My neighbor hit my car. She now changed her mind about paying for the damages. Turned it around. What do I do?

Question

A gardener was at my house cleaning my backyard. He needed to get his car out, so in order to do that, he had to move my car. He offered to move it for me, so he took my keys and parked in adjacent to of my neighbor’s house (it is legal to park on the street, but he parked near a fire hydrant).

Sometime later, my neighbor (whom I’ve never met before) backs out her driveway and smashes into the front of my car, destroying the headlight and bumper. I call the police, for a police report, but when they arrive my neighbor tells me not do to the police report because she will pay me cash without going through insurance. I comply and tell the officer to leave without getting a report. She calls her friend, a mechanic, and he comes to get an estimate. He says, it will cost $1200, and she agrees to pay that. I take it to my mechanic and he says it will cost at least $3000, and maybe more because there might be more damages to the car once he disassembles it, which he can’t see right now.

Answer 1

Remember, he is giving her a deal. Be mad at yourself for sending the cop away.  Not for what she did afterwards.  You could have had a police report with nothing happening, just you and her file it in your house desk drawers. Let her have it fixed.  If you are deadset against her friend solely getting involved, have 3 estimates done by several auto body places in your area and ask her for the average of the three.

Answer 2

now we know why horse is better

Answer 3

Call and make a police report.  Then take your car to your mechanic and have him fix where your neighbor damaged it.  Then give your neighbor the receipt and tell her this is what she owes you.  If she refuses to pay then take her to small claims court.

Answer 4

She is not relieved of her liability because you were parked illegally. She will still be found at fault. A parking ticket is a violation to the vehicle, not the driver, so it will not put points on your license.

Call the officer back who responded, and tell him the other driver failed to follow through with the agreement, and you want a report filed.

Answer 5

Do you know the cop who responded. Tell her she will pay or you will get a lawyer. She'll lose.

Answer 6

Simple, get a lawyer!

See if you can file that report.

Answer 7

First, don't mix up the issues. The fact that you were parked by the hydrant is unrelated to the fact that she hit your car.

The operator of an automobile is required to control it and avoid other objects at all times. She is at fault.

Now the only obstacle is price. Have your mechanic and hers give you a written estimate. This will give you item by item cost of the repair. If her mechanic is lowballing, or your mechanic is gouging it should be obvious. If not get a third estimate from a body shop that you and the neighbor agree on. Based upon your story of her "guesstimate" guy and your "hidden damage" buddy I suspect the price will be somewhere in between.

Compromise is a lot less stressful than confrontation. Your not interested in a fight, but you have a reasonable expectation to have your car properly repaired. Once you both understand what the correct price is, she should be willing to pay.

Answer 8

Who cares about the hydrant. They won't do anything now and it isn't that big of a deal if they do, anyways.

Obviously this woman is s******g you around. Your mistake was not filing a report. Get the gardener to make a statement that he drove it for or another witness. Her hitting YOUR parked car is HER fault. All you need is to be able to prove it in court and she better cough up your money.

Answer 9

You don't watch much of those daytime court shows , do ya?  If you did , you'd know this is going to be complicated....