Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

There is a whole semester course in law school entitled "Remedies" (in other words, what you get when you win your case). You can find sections of the Cal. Civil Code (leginfo.ca.gov) that concern remedies, beginning at about section 3333. You could also search for [california remedies outline].

Mr. Stone is correct about the complexity of legal remedies. For example, you may not be correct about backing into another car. If the cost of repair would exceed the cost of replacing the used car, you would, in fact, be liable for the cost of the car. But of course that would be a good thing. And if the diminished value of the property is less than the cost of repair, you are only liable for the diminished value in most cases.

In addition, there is pretty much nothing in American law that is strictly by code. So finding a code section that applies really only gets you one step in the marathon of finding out what the law is. This is because pretty much all significant code sections have been interpreted by dozens or even hundreds of appellate court panels, and their published opinions are almost always a much bigger part of the law than the code section itself.

As for the last two parts of your question, nothing states that the repair must be done at all. The owner is free to take the money and live with the damage. This is another reason that diminished value, rather than cost of repair may be the measure of damages. As for determining the cost of repairs, or other measure of damages, either the parties agree, or a judge does.