Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Texas
I hit one of my roommates' cars about a month ago. My car left a small scratch and no dent. The dent is in fact minor enough that my roommate would most likely not have noticed it if I had not mentioned it. She has a newer car, about 2006 or 2008. The paint is in good condition. There is one other scratch on the bumper. My roommate would like me to pay for a full-body paint job. She has gotten one quote for this. She does not want to do a touch-up because the auto repair shop she got the quote from said that the paint will chip off. I have offered to pay for the price of a touch-up. My roommate told me that she wants me to pay for the full-body paint job because I need to return her car back to its original condition. I do not feel comfortable doing this because I feel that I would be paying for more than the part of the car that I harmed (the damage I have done to the car is so small, there is another scratch that she is planning on covering with a full-body paint job, and I would be improving the value of the car, not just bringing it back to what is what like before I hit it).
Any help would be much appreciated!
1 Answer from Attorneys
So long at the scratch was an accident, you are right that you only need to pay your roommate the amount of money needed to compensate her for any value the car lost because of the scratch. (i.e. if the car was worth $10,000 before the scratch and now is worth only $9,900 then would only be required to pay her $100.) You generally don't have a duty to pay for replacement or repair costs (especially if such an action would INCREASE the value of the car).
The question then is what value you put on your relationship with your roommate. If you don't want this to hurt your relationship you may agree to pay more than you must.
Good Luck!
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