Unfair car damage accusation!

[Justiceseeker07]

Hello!

Here is the story...

My boyfriend and his sister got into an argument. He slide across the hood of her rental car to get from one side to the other because she was parked behind his boat. That caused a dent but it popped back up and i was a witness to that. So, before she took off upset, I noticed there were no dents or anyting on the hood of her rental car. Now, she has called to say he has to pay $ 500 for repairs- She didn't bother to call regarding the car until the next day, and when we asked to go see the car to prove that there were any dents, her and her husband said not today (the next day of the arguemnet).

My boyfriends mother, my boyfriend and I witness the car with NO dents whatsoever before she took off. Since we couldn't go see the car with their permission, we decided to drive up to their apartment complex, and check the car ourselves. We brought a light torch, a video camera, and a digital picture camera. We could only take pictures with the digital cam since our video cam died. We try to feel any dents with our hands, and take pictures of every corner of the car, including the plate, to prove it was that same car.

The car was extremely dusty, and it looked like no-one has touched it to check if it had dents, apart from the obvious visual. They told us that day that they took it to have it check for a quote which we have to pay. There was nothing whatsoever. No dents, no scratches, nothing at all.

They have given us two options. Either my boyfriend admits he damaged the car, and pay, OR they will press charges. We don't think there is $500 worth of damages on that car and we stand by that. We werent allowed to go see the car to check for ourselves, and they told us they didnt need to bother to show it to us, because we have to pay regardless. Now, I spoke to them not so long ago, and they asked to pass by to morrow, for them to give us the repair quotes and to check out the damage my boyfriend suppostly caused.

Is that fair? We haven't had the chance to quote it ourselves, and see the damage the next day that happened. There are no witness that says my boyfriend left a huge dent on the car. Can they press any charges when there arent any witnesses to that?

We just wanted to know, because they are being unfair to us. Thank you for your help.

Justice seeker,
What is the name of your state? New Jersey- USA

 

[alnorth]

If $500 would be a lot of money for you, and you have witnesses and evidence showing that the car was undamaged after the incident, then tell them you believe there are no damages and be prepared to defend in court.

 

[ecmst12]

Your boyfriend is entitled to see a copy of the estimate she got before agreeing to pay anything. If the estimate is legitimate, he should pay. Even if the dent popped back out, it may have left some damage. But he doesn't have to pay anything without seeing the estimate.

 

[JustAPal00]

$500 doesn't go far when you're talking about body work! A small dent in a hood and some paint work by a legitimate body shop can easily go over $500. Just to repair some scratches on the side of my Saturn is going to be over $1100!

 

[alnorth]

$500 doesn't go far when you're talking about body work! A small dent in a hood and some paint work by a legitimate body shop can easily go over $500. Just to repair some scratches on the side of my Saturn is going to be over $1100!

Exactly, which also makes me suspect that this $500 was just a number pulled out of thin air.

 

[JustAPal00]

Exactly, which also makes me suspect that this $500 was just a number pulled out of thin air.

The $500 might be a deductible, I was more referring to the OP not believing that there was $500 worth of damage. My Saturn has NO dents, it only needs paint work, but since it is a pretty new car I am having it fixed by a professional collision center. The rental car company would probably require the same level of repair, they won’t let the OP get it fixed at her second cousin “Louie’s” repair shop out in Newark! I would require a copy of the damage estimate before I shelled out any cash, because $500 is a nice round number!

 

[dmf32835]

I doubt a civil suit or something like that would even be worth it since it sounds like his word versus hers.