiculous..they are just trying to get $$$ from you. You had nothing whatsoever to do with the operation of the car. NTAH and don't give them a dime.

Financial-Note-9308 said:

NTA. Tana incurs $1300 for hitting a parked car and they want you to pay $400 because you had a drink with you? And you weren't even behind the wheel? Help clean up the interior, but ...... I don't think so.

OP responded:

Interior was in fact cleaned up by me!

Ok-Raspberry7884 said:

NTA. You're responsible for half of cleaning the interior of Bee's car (either in cleaning it yourself or paying someone) because your drink dirtied her property. You aren't responsible for Tana driving into a parked car because she got distracted by drinks. The damage to Bee's car and the other car are for Bee and Tana (and hopefully insurance) to work out between them.

OP responded:

yes, as soon as we got back to the parking lot i cleaned the spilled drinks with alcohol wipes. I was real mad about it because me and Tana had just vacuumed and cleaned the car before too😔

Awkward-Train1584 said:

What do you mean you went to the insurance company and turned yourself in? Do you mean the owner of the company filed an insurance claim??? If so then the insurance company pays for the damage. You understand that right?

OP:

Lol yeah i guess i worded it weird 😅 The lady we hit said she filed a claim herself so we also went in to file a claim. Someone else asked what the payment is for and i’m not actually 100% sure since i’m not really good with car stuff. Kinda made us sound like criminals lmao

Speckle-Fried-Pickle said:

NTA. Get better friends and block these idiots.

And [deleted] said:

ESH I’m surprised insurance is covering any of this considering your friend let an unlicensed person drive their vehicle. The damage should be the absolute least of your worries. Your idiot friend could have killed someone.

Do better and grow up.

A few hours later, she shared this update:

I’d like to thank everyone for the advice!! i’ve only had the post up for a few hours but i’ve gotten tons of feedback. For people asking what the payment is for, here’s the thing. I’m not very knowledgeable on cars and stuff like this so i’m not sure of the exact terms. I know that originally when we went to the insurance company they quoted us $700 for the deductible.

Some people said that’s unusually high but the damages were pretty bad on Bees car and it should actually be considered totalled right now. She texted our groupchat a few days later and i don’t exactly remember why but the price went up from 700 to 1300. I will update the post once i figure out why. Also i know it was immature to block them.

I’ve known Bee since grade 5 and Tana i met in freshmen year of highschool. We’re all very close, i just had a real rough day and couldn’t deal with them then and there. A lot of you said NTA, but i will still hold myself partially accountable for my drink since it was also up on the dash board.

My average paycheck is around 600 and i still have to save for a car which is why i wasn’t very open to paying 400 since half of my check goes in my savings but we will come up with something more reasonable i’m sure.

A day later, she shared a second update:

It’s been a day since me and Bee talked. Bees auntie reached out to me today and told me that she informed her about the situation and her auntie thought it was ridiculous they were trying to make me pay. Her auntie said she thinks Tana should be paying for the whole thing since she’s the one who crashed the car.

As for the payments, i asked her auntie and she said that there was a flat fee of $700 for both cars. the car that Tana hit and Bees car. So actually the total comes out to $1400 and insurance is covering the rest.

A lot of people are disagreeing with me trying to take responsibility for my part and after speaking with a few adults in my life i’m starting to realize that it does in fact sound ridiculous they’re trying to make me pay.

Me and Bee are both unfortunately quite petty so i don’t think that either of us will be reaching out to talk and i might just have to let them both go as friends. Again, thank you all for the advice and opinions! it was much needed 😁😁