Need contract template for private settlement

[peanut12]

I was recently the driver of a friend's car in a rear-ending accident in Hawaii. The car was extremely old and had a lot of issues including brake issues, but I agreed to pay my friend's insurance deductible as a good faith measure although the car he lent me was faulty. As time passed, he became more and more aggressive in his requests for me to also pay his premium increase (he had been involved in several accidents in the last 2 years and this one would put him in the next bracket) as well as the cost to repair his car w/ all new parts (the car was considered totalled so he was paid out the blue book price of 2600, but the damages were 4700 and he was demanding I pay the difference so he could fix his car). Needless to say, things were really getting out of hand - 2 weeks after the accident he was requesting thousands from me.

According to my own insurance and a family friend who is a lawyer, I'm not responsible for paying for any of it, especially since the demands are so outrageous and his car was faulty and actually put me at risk.

I still want to pay the deductible because I had always agreed I would, but I was advised to have a contract first that states I will only pay for the deductible and he cannot come after me for further expenses. Does anyone have a template for such a contract or know how to word it professionally and legally?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[teflon_jones]

You don't owe this guy anything, including his deductible. He assumed liability for you driving the car by letting you drive it. If I were you, I wouln't give him anything since he's being a pain about the situation, when you're being nice about it. He's already been paid for his car. If you want to give him the deductible, then go ahead and do it. You don't need a contract for this either since you're not at fault or trying to settle damages that you're legally responsible for. But, if you want to give yourself some piece of mind, just write "Happy Birthday!" in the memo section of the check.

 

[Lynx 36]

Ditto. Give this guy back his car and tell him to go pound salt. Make sure you don't drive it as he may let his insurance lapse and not let you know. That opens up another can of worms. You don't owe him one red cent f/ anything.

 

[peanut12]

Thank you for your replies - I really appreciate it. The situation has been escalating as soon as it happened. I was visiting Hawaii at the time and am back in California (where I'm from) and the owner of the car continues to leave me very harassing voicemails about my "escaping my responsibility" and threatening that "i will be in trouble now." It's really gotten to a scary point, so my paying the deductible was to smooth things over although I am still refusing to pay for the thousands of other expenses (he needs to take responsibility for his own choice of fixing a totalled car).

The thing is, I am scheduled to move to Maui full-time next month (where this owner is) and if things don't get straightened out in the next few weeks, I'm really afraid I could be in a way because the island is so small and I am bound to run into him. If anyone has any further advice for this situation I would appreciate it - I've never dealt with such a figure before and never been in such a complicated situation. Thanks.