Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts
I accidentaly scratched someones car with a shopping cart
I accidentally scratched someones car with a shopping cart. I waited for the customer to come back to the car and explained the situation. I gave her my telephone number and told her I would pay for the damages to her car. I thought the damages would amount to a couple of hundred dollars but didn't state that. She sent me an invoice for $600 a few months later from her auto body shop. She told me she was dropping the car off in the morning and was going on vacation. She wanted to make sure I was still going to follow through with my word to pay the damages. I asked her if it would be possible to split it $300 each, but she said no and she didn't thaink that was fair. Am I liable to pay the entire invoice?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: I accidentaly scratched someones car with a shopping cart
Without knowing where the scratch was and the make, model and finish of the car, it is hard to tell. Mechanics and body shops go by a book that tells them how many hours a job will take on average and they bill at their hourly rate. If it was a really small scratch that could have been handled by a touch up, it is too much, but you should have offered to pay after getting one or more estimates, rather than anyone she chose. Since you made a general offer to pay whatever it cost, you're probably stuck. If the invoice is not detailed, request a detailed invoice from whoever did the job, or ask the other person to get it. If you get it, take it to a body shop and see if they think it's fair. Better if you had a picture of the scratch, of course.
You can choose not to pay, especially if she or the body shop is not cooperative, and force her to go to small claims, where a judge can decide if it was fair. S/he might split the difference.
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