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Heres the coles notes. Friend of mine backed into my car. Parents insurance. They want him to pay out of pocket. Should I report to cops and have a contract setup for repayment? Cost to repair is over 1000.00 but no quote yet.

get quotes before you enter any kind of contract

and where is the damage? pics?

I'll upload pics ASAP. Damage mostly to rear driver quarter panel. Tailgate slightly damaged and bumper scraped. May have slight structure bending. He was driving an f-250.

yeah get him to pay out of pocket..... last thing you want is an adjuster coming to your door to inspect the damage and accidently find your turbo LOL

And if he's a true friend you should be fine

Have him sign a contract acknowledging the damage and that he was the cause of it. No need to call the cops if he admits to it with his signature.

This is just in case he turns out to be not quite the friend you thought he was.

If he is the kind of friend you wouldn't have any issues with, I would leave it to him to make good, a contract could drive a rift between the two of you.

Here's the pics.

You've gotta search your heart and decide if your friendship is worth $1000. I would like to think that the people I call "friends" would step up. All others should have a contract.

In a perfect world, everyone would take responsibility for their actions whether accidental or not. But it's not a perfect world or we wouldn't have Judge Judy or The Peoples Court. Good luck.

Sucks to hear about the damage...

Why should YOU be out the cash up front while he takes his sweet time paying you? Unless you've got boatloads of cash sitting around. If his parents want him to pay, then they should pony up the cash and he can repay them....they are more accustomed to hastle their kid for something than you are.

Yeah just got the first quote. 4000.00 to fix. I can't afford to pay this.

wow, i didnt expect it to be that much oscar.... i saw this in person and it isnt terrible, mind you it does need a ton of work. my entire accident hitting a wall was like a little over 8 grand, including all new parts, rear bumper, quarter panel, being on the rack to straighten frame for a week plus paint and everything else i nit picked about.

i personally thing that quarter can be straightened out, however im no body man. did they say if that spot behind tailgate was infact structural?

id get a couple quotes, talk to your buddy about it and say listen dude, im sorry, but you backed into the car. he may be pissed that hes out of pocket a big chunk of change but ive been in his spot before. i backed into a guys car i knew and had to have his door repainted because when the door flexed it put a crack in the paint. mind you the 200$ to have it fixed at a cheap ass body guy wasnt so bad, but the fact that i had to pay out sucked huge.

if he gives any hassle say you want a contract, if he wont sign anything then your going to have to figure out a way to make it all happen. unfortunately if you were on private property and they is no witnesses or camera's your kinda SOL.

call insurance. Imo money changes people. especially over 4g. he may WANT to pay but may never.


id never trust someone who hit my car. dumb enuff to hit it, dumb enuff to try to screw me over.

go for the guaranteed no lose situation. why should YOUrisk being out 4g?

I'm probably going to the collision reporting centre this afternoon to report it if I don't hear back from him on what he wants to do.

I don't want the guy to get this against his insurance/record, but can't really afford to have 4000.00 outta my pocket.

I know you want to be a "good guy" Oscar, but frankly from the get go I would have said to go the insurance route simply because until you get an estimate you don't know anymore how much a "minor" collision is going to cost.

NefCanuck

At $4000 to fix, regardless of how good a friend he is, I would go through insurance. Unless he was loaded, and offered the cash to you on the spot. Even a signed contract means you have to haul him to small claims court if he doesn't end up paying.

Go with the guarenteed bet with insurance.

small claims decisions don't actually FORCE you to pay either.

You can take him to small claims and STILL not get your money, even if it takes YEARS at which point it stops being worth your while or costs you more than it's worth trying to pursue.

Wow oscar, sounds like your in the same boat I'm in, when the lady who hit me said clearly infront of many witnesses and on the phone with my insurance advisor / claim handler that she didn't want to go through insurance, and she wanted to pay out of pocket, I knew she couldn't afford it, as she was driving a beat up old kia, and my adjuster later confirmed that there was just under $4000 in damages to my car, So as a result I'm replacing my car completely out of pocket.

You have to report it... the damage is over $1,000.

The police report doesn't affect anything until you report it to your insurance company (IIRC).. and if you go through insurance, you're going to need a police report... and a police report is time-sensitive... so head to the collision reporting center and get it sorted out asap.

Once that's done, you can sort out who's paying for what. It sucks, but it's whatcha gotta do, and your buddy might get a ticket depending on the circumstances. It's just the fact of life and driving.

I'd say let buddy have a chance to come through, but if you don't get the police report now, you're SOL later. And that means you should have a police report and his insurance info -- and then set a timeline for him to pay. And then if he doesn't pay, you call the insurance company as a last resort.

it's the only way to cover yourself man.

(06-29-2010, 11:36 PM)Mystake Wrote: [ -> ]call insurance. Imo money changes people. especially over 4g. he may WANT to pay but may never.


id never trust someone who hit my car. dumb enuff to hit it, dumb enuff to try to screw me over.

go for the guaranteed no lose situation. why should YOUrisk being out 4g?

I think I agree with this, but you don't have to call them yet ... but what you MUST do right now is report the collision to one of those reporting centres and at least get a police report ... they won't do anything with it other than file it for your future use (or that of your insurance company). Odds are you friend won't file a report, which means yours becomes essentially the account of the collision that becomes official. And he doesn't need to know you filed one, until such time as you need to use it.

And so, if in the future you need to talk to your insurance company ... it's the first thing they'll ask for especially if some time goes by before you talk to them ... technically you've got 24 hours IIRC to report the accident.

EDIT: just read Steve's post above ... it's good advice LOL.

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tough one, 1 side of me says go through insurance, but my recent experience just goes to show there is good people out there and to give him a chance to pay up.

He's going to pay out of his own pocket. Already talked to a few body shops and the damage is a little more reasonable. Average cost is about $1600.00 to 1,800.00.