A video of a driver appearing to have been left with only $20 to cover damage after a person hit his car has gone viral on TikTok.
The video was posted on August 16 by @trent_of_all_trades, who is a TikTok user based in Cedar City, Utah, according to their TikTok profile. The clip has received 10.6 million views.
A caption shared with the post says: "Someone hit my car in the parking lot and left me a lovely note, letting me know..."
The footage shows what appears to be a parking lot. As the camera approaches the car, a voice in the clip says: "I just left Walmart, put my groceries in the Jeep, put my cart back, got in and started to leave and noticed there was a note on my window."
The note reads: "I hit your Jeep and I'm sorry. I don't have any insurance, but here's $20." The note is seen over a $20 bill placed under a windshield wiper." The footage later shows a huge dent and scratches running to and from the bottom of the front passenger door.
As strange as it seems to receive just $20 for such a smash, the scene was actually a joke, according to the caption shared with the post. It explains: "j/k [joke], a drunk driver hit me and I'm making lemonade from life's lemons in an attempt to make people laugh."
The latest post comes as 13,384 people were reported to have died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2021, marking a 14 percent increase from 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). "These deaths were all preventable," the NHTSA said.
"Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes—that's one person every 39 minutes," according to the NHTSA.
In a later comment, the poster of the clip explained that a "drunk driver ran a stop sign and hit me. Just having fun with it until the insurance company takes it away. It's totaled."
The car damage amounted to $16,776, according to the poster. The car owner said, "Three airbags deployed" and "the cop let me drive it home. The blue-book value is about $9,000 and the damage is $16,700."
@trent_of_all_trades Someone hit my car in the parking lot and left me a lovely note, letting me know 😠 #sorry #leftanote #noinsurance #harborfreight #justajoke j/k, a drunk driver hit me and I’m making lemonade from life’s lemons in an attempt to make people laugh. 🤣
♬ original sound - 🆃🆁🅴🅽🆃
Several TikTok users were amused by the joke, although some initially believed the story was true.
User zachsqautch said: "Apparently no one read the entire caption."
Jo wrote: "I read the first sentence and that's it."
Cecilio Rivera Monso noted: "I just read the entire caption hahahahaha."
User timthetoolman wrote the damage "tis but a scratch..." and billythekid999 noted "it'll buff out."
John serrano said: "Yeah, $20 sounds about right," while Dog Person said: "Maybe just $21 will do it!"
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. The video has not been independently verified.
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Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel and health.
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