Location: Texas
The parking garage at my apartment complex is a tight fit when you go around the curves to the next level. As a precaution, I tend to stop my car completely before taking the corner when I see another car coming around.
Two weeks ago, I was stopped before turning the corner because two cars were coming around. The first car passed fine, but the 2nd car swang so far out that they were on my side of the garage. I remained stopped, waiting for them to realize that they literally couldn’t continue forward without hitting my car. Unfortunately I realized 8 second too late that they were staring at their phone so laying on my horn didn’t save us from her hitting me.
We both pulled over to examine the damage to our cars. There was clear damage to my car and her car too
I took pictures of the damage to both cars and I was about to ask about exchanging insurances when she started offering to pay to fix it out of pocket. She asked how much I would want, I told her I would have to get an estimate. I started to ask about insurance again at which point she offered $500. She said if the repair cost most, should could even send more.
I told her I’d have to talk with my husband first before accepting. After talking with him, we accepted the $500. She sent it and that was that.
A day later, she text me saying she found a repair shop that could do the fix for $80-$250 and asked if I wanted to go with her to get them done at the same time. I ignored the text
A week later, she text again asking if I went to the place she found or if I wanted to go with her later that week to get it done. She also said that her boyfriend told her that it would be a quick and easy fix. I again, ignored the message
She texted again this week. She said that after her bf looked into repair shops in the area he found that a buff job should only cost $80 – $200 at most and that she sent the money without really thinking it through. She said she believes $200 is fair and is requesting for me to send the rest back ($300). I haven’t responded to the text and don’t know how to respond bc I don’t want to send the money back since she inconvenienced me by hitting me
Could I be legally obligated to send the money back?
Comments
I don’t have legal advice to your question, but I would get a quote from a nice body shop and information on your deductible before communicating again with her.
The cost to repair should not be the only factor considered, you might need a rental car or taxi service while it’s out of your reach. There could be a loss of value if the repair is reported to a service like carfax.
Have you gotten your car fixed yet? Personally I wouldn’t give her anything back, but I wouldn’t even entertain the thought until you’ve used the funds to repair the damage.
“My boyfriend said it shouldn’t cost that much” isn’t a legal argument or a particularly convincing negotiating tactic. If you are happy with the $500, you can ignore her and move on with your life. I would go get the car looked at and fixed to make sure the cost doesn’t exceed $500.
NAL
Where did she hit you? There could be damage to underlying structures (frame/brackets/pillars/etc). Not just something you’d want to “buff out”. I’d see if you could find a body shop willing to take a look and a free or low cost estimate.