My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: Ohio
My son was at fault. The car ahead of him started to move at a green light, stopped, my son kept going and hit them.
It was another kid. They pulled over, looked at the cars and left. There is no police report. I don't know if there is a deadline on filing a police report, but the accident was about 28 hours ago.
This morning, the kid's mom calls me. This is when I first hear about it, of course. It was, essentially, "Your kid hit my kid. Your kid is going to get cited. You need to pay to fix this now." I'm a bit taken aback, and caught off guard and I'm not immediately cooperative. I tell her I'll call her back.
I talk to my kid and his friend who was with him. Based on their stories, I conclude that it was my son's fault. In the meantime, the mom calls me, says they got an estimate from a friend who does body work. It's about $500. The amount sounds reasonable to me if indeed there was any damage, and I believe it is my responsibility to pay it. However, when I ask the mom to send a photo of the damage, she refuses. She also refuses to get a second estimate.
I want to do what is right, but I also don't want to get taken advantage of.
Should I dig in and insist on either surveying the damage or getting a second estimate, or should I just pay it?

