ATV Florida Forum

Well, last week I was pulling out of my spot at school to pick up my brother and managed to hit a parked car. Doing the right thing, I stayed there and waited till he got out to the parking lot to hopefully resolve the issue peacefully. We exchanged information and didnt get the police involved at all. The next day he went and got an estimate on what the repair bill was. The total came to $860. His car is a 2000 Crown Vic  and the damage was a broken headlight lens and a gouge in the bumper cover. My dad went to someone he knows that owns a body shop and said no way that it should be that much and he could get the job for $300-$400. I told the kid the following day of the estimate and he questioned the reliabilty of this guy's body shop who is a Licensed and Insuraned company. My dad and his dad talked and my dad said he wanted another qoute because the original was unreasonably high. So he went and got another quote from the lincoln-mercury dealer buy him for close to twice of what he was originally qouted in just the parts alone. I did my research and found the parts remarkably cheap and labeled as factory replacments. Well, now he is saying just give me the money and he will go and get done. I dont trust this as he is just asking for basically $900 for an easy repair that knowing him might not even happen. I think he needs to take it to another body shop, not a dealer but a body shop, get the job done and i will come and pay the shop. He says no way is that happening, i just need to give him the money.

What is your thoughts on this? should i just go through the insurance company now and have them deal with it as i feel with the way he wants to do it he is just trying to screw me

And also, my dad knows someone who works for like a distribution place for the local automotive places and she said she could get the bumper cover for like $40 and the headlight for $30. We were just going to buy that and take it to his body shop and have it color matched and painted. But no, he wants the cash

your screwed i put a 3'' dent didnt mess up the paint in a hyundia at walmart noone was around so i went to the security showed him what happened and the guy said dont worry about it its so small noone will see it so i left my name and went home 3 days later i get a letter from the guy saying i can contact him within a week or he'll sue my insurance company so i told him to go get the quote and id pay it[lucky i had money saved up for a new 4wheeler] he comes back and says the est. is $950 so i asked to see the copy and it was to fix other dents so i told him to go get a real estimate of just the one dent and he said no i could pay it all or he'd go to the insurance company so long story short he ripped me off cuz i did the right thing and BTW he was 75+ years old and on oxygen and all this happened because some dumb women in an excursion was on the phone and wouldnt move so i tried squeezing around her :banghead.gif

As an owner of a body shop you should pay the body shop for the repair.  Personally I would say if he wants the cash then I would get the insurance involved.  I many many times get paid by the responsible party.  The only thing I do is collect the money up front when another party is paying.  I personally would not use anything on my cars except OEM but that is just me.  If you have any question feel free to ask.

If you are at all scared and confused call 1 800 ASK GARY

Also depending on your insurance and your driving record they do offer forgiveness so your insurance doesn't go up.  Man if someone threatens me suing, I would just hand him my insurance and copy of my drivers license and walk away.  People act like they are getting one over on you by threatening to sue,  what the hell you think we have insurance for.  Anyway just my thoughts  :)  Let me know if there is anything I can do (I mean advise or whatever LOL I am not fishing for work)

(if you want to talk to the guy in charge)
Brad
Vice-President
Eagle Automotive, Inc

(if you want to talk to the lady that knows whats going on) LOL
Bonnie
President
Eagle Automotive, Inc

well, i'm now on the phone with the insurance company.....

its not like he could sue you for a personal injury the car was parked and nobody was in the car, all he would "sue" for is to get the car fixed, i say f**k him and let them put it threw insurance

LMAO  YEAH THEN YOU'LL KNOW WHAT GETTIN SCREWED IS  LMAO

Sounds to me like the other guy doesnt have insurance. Id go that route and at least find out. Chances are, he wont do the repair if you just give him cash, and then later on say you didnt resolve the matter. If at anytime you are in an accident, and the other party requests a cash payout, then most likely they do not have insurance, or even a valid DL.

LMAO!

thats why i dont want to give him cash, when i told my dad he wont call when the repair is done for us to pay for it, he was like they are trying to screw you out of your money. My dad also said if he was to give him cash that i should expect to see him pull up to school with a broken headlight, a messed up bumper and some big ghetto rims when we come back from break. Well, i guess all that can be done is done now that the insurance is involved, basically he's trying to screw me and now i clearly see it

Unfortunately it was your fault,you caused damage etc. He can take the car whereveer he wants to fix it.If he keeps the money it isnt your concern or business.It sucks but thats the way it is.If he wants the dealer to do it and wont take ot to your guy well too bad. Sorry for your ordeal since you were HONEST & did the right thing.If it costs you a few bucks you still have your character intact.

