vehicular damage

[ldanforth]

Massachusetts (Worcester, MA)

Back at the end of May, I let a friend use my car when I went abroad for a couple of weeks. While away, I received a message from her telling me that she had damaged my car and that it would be fixed before I got back. When I got back from my trip, my car still had not been fixed as promised, but my friend told me that she would indeed take care of it over the summer. During the summer we had a falling out and needless to say she did not fix the car as promised. I got her estimates from different auto body shops, but she continued to put it off. Finally I went and got it fixed myself and told her that she needed to pay me back for the damages she had done to my car (which came to $850) and she agreed to do that.
It has been five months since then and I have not received anything from her. I am thinking of taking her to small claims court, but am unsure of whether or not I would even have a shot. I have the bill from the auto body shop where I got my car fixed and I have an online conversation where she admits that she did the damage to my car, but that’s it. I deleted the message where she first told me about the damage to my car and am not sure if I would even be able to get that back. Is it even worth bringing to small claims court? Do I have a shot? And if so, what else would I need to really solidify my case?

 

[Zigner]

Ideally, you would get something in writing acknowledging the damage/debt. Your case is shaky, but sounds like it might work...

 

[ldanforth]

I tried to get something in writing from her in the beginning, but she's smart enough to not sign anything acknowledging the fact that she did the damage. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Beanie711]

If you bring her to small claims, I'm hoping you at least took pictures of the damage before you got it fixed...

 

[ceceil21]

Help

You need some more information. What did she hit to cause the damage? Was there someone there who was a witness? Was it someone elses property? Were the police called? Was there a citation issued? Any witnesses?
These are all means of demonstrating that she caused the damage. In addition; you may be liable for damages up to 4 years as the owner of the car depending on the state and statute of limitations. Her insurance may cover the expense you incurred if she has any.