Billionaire's Pagani Pa-gone-i after teen son takes hypercar out for a drive, trashes it

These things cost over $3m new

Ah, kids. Who'd have them, right? Well, for many the biological imperative proves strong and this is why we can't have nice things. However, some people – like Dallas TX-based real estate billionaire Tim Gillean – can afford to have both nice things and children.

For Gillean, these nice things come in the shape of an enormous house and a lot of seriously high-end cars. Good for him, you might think, a self-made man living his best life. Unfortunately, he also has a 17-year-old son, Gauge, who runs a YouTube channel with a modest subscriber count and the immodest subject matter of having an obscenely wealthy dad.

Take this vid titled "SPRAY PAINTING MY DADS ROLLS ROYCE...*PRANK*", for example, and note the purple beast on the right at the start – a Pagani Huayra Roadster.

Five months ago, Gillean Sr posted on his Instagram that the hypercar was a "new arrival" along with a clip showing Gillean Jr behind the wheel.

As it transpired, allowing one's youthful progeny to handle such a majestic creation – Pagani only makes around 40 cars a year – would end up a rather costly mistake.

We know that luxury motors devalue the moment they roll off the lorry, but this steed, identified by petrolhead mag The Drive as chassis 76029, had a showroom price of $3.4m.

It is no more. The Drive reports that on Tuesday night the Pagani was trashed in a crash with Gauge at the helm. Based on footage again posted to Instagram by a witness, the "driver's door lay on the pavement" with "one or both of the front wheels completely removed from the chassis, and other carbon fiber bits shattered all over the road".

Both passengers were said to walk away "without serious injury". Seeing as Gillean allowed his son to drive the car from day one, we doubt the teen is facing eternity grounded – his dad is more likely to be relieved the accident wasn't worse. Plus, he can always get another.

We've driven a Pagani (in Forza Horizon 4) and they're rubbish, squealing on the starting line and possessing all the traction of a flan pudding, which suggests to us that the 754-horsepower Huayra might have a little too much oomph for popping round to your mate's house to play Roblox.

Even so, we bet the father of the six-year-old who spent £19,000 on a monster truck off eBay is counting his lucky stars the tot's obsession hasn't moved on to something more luxurious. ®