Had a fender bender, lady is being difficult

[rebel7254]

Hello all.

I live in Tennessee.

I'll give a brief explanation of what happened.

This past weekend (Saturday morning) I was in an accident. I was coming around a curve and a lady clearly ran a stop sign at the intersection of the road I was on and the one she was pulling out of. I hit her right rear fender with my left front, but I mostly hit her tire and not much damage was done to her car.

We pulled over to the side, and she acknowledged that it was all her fault and everything. We assessed the damage and decided that it probably wouldn't exceed her $500 insurance deductible by much. So she wanted to leave the police and insurance out of it, and just take care of it between us. (She'd have to pay for nearly all of it anyway, and her insurance rates would go up, she said). She seemed like an honest lady who was genuinely sorry, so I decided to do her the favor. I did, however, get pictures of both of our cars and the stop sign that she ran. I also have a clear closeup picture of her face, as well as her license plate. I had her make a handwritten statement that she was at fault for the accident and takes full responsibility for the damages. She signed her name on it and gave me her cell phone number. On top of all this, my father is a witness (he came up behind us a few minutes after the accident, on his way home from the same place I was).

She promised to pay for the damages. I told her I'd get a couple of estimates and call her back.

All seemed well until I actually got the estimates. One was $935 and the other was $810. However, I know this other guy that does auto body work on the side and he said he would do it for $400. Well, I decided to ask her for $600. I figure the $200 is compensation for my time in taking the car to get estimates for her and the aggravation of not being able to drive my car for a a few days. I also figure it as a premium for doing her a personal favor.

Well, to make a long story short, she's being difficult about it now. We exchanged a couple of calls, but I can't get an answer out of her on what she wants to do about it and I"m tired of driving my car around without a signal light. It needs to be fixed ASAP. I've called her (she doesn't answer) and left messages threatening to take her to court. All to no avail. Here we are coming up on 5 days since the accident and no word. I'm just going to take it to get it fixed tomorrow and start proceedings for taking her to court, provided I have the necessary evidence to win.

So my question is, do I have enough evidence to win a claim against her? Or am I out of luck since I don't have a police report? If I can win, how much will it cost me (ballpark) in court costs? I don't know how small claims court works....whether she would have to reimburse my court costs and all that. If I do take her to court, how much should I sue for? I'd like to be compensated somewhat for the inconvenience she has caused me and the way she has treated me for trying to do her a favor.

Unless I'm going to lose a whole lot of money, if I can win I'm going to go ahead and take it to court. I may lose some time and money, but if I'm going to have to spend MY time and money, then she should have to spend hers too.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Betty]

It seems from the evidence you have, you have a good chance of winning but that will be up to the judge to decide. You need to ask for what you believe is a reasonable amount for your "damages" + court costs & see if the judge is agreeable. You will want to show the judge the estimates you got - they will ask if you got estimates.

Good luck.

 

[rebel7254]

Thanks for the quick response.

I think I might just sue for the $600. Then the judge can reward me whatever he/she wants to, right? I don't think $600 is unreasonble. $400 for repair plus $200 for my frustrations as well as court costs.

Like I said though, hopefully she will come to her senses and just pay me so we don't have to go to court. That would be ideal. Maybe all it takes is that court summons delivery to finally make her fork over the cash.

 

[tranquility]

If you're going to sue her, sue her for the lowest legitimate estimate ($810) and the cost of a rental vehicle for the time your car is being repaired. It is unlikely the judge will award more than what you ask for. (Besides court costs and the like.)

 

[xylene]

Tranq is absolutely right.

Don't use an unregistered body shop, or else you may wind up in court suing your friend.

 

[dcatz]

Betty and tranquility are correct. A minimum of two legitimate estimates, because that's your evidence of greatest loss and it's going to be reviewed. Your "on the side" friend can't produce anything.

A rental car agreement for comparable transportation. (Don't treat yourself to a Manzotti SuperZoom800 for 5 days; you'll be paying the difference.)

Your cost courts will be filing and service. Don't add your "inconvenience" or "personal favor" calculations. Not only will you not get them, they have a tendency to bring the legitimate portion of your claim under closer scrutiny.

 

[rebel7254]

Alright, I'll just sue her for the lowest estimate plus court costs (if it goes that far).

I probably won't rent a car. My father and I work at the same company, and he can take me to and from work because my place is on the way. I can drive my wife's car wherever else I need to go.

Can I take it to the other guy to get it fixed and still sue her for $810? I'd really rather not shell out twice as much money right now when I know the other guy will do just as good or better a job.

 

[dcatz]

Can I take it to the other guy to get it fixed and still sue her for $810?

The safer route is to sue, get your judgment and even collect. Then, if you want to leave the car as-is and take the money, it's up to you.

But what happens if the judge looks at the estimates and then asks if you already had the work done? Nobody here is going to tell you to commit perjury.

 

[rebel7254]

I wouldn't mind just suing her for what I really got it fixed for. But the way I understood it, I couldn't do that because the guy doesn't work for a registered body shop.
So are you saying I could take it to my other guy to get it fixed, and sue for that? Or is just taking it to the registered body shop the safer way to go?

I can't really wait to sue and then get it fixed. I would definitely wait if my signal light wasn't messed up. I just don't like driving around without a signal light, even though it's on the front which isn't as bad as if it were the rear.

 

[dcatz]

I thought about the potential problems with the mechanical defect – you stand a chance of getting ticketed. I was simply carrying your question to the extreme.

As to your new question, sure. You can give it to the kid next door, if that works for you. You present the court with a receipt, say “this is my measure of damages” and ask for judgment. “Registered body shop” is for your protection, not hers. If you’re handy with filler, you can do it yourself. I was saying nobody is going to encourage you to claim it will cost $810, when you’ve already done it for $50.

You’re changing the hypothetical, so the answer changes. Ride with Dad. Take wife’s car. Get it fixed and then sue. The point we were making is the cost of repair plus replacement transportation are your measure of damages. You can try for a judgment for your lowest bid from a licensed shop and then get the work done elsewhere for less, but you assume the risk of defective work done by someone as a ‘side job”. If you’re willing, it’s your choice. If you’re unhappy later, don’t expect to have much of a remedy.

 

[rebel7254]

The guy I would be taking it to used to run his own body shop....now he just does it on the side. He did good work for my father a couple of years ago. So it's not like I'm trusting somebody I don't know, but I see what you're saying.

My wife is going to send her the two body shop estimates via certified mail Monday morning. I'm going to call the lady when I get back from my business trip at the end of the week, and ask her one more time if she will pay me the $600 I asked for. If not, I'm just going to take it to the place where I got the $810 estimate. I don't want to do that really, but I suppose I can afford it and it will punish her more for making me drag it out.