Hawke's Bay teen's first drive of first car ends with it broken down and trashed

Belle Rainger fills up her first car, en route to Havelock North from Palmerston North where she bought it. The car was subsequently broken-into and trashed. Photo / Supplied

Havelock North teenager Belle Rainger's first drive around Hawke's Bay in her first car is one she won't forget.

What was supposed to be a fun Saturday night trip to Waimarama ended with her car suffering not only its first breakdown, but also its first break-in - a dramatic trashing on the side of the road that left the uninsured car unroadworthy and worthless.

But this story has a happy ending, of sorts - Belle's also experienced her first dose of Hawke's Bay's community spirit that has raised her the funds to replace the car.

Belle's car lies on Waimarama Rd with tyres removed and badly vandalised. Photo / Supplied

Belle, 17, bought the Peugeot hatchback with her own hard-earned cash in Palmerston North only three weeks earlier.

Her mother Kate, from Havelock North, said on Saturday night Belle, 17, had been out with a group of friends at Waimarama.

"She is on her restricted and it was the first proper trip she had made in her car," Kate said.

"But while they were driving back from the beach the car started making a terrible noise, the lights started flashing, it broke down.

"She came into the house at 10pm crying and saying 'why don't you answer your phone, the car broke down'."

Belle's car after it was smashed and broken into. Photo / Supplied

The car had broken down at Red Bridge.

"So me and my husband decided that it was probably not a good place to leave the car, my husband decided to see if he could get it started again," she said.

"We got it about a kilometre up the road and it stopped completely. We pushed it and left it on the side of the road on Waimarama Rd, by Craggy Range."

The car had cost Belle $4000 and it had only third party insurance.

"The next morning, around 7am, Belle's sister received a text from a friend who was going surfing at Waimarama saying Belle's car had been vandalised," she said.

"It was a complete write-off. Everything that wasn't nailed down was taken. Whoever had done it had smashed the front screen and side windows, all the wheels were taken, all her tools from the boot were taken, she had $300 worth of gear in there.

"The front lights were smashed, the windscreen was smashed, it's a hard job to remove all the wheels but they did it.

"My feeling was - how dare they, how dare people break into a car she's worked so hard for."

Belle was distraught and Kate decided to post about the incident on social media, and was flooded with people offering Belle cars to drive, asking if they could start Givealittle pages.

"But Belle said, 'no mum, other people need it more'," she said.

A family friend decided to start a Givealittle page anyway, to get Belle back on the road in her own car.

"So what started as a terrible day, ended well, and by 8pm on Sunday night the page had raised $4000."

Kate said the community coming together to help Belle out was great, but the incident, which was reported to police on Sunday morning, should never have happened in the first place.

"The fact that you can't leave your car on the side of the road is just sad. But thankfully it was just a car, not an accident, no one died."