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We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. It’s what we tell ourselves when things go wrong, and for the most part, it’s true. But here’s the thing: not every slip-up is created equal. Breaking a plate during dinner is unfortunate. Backing your car through the garage door? That’s going to sting a lot more. Both are accidents, sure, but the consequences couldn’t be more different.

Below, we’ve gathered a collection of painfully expensive mistakes people have shared online, the kind that make you wince and instinctively check your bank account just looking at them. Scroll down to see the photos, and maybe send some sympathy to the folks behind them. They could definitely use some.

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#1 Wife Left The Door Open To The Pool Area. Expensive Robot Vacuum (Bottom And Upside Down) Decides It Wants To Meet The Pool Vacuum

#2 Meet Bonnie, Our 3-Month-Old Collie. During The Night She Discovered A Can Of Blue Paint With A Loose Lid

We call this her ‘blue period’ since she is obviously going through some artistic phase. The Chinese rug cost nearly $6,000.

#3 When The Fire Suppression Foam Is Accidentally Released

Sometimes the simplest errors turn into the most expensive lessons. When it comes to famous blunders, few can match the scale of what happened to France’s national railway company in 2014. SNCF ordered 2,000 new trains worth billions, only to discover they were too wide for over 1,000 of the country’s train platforms.

The company had measured newer stations but neglected platforms built more than 50 years ago. The error forced them to spend an additional 50 million euros widening 1,300 platforms over two years, turning what should have been a triumph of modernization into an expensive reminder to double-check your measurements.

#4 If You’re Having A Bad Day, Just Know That At Least You Didn’t Shatter A 16,000$ Bottle Of Victory In Europe, 1945 Château Mouton Rothschild

In all seriousness it was maybe the most beautiful thing I have ever smelled in my entire life. I only have a level 2 cert so I’m not super qualified to speak on the smelling notes BUT it smelled like walking through a Plum orchard after it rains in the midst of Autumn.

#5 Do Not Park On The Beach

#6 Meanwhile At The Mercedes Dealership… And A Brand New G Wagon

In London, a skyscraper became famous for melting cars. The building at 20 Fenchurch Street, nicknamed the Walkie Talkie, created an unexpected problem during its construction in 2013.

Its concave glass facade acted like a giant magnifying glass, focusing sunlight onto the street below with such intensity that it warped car panels and melted plastic parts. One Jaguar owner found his side mirror and bodywork damaged after parking nearby for just an hour.

The phenomenon earned the building a new nickname: the Walkie Scorchie. Developers eventually installed a permanent sunshade at a cost of around £10 million to fix the problem.

#7 Scored $320 Of Lumber For $90. Now I Get To Pay $500 For A New Windshield

Follow me for more money saving tips. I honestly thought that everyone else that this happened to just wasn’t being careful enough. Send the judgement. I deserve it.

#8 A Train Car In Minnesota Carrying Corn Had A Leak

#9 Someone At Porsche Is Getting Fired Today

NASA experienced one of the most frustrating mistakes in space exploration history in 1999. The Mars Climate Orbiter, which cost $125 million to build, was lost because of a simple measurement mix-up.

Engineers at Lockheed Martin used imperial units while NASA’s team used metric units. Nobody caught the discrepancy until it was too late. The spacecraft missed its intended orbit and burned up in the Martian atmosphere. The entire mission vanished because it got lost in translation of mathematical language.

#10 What Could Go Wrong If I Drive My Expensive GMC Pickup And Trailer Across Ice That Is Too Thin To Support The Weight. Little Bay De Noc, MI

#11 Car At The Bottom Is Flooded. Car At The Top Has Been Totalled

Due to the flooding, water got into the mechanism and short-circuited it. It raised the platform, and this was the result.

#12 $5000 Canadian After Someone Using The Microwave To Disinfect It

The business world has seen its share of spectacular misjudgments. In the early 1990s, Quaker Oats bought Snapple for $1.7 billion, convinced it would dominate the beverage market. The acquisition turned into a disaster, and just three years later, Quaker Oats sold Snapple for only $300 million.

The loss was staggering, made even more painful by the fact that Snapple continued to thrive as an independent brand after the sale. Sometimes the best business decision is recognizing when a partnership simply isn’t working.

#13 Cement Truck Mishap

#14 Who Needs Outriggers?

#15 Residential Homes Built In South Dakota Over Undisclosed Abandoned Gypsum Mine… Sinkhole Renders Entire Neighborhood’s Property Values Now Worthless

Spain faced an engineering nightmare that sounds almost impossible to believe. Designers working on the Isaac Peral class submarine made a decimal point error in their calculations, making the vessel 100 tons heavier than planned.

The mistake meant the submarine would sink to the ocean floor and never resurface. Engineers caught the error before construction began and redesigned the submarine to be longer, but then discovered it was too large to fit into the port where it was being built. The cascading errors turned what should have been a routine military project into a costly lesson in precision.

