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Repair Demand For Car Damage Is Too High

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  • 07-12-2007, 02:23 PM
    Lotronix
    Repair Demand For Car Damage Is Too High
    Hey guys, I was recently involved in a minor parking lot accident and was hoping someone here had some good advice on how to go about getting this fixed.

    Ok, here's the story. I drive a Camaro, the other guy drives a Hyundai. We were parked side-by-side/parallel to each other. He was not in the Hyundai at the time of the collision.

    I got into my car and began to back out. As I backed out I was not paying attention to my long hood and the tip of my hood scraped his passenger side door as I backed out.

    I waited around for the guy to appear. I apologized for the damage and offered to pay the cost out of my own pocket. I asked him if he would like to keep insurance companies out of the picture and he agreed and said that would be fine.

    I gave him my drivers license and he copied down my information from that although he DID NOT get my insurance information. He also DID NOT file a police report at this time. He also has no idea what my car looks like and does not know my license plate number. Also he DID NOT personally witness the scraping although I imagine parking lot security cameras caught the scene.

    Now this guy come around 3 days later saying he took the car to some body shops to get an estimate. He wants $1700 for the damage and he wants me to pay for a rental car for him while he gets the work done.

    So he wants approx. $2,000.

    I consider the damage to be about $400 worth. I cannot and do not want to pay $2,000.

    I am considering offering the guy $400 and telling him to take-it-or-leave-it. If he doesn't want the $400 and tries to hold out for more I am going to tell him to go take a hike.

    What do you guys think? Am I setting myself up to get sued/arrested/insurence-claimed?

    [Edit: This happened in the state of Oregon]
  • 07-12-2007, 03:44 PM
    jk
    Re: Repair Demand For Car Damage Is Too High
    at the least you are setting yourself up to be sued, and probably successfully.

    You will have to explain to the judge how this guy got your drivers license number.

    Did he show you estimates? If so, and they were around the $1700, I think it would be best to pay the amount demanded.
  • 07-12-2007, 04:03 PM
    Lotronix
    Re: Repair Demand For Car Damage Is Too High
    Well maybe you're right. Telling the guy to "get bent" is probably not the best course of action.

    That leaves me with my other option which is to exchange insurance info with the guy fair-and-square and have my insurance company pay him.

    I mean, I'm paying all this money every month for insurance, I guess I might as well use it, eh?

    What would you do if you were in this situation?

    1) Exchange insurance info and have him make a claim (Right now my driving record is spotless clean)
    2) Pay out of my own pocket (This would involve the shame and obligation of borrowing from my family)
    3) Tell the guy if he wants my money to come and get it (This probably involves me getting sued in small claims, although there is a small chance that the other party won't don anything and just cut their losses)
  • 07-12-2007, 04:24 PM
    jk
    Re: Repair Demand For Car Damage Is Too High
    I would call my insurance company and let them handle it.
  • 07-16-2007, 03:30 PM
    ernesto821
    Re: Repair Demand For Car Damage Is Too High
    i think u should prolly get quote from a body shop that you know and see if it match the cost he said... if it did, just paying up might be the best option. if it was cheaper, u could offer him to fix it at the shop u asked... if u use insurance, i think the premium would be higher for sure.
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