A video making the rounds online shows a man in visible distress after he says a friend crashed his brand-new car — just after asking to take it for a quick test drive.
What happened?
In the video, the car owner is heard recounting how his friend asked to test-drive the vehicle he had just acquired, only for the friend to reportedly crash it shortly after. The man appears distraught in the footage, blaming the request to “test” the car for the damage that followed. Details such as the exact location, the extent of the damage, and whether any injuries occurred have not been independently confirmed beyond what is shown in the clip.
Not the first time this has happened
Stories of newly bought cars getting damaged almost immediately after purchase are a recurring, painful theme on Nigerian social media. In one widely shared case, a man’s joy over a brand-new Mercedes-Benz was cut short when the car was crashed just hours after he took it out for a test drive following its purchase from a dealership. These stories tend to strike a nerve because a new car is often one of the biggest purchases a person makes, sometimes representing years of savings, and having it damaged almost immediately feels especially cruel.
Why do situations like this keep happening?
Nigerian car culture places a lot of social pressure on owners to “show love” by letting friends and family drive a new car, especially soon after buying it — turning down the request can be seen as an insult. Add unfamiliarity with a new vehicle’s handling, and even a confident driver can misjudge things like brakes, acceleration, or blind spots on a car they’ve never driven before.
Causes and effects
For the owner, the effects can be devastating: financial loss, the emotional sting of watching something new get damaged, and often, strain on the friendship at the center of it. For the friend behind the wheel, there can be guilt, financial liability, or in more serious cases, legal consequences if the crash caused injury or major damage to property. Beyond the individuals involved, stories like this add to a broader, very real anxiety Nigerian car owners carry about lending out vehicles at all, even to people they trust.
What can be done?
Financial and legal commentators often advise car owners to have any driver — friend or family — added to their insurance policy, however briefly, before handing over the keys, and to check that comprehensive coverage is active on a new purchase from day one. Some suggest a simple house rule: no test drives for anyone, no matter how close, until the owner has driven the car enough themselves to know how it handles. It may feel awkward to say no, but it is far less awkward than the aftermath many of these stories describe.
Our Take
It’s easy to laugh at “abeg make I test your car” as a running joke, but this video is a reminder of how quickly it can go from a joke to a genuine loss. We don’t think anyone should stop trusting their friends altogether, but a new car, still unfamiliar even to its own owner, is not the moment to hand over the keys. Some boundaries are worth the temporary awkwardness of enforcing them.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