#16 From One Of Our Customers In Cedar Lake, Indiana. Someone Sunk Their $300k+ Pavati Wake Boat, Then Swamped His Jeep And Raptor While Trying To Drag It Out

#17 $65,000 Medication… Most Expensive Thing I Have Ever Had To Throw Away

The patient didn’t show up for their appointment. Once mixed, it expires in less than 24 hours. No one else was scheduled for it, unfortunately.

We currently don’t have mixing capability at our location. We have to mix it at a different location and have it delivered on the day of the appointment. 1st time this had happened with such an expensive medication.

#18 Broke My Leg By Standing Too Fast And Falling Onto Myself

Cultural attachment can be stronger than taste test data, as Coca-Cola learned in 1985. After conducting nearly 200,000 blind taste tests showing consumers preferred a sweeter formula, the company replaced its 99-year-old recipe with New Coke.

The backlash was immediate and intense. Protest groups formed across America, consumers stockpiled the original formula, and the company received up to 8,000 complaint calls per day. One person even wrote to the CEO addressing him as “Chief Dodo.”

Just 79 days later, Coca-Cola brought back the original formula as Coca-Cola Classic, having discovered that some things matter more to people than taste.

#19 Delicate Evening Operation On The A4 Highway At The Valmy Rest Area. A Heavy Truck Transporting Utility Vehicles Crashes Under The Canopy Of A Gas Station

#20 Big Oof

#21 That Can’t Be Cheap

Trading errors can happen in the blink of an eye with devastating results. In 2005, a stockbroker at Mizuho Securities in Japan made a typing mistake that cost the company around $225 million. Instead of selling one share at 610,000 yen, he accidentally offered 610,000 shares at 1 yen each.

Investors immediately jumped on the incredible deal, buying up the drastically underpriced stock before anyone could stop the trade. Even with stock exchange rules limiting some of the damage, the typo became one of the most expensive keystrokes in financial history.

#22 My Neighbor Parks This Expensive Car On The Street

#23 NOAA-N’ Accident

Designated NOAA-N’ (NOAA-N Prime) prior to launch, is the last of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s POES series of weather satellites. The satellite suffered an accident prior to launch, which resulted in it falling off its clean room mounting, resulting in significant damage.

#24 Got Gucci Sunglasses For My Wife. Dog Ate Them Before She Had A Chance To Wear Them

Ordered for Valentine’s Day. Shipping was delayed. Got them yesterday. Had them for 2 hours before finding them like this in the dog’s bed. My fault, though. I set them on the floor at the top of the stairs so wife wouldn’t forget them when she went out.

The entertainment industry isn’t immune to costly mistakes either. When reshoots were needed for the 2017 film Justice League, Warner Bros faced an unusual problem. Actor Henry Cavill had grown a mustache for another role and couldn’t shave it off.

The studio ended up spending around $25 million to digitally remove the mustache from every scene featuring Superman. The extensive visual effects work became a notorious example of how small scheduling conflicts can balloon into massive budget overruns when production timelines collide.

#25 $300k Video Wall Came Down Today In Vegas

#26 I Installed My Own Microwave Today And Saved $150 In Installation Fees

#27 Well

These stories remind us that mistakes happen at every level, from individual people to massive corporations. The scale might be different from dropping your phone or denting your bumper, but the fundamental lesson stays the same. We’re all capable of errors, and sometimes the most expensive ones come from the simplest oversights.

The best we can do is learn from these cautionary tales, double-check our work, and hope that when we inevitably mess up, the consequences are a bit more forgiving.

#28 Something Scared My Wife And I At 2 AM

This mirror was like 10 ft and came with the house when we bought it. I thought someone shattered our window in the bathroom and was breaking in, or the shower glass shattered. 2 hours later, I’m still cleaning glass off the floor.

#29 We Always Knew It Would End Like This Some Day

My wife and daughter have been telling me for years that the tempered glass floor protector in my office was a ticking time explosive. Today, when I accidentally knocked my favorite hand-etched glass tumbler off the desk, the floor protector saved it by shattering first into thousands of tiny shards. Well done by the floor protector.

#30 Absolutely Shattered

#31 Boss Isn’t Gonna Be Happy With That One

#32 I Didn’t Know This Was Possible

#33 Paint Store Guy Didn’t Close The Can Properly

Bought a car one week ago, more expensive than I could really afford but so beautiful. Picked up paint while on vacation to paint my mom’s house. Teenager working at paint store apparently didn’t close the can properly. That’s 1 gallon of slightly greenish gray wall paint on the floor of my new car. Paint store guy’s response was to apologize profusely, give me another gallon of paint, and throw in a free tub of miracle wipes. Lovely.

#34 My Car Exploded On My Way To Work

I texted my coworker, he’s the only coworker’s number I have and called him asked if he was at the restaurant and explained what happened. I told him I’ll send a couple pics and then he replied they want a selfie with the car “to make sure”.

