I would have paid for it, but I don't see how she is obligated to. My son's first "real" R/C was a Traxxas Bandit buggy ($250), he let his uncle drive it one day when they were visiting. Uncle proceeds to drive it behind my neighbor's SUV as they were backing out of their driveway. My neighbor, who we are good friends with, apologized profusely and offered to buy another multiple times. In this case I saw no fault in his actions and refused to let him pay. Said uncle and his parents didn't seem that concerned about the whole incident. I told my wife that her family sucks and took my son to the hobby shop, he got a Traxxas Slash out of the deal which is nicer anyway.
