What would you do

[SofiaBourbon]

This is case of, if you were driving a train and there were 5 people stuck on the train tracks. Would you run them over or derail the train. No option to stop it!

Anyway, I was at the hospital and a guy scratched my car, took most of the paint from the left side of the bumper. There is no structural damage. My car is a 2001 Nissan Altima (old and some of the paint has rubbed off on the roof of it, still not as large as the one from the accident) my sister told me not to look down at things I own. Since I just bought it and it cost me to work extra. So, the guy left me his number. when I called him he said "what are you going to do?" I said repair it. He said he would call me back with the insurance information. Few days passed, no call. I spoke to the police and they said to give him another call and  threaten him with filing a report. I gave him the dateline of calling me back before Tuesday or else I would file the report. He called me today and said that his wife has been sick, she is pregnant (8 months) and that he has insurance but doesn't want the premium to go up. To please forgive him and not charge his insurance for it. Now, if I decide to forgive him, that means the car won't get repaired. Since, it won't be in my budget to fix the old car, so I'll have to live with the scratch.  What would you do?

[SofiaBourbon]

I want to be nice but I don't want to be a sucker.

[Cycling Stache]

Get his insurance and file a claim.  If he doesn't give it to you, file a report.  People will say anything to get out of debt.  He caused an accident and is responsible.  The slight bump in insurance, if any, is not going to the difference between financial success and failure in his life.

This is what insurance is for.

[Erica/NWEdible]

Either he can pay straight out to have your car fixed or his insurance can. Everything else about the situation is "not your circus, not your monkeys". Given the situation, I probably wouldn't trust him to write a check to the auto body shop of your choosing and would file a claim. You file with your insurance, your insurance works with his insurance, his insurance deals with him.

[sheepstache]

Get an estimate from the body shop. Tell him he can bring you that amount in cash. He can decide if that's less than he would pay on increased premiums. Bonus: if he goes the cash route, you can invest the cash and not even get it fixed :)

[forummm]

Get an estimate from the body shop. Tell him he can bring you that amount in cash. He can decide if that's less than he would pay on increased premiums. Bonus: if he goes the cash route, you can invest the cash and not even get it fixed :)

+1

[James]

Get an estimate from the body shop. Tell him he can bring you that amount in cash. He can decide if that's less than he would pay on increased premiums. Bonus: if he goes the cash route, you can invest the cash and not even get it fixed :)

+2


An estimate should have been your first step, you need real numbers when dealing with something like this. Both for your information and his. Once you have a number give him a date you need the cash before you file a report. If you want to be generous and the estimate is a lot, you could give him a break. For example, if the shop says $500, but you would be happy with $250, then settle for $250. But start with a solid value for the damage.

[Drifterrider]

This is case of, if you were driving a train and there were 5 people stuck on the train tracks. Would you run them over or derail the train. No option to stop it!

Anyway, I was at the hospital and a guy scratched my car, took most of the paint from the left side of the bumper. There is no structural damage. My car is a 2001 Nissan Altima (old and some of the paint has rubbed off on the roof of it, still not as large as the one from the accident) my sister told me not to look down at things I own. Since I just bought it and it cost me to work extra. So, the guy left me his number. when I called him he said "what are you going to do?" I said repair it. He said he would call me back with the insurance information. Few days passed, no call. I spoke to the police and they said to give him another call and  threaten him with filing a report. I gave him the dateline of calling me back before Tuesday or else I would file the report. He called me today and said that his wife has been sick, she is pregnant (8 months) and that he has insurance but doesn't want the premium to go up. To please forgive him and not charge his insurance for it. Now, if I decide to forgive him, that means the car won't get repaired. Since, it won't be in my budget to fix the old car, so I'll have to live with the scratch.  What would you do?

I would have called the police to the scene and have them file a report.  Then, I would get a copy of their completed report and file against his insurance or let him pay me directly.  Accidents are unintentional but not free.

[SofiaBourbon]

Thank you all for the replies.

I didn't file a report due to not being on site when the accident happened. The person left me his phone number and the details of what happened on my windshield. I went for an estimate, the cost will be $300 I'm also going to check how much the premiums are raised when a small accident like this happens since it seems this was his concern.

[okits]

I agree you can give him the option to pay out of pocket.  "My wife is sick and pregnant" sounds like a sob story (if you ever find out if it's true you can let me know if I'm just cynical or cynical and right.)