If you pay DO NOT GIVE THEM CASH. Give a check & have them sign something that this check is for the damage incurred as a result of blah blah (all the details) and is considered payment in full. This way if it comes back @ ya your covered. If they wont do it that way see ya in small claims!

  You could let him take you to court and have a 50/50 chance he can't prove it with no accident report. Without proper procedure, they won't do anything, so he might of screwed himself by not filing an accident report.
   I would offer to pay at your cost, or take it to court and see what he says. Whatever you do decide, write an agreement and make sure you both sign it and yes, pay by check, not cash!!

I agree with Bushwacker on this.  If you damaged his car and he keeps the money instead of fixing it then he will get less for the car when he sells it.  And who are you to tell him what body shop to take it too, it's his car he should take it to whoever he wants.

I had the same thing happen to me at work years ago.  Kid got out of his car and left it in neutral and it rolled into my truck.  He came inside and told me he would take care of damage and I should get him a estimate.  I brought him one several days later from the nissan dealer (since it was a nissan truck) that included 3 days of car rental.  He complained and cried about it and tried to get me to go to his "friend" who had a body shop and I refused.  He then refused to pay so I took him to small claims court and in the mean time I sold the truck (unrepaired).  I won the case and he payed for the damages from the estimate minus the rental car fee.

Pay the piper, you did the crime now do the time (so to speak).

I see this stuff over and over and over.  Bottom line if you feel uneasy at all get the insurance involved.  We all know what a pain in the a$$ insurance is to deal with if you are trying to collect.  I firmly believe one of their (insurance) tactics is stalling and dragging their feet when it comes to paying ESPESIALLY if it is not the client.  He will have his hands full if he does not have all his eggs in a row (so to speak)  I REALLY do comind you on doing the right thing  :Clap.gif  Now let the insurance do the right thing.  Let me say this much you don't want to pay jacked up prices neither dose the insurance, unless it is taken to a shop that deals directly with your insurance the insurance will make sure they use after market and used everything to keep the price down.  Everyone on here that has posted has very valid points.  You can't tell him where to go (neither can your insurance) you just owe him the price of the repair where ever he wants to take it plus car rental.  And to boot he can do anything he wants with they money but with the insurance involved the will make sure it is not too high plus if he has any problems (no license, no insurance, etc.)  he will  get no money.

The last few replies dont make any sense. (with the exception of swampers last reply) Its like you think you wrote the law or something. He doesnt have to take it anywhere that the victim said for repairs. Read and learn:

http://accident-law.freeadvice.com/auto/blind_spot_liability.htm

geez, everyone is an expert these days. Dude, just get your insurance company involved. youll be better off than listening to back woods lawyers.

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I think I told this story before but here's what happened: A black car clipped the front of my T-Bird in Miami while I was reaching out into the road trying to see if I could get into the road safely. Slowly..... but it came down the road real fast! Needless to say, I got chewed out by the wife of the driver! It was a brand new Mercedes. Seeing the situation with their unruly kid and the accident circumstances, I just let the wife yell at me---then said, let's get the cops to sort this out because it's still not very clear who's at fault here. After the public safety aide determined who was at fault--me. Then I said come over here---and everyone got to see WHY I got clipped! There is NO way you could see anyone coming just to try to get out on the road. I took the blame for being in the road anyway. The wife, by this time, was calm enough to realize that I couldn't have heard all the angry words she threw at me. She was so sorry! I told her, hey, if it was me, I'd be yelling too! Their kid was really outta control. The driver, a doctor, then went for estimates. The beauty of this, he REFUSED the first estimate because it was too high. (?900) The next estimate was very reasonable (298). He called me up and told me what happened, and I cut him a check within 48 hours! He was able to get his new Mercedes fixed. It was a very small clip but noticable and undesirable.

Yes, we would have gone to insurance if we had problems. That's what insurance is for. Eat the extra premiums for the peace of mind and move on. Peace for doing the right things and resolving things with good karma.

???

The person who wrote the free advise is an expert?

Ask question get answers simple.Dont have to do anything you dont want to.You make your own informed desicion.

Thats pretty much what I said in my first post. Others felt that it was incorrect, so I had to prove what I said. You dont have to take anyones estimate. Especially when the circumstances are like the OP's. I wouldnt ever give anyone cash if I were in a crash, the first thing I would do is call that little blue and white Progressive van to the scene.