MISTAKES - we all make them.

Some are big, most are small and insignificant - like forgetting to take the rubbish bin out for collection.

But some mistakes can be monstrous and have huge consequences.

Reading the story a week or so ago about the bloke who bought a brand new car and then realised it just wasn't for him. That was a mistake which is likely to cost him heaps.

Strange thing was he had never sat in the vehicle, let alone driven it.

Let me tell you about a big mistake my wife and I came across some years ago.

We were driving over the Kaimai Range in New Zealand when we came across a car crash.

We were probably the second car on the scene and we stopped to see if we could help.

The car was a Honda Legend - valued at the time at $85,000.

It appeared as though the driver had lost control and the car had rolled down a bank, over and over a few times by the look of it.

There were two people still sitting in the car when we arrived and we had no idea if they were injured.

So we scrambled down the bank, through thick scrub, to the car.

Inside was an elderly couple. I'd say they would have been in their late 70s.

They seemed to be in reasonable shape, but the lady in the passenger seat was crying her eyes out.

My wife went around to the passenger door, tried to open it but it was jammed shut, so she spoke to the lady through the smashed window.

"It'll be ok", she told the lady, "are you hurt anywhere?"

The lady once again burst into tears and through the sobs she said "I'm not hurt but we have just bought the car brand new today and it's not insured!"

Ouch - now that's a big mistake.

Soon after, the ambulance and police arrived and the couple were extricated from their written-off Honda with just a few bruises and scratches.

A very lucky couple in one respect, but with a wallet that wasn't quite as full as it had been at the beginning of the day!