Remorse? or Self-Pwnage?

[Dips]

This happened to my sister.

She was driving along and heard a sudden noise on the right side of the car. She glanced in the right mirror to see what it was and the right mirror wasn't there.

So she figured she had hit something and stopped. Sure enough her mirror was lying in the road next to a car with a severely damaged door. The owner of the other car got out and explained he had opened his door and she hit it.

My sister figured since she was moving and he wasn't that it must be her fault. She asked him to get an estimate and offered to pay for the repairs without insurance. The fellow seemed agreeable and they both went on their way.

In the following week my brother-in-law had picked up some parts at a junkyard for about $35 and made plans to fix the car that weekend. The weren't going to bother about the cosmetic damage. But they didn't hear from the fellow at all.

Then my sister received a phone call from her insurance company. Her first thought was, "Crap, he filed a claim and now it's on my record."

But as it turned out the fellow was found at fault. You see moving any *part* of your car into traffic (such as a door) is, for the purposes of liability, the same as moving your *entire* car into traffic. And if you hit something because you aren't looking out for traffic, the resulting accident is your fault.

So she brought the car in for an estimate on the damage. The damage to her car was estimated to be about $700 and that's the amount of the check she got.

She still doesn't know why the guy filed a claim. One part of her thinks he realized he screwed up and did the right thing out of remorse. The other part thinks he got greedy and wound up shafting himself.

Either way, she is very happy to come out $665 ahead.

[LillFilly]

It's nice he had to pay for it, but doesn't she have to show that the amount of insurance she received was actually put into repairing the car? Otherwise I think it's fraud.

[Willis]

I'm thinking he got greedy and thought he sensed a weakness when your sister wanted to do things amongst themselves. I've always thought that people who open their doors into traffic would be at fault if they got hit. People in LA are notorious in my opinion for just swinging their doors open and jumping out like they're in their own driveway. I've had to nearly slam on my breaks and have glared at people for doing so.

When I first moved to LA I remember I saw a cars' door bent back the opposite way. Right up against the front fender. I was thinking he probably carelessly swung it open. But sometimes other drivers around here tend to not give a shit and will create something that could be avoided like changing lanes if it's clear.

[Dips]

It's nice he had to pay for it, but doesn't she have to show that the amount of insurance she received was actually put into repairing the car? Otherwise I think it's fraud.

The check was to cover the estimated cost of *all* of the repairs to the damage their customer caused: replacing the mirror, body work on the door, paint-matching and a paint job on the damaged area.

Being who she is, my sister did tell them she didn't care about fixing the cosmetic damage. They didn't care that she didn't care; they have to pay for *all* damages.

She wasn't going to argue.

[LillFilly]

Ah, ok. I guess if it's worded like that it covers her. I'd just be worried I'd get investigated for not using it all.

[Fire_on_High]

That's how it was when my car got rear ended several years ago at a stoplight. Total damage was the tiniest of tiny dents at one point on the back bumper, and a quarter sized area where the paint chipped.

They insisted we get estimates and paid to the estimate, even after we told them we didn't care. Ended up patching the paint ourselves with a small bottle of matched paint that's held up pretty well, and then plowed the rest of the money back into something else for the car...I forget now but something like a brake job.

As for the dent...there are considerably bigger dents on the doors from where others have been careless in parking lots.

[Geek King]

Being who she is, my sister did tell them she didn't care about fixing the cosmetic damage. They didn't care that she didn't care; they have to pay for *all* damages.

She wasn't going to argue.

If I recall corectly, many policies in the U.S. are written such that the insured is to be "made whole" for any damages. In layman's terms, you get the cash it would take to repair the car or the cost of the damage to your resale value. Then what you do with it is your problem.

[Luna Baby]

If I recall corectly, many policies in the U.S. are writting such that the insured is to be "made whole" for any damages. In layman's terms, you get the cash it would take to repair the car or the cost of the damage to your resale value. Then what you do with it is your problem.

Yep, the only time they care how the money is spent is if you have a lien holder on the vehicle. If that is the case, they will do one of 2 things: make the check payable to the repair shop or make the check payable to you and the bank that holds the lien.