#35 Son Decided To Swallow A Nickel And Turn $.05 Into $4400.00

#36 Saw This House-On-Stilts Fail On My Morning Run Today

#37 I Accidentally Burned Down My Parent’s Outdoor Kitchen By Placing A Still Burning Fire Log On Top Of The Rest Of The Firewood

#38 Rag Left In Engine After Repairs Turned To Shreds

#39 Second Time My Girlfriends Mom Backed Into My Car Today

First pic is of my old car, which gfs mom backed into of October 2024. Today August 2025, she did it again to my new car. Girlfriends mom takes no responsibility both times saying it was my fault because both times it happened I was working a different shift at work, and that I should have stuck to my normal shift. Me and girly’s relationship is at an all time strain level.

#40 Apparently D And R Look The Same When You’re Tired

#41 Started The Weekend By Popping Off My Crown While Flossing

#42 Neighbors Removed Their Retaining Wall Without Realizing It Was Providing Support For This Other Wall, Ultimately Leading To Its Failure

#43 You Can’t Park There Sir

It looks like the bottom of the tree rotted out causing it to fall over, it didn’t even rip the roots out of the ground. I think the cuts are from the fire department/public works cutting it to clear the roadway. There was a pile of cut pieces out of view of the picture.

#44 Shower Door Spontaneously Shattered Behind Me

#45 Took This On My Way To Work, Guy Forgot To Secure His Boat To His Trailer And Stomped On The Breaks To Stop

#46 An Expensive Mistake… Scout 380 LXF… I Assume Pushing Seven Figures. Maybe Over

#47 Merry Christmas! I Got An Extremely Expensive Drone And My Sister’s Dog Broke It When Nobody Was Watching

#48 I Baked My AirPods Along With My Choc Chip Cookies

I turned the oven on to preheat it. 3 min later I removed the oven tray to put it into the kitchen island so I could line it with cookie dough. It didn’t feel very hot, yet the AirPods that were on the kitchen island were presumably attached to it. When I opened the oven after baking for 10 min, there was an abnormal cookie.

#49 My Shower Was Leaking So I Tried To See If I Could Fix It. I Broke It Instead

#50 Mistakes Were Made

#51 Phone Purchased At 10:20 AM, Black Ice Got Me At 1:30 PM

I purchased it same day, currently out at school and there’s isn’t a repair place around here so I’m waiting until I go home in a couple weeks to fix it up.

#52 Dump Truck Thinks Its Kool-Aid Man And Damages River Spirit Expo Center At Tulsa Fairgrounds

#53 That’s An Expensive Way To Start A Vacation In The Vacationland State

#54 Guy Who Mows My Lawn Somehow Did This While Mowing

#55 My Friend Went To The Apple Store Today Because He Broke Both The Front And Back Of His iPhone XS

They told him that because of Corona, the repair service was temporarily closed. He then chose to buy the 11 Pro, which he then dropped when opening the box.

#56 Today At Work, A Coworker Crashed A Trolley Full Of Plates Needed For A Function

#57 Smashed A Panel Of Pre-War Glass In A Grade 2 Listed Building. I’m Doing A Job Tidying Up These Very, Very Old Sash Windows. Managed To Smash A Panel. Costly Mistake

#58 Jet Airways Bus Accidently Hit The Belly Of Air India Flight After The Driver Reportedly Lost Control At The Wheels

#59 This Is What An Expensive Mistake Looks Like. Quarter Inch Hole In Inaccessible 20 Conductor Cable

#60 I Just Broke A $5,000.00 Bottle Of Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac At Work

#61 Mistakes Were Made. So Yeah. Apparently You Shouldn’t Put Vanish On All The Stains

#62 Sold My iPad In Public Space At Night In Minnesotan -10 F Temperature, Turned Out It’s Fake

#63 I Was About To Go To Bed

#64 Moved Into The New House And Found Out Our Toddler Broke Our 65” TV

#65 Cat Jumped Off The Samsung Serif TV And It Fell. Replacing The Frame Costs $1500

#66 I Dropped My AirPods

#67 Made The Mistake Of Not Asking Market Price… $53 Per Shrimp

#68 Chinese Mining Farm – Flood Damage

#69 Cutting Board Exploded

Turned around after washing my hands and heard a huge crashing noise. It was my cutting board obliterating itself. I assume I cut the food too close to the burner and it got hot, then when I washed my hands with cold water it cooled down too fast. Either that or there’s a ghost that hates cutting boards.

#70 My Wife Bought Me A Ceramic Oura Ring For Christmas. It Slipped Off Of My Finger In The Shower And A Huge Chunk Chipped Off On Day 1

#71 My Tesla’s Horn Went Off At 4 Am For Over 20 Minutes Uncontrollably, $2000 Fix From Tesla

#72 Mistakes Were Made

#73 $8k Mistake. Let’s Hope I’m Not Fired

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