I offered to pay for a fender bender out of my pocket, smart move?

Question

the other driver agreed to let me pay damages on a fender bender his car 87-88 datsun, then he calls me up and says he is going to fix it himself (the driveshaft is bent, even though he drove it all around the parking lot, he says he is going to buy the parts and fix himself) and just give him $500.00. should i just pay him, even though this sounds untrue

Answer 1

For this amount NO!..

Paying it out of your pocket only makes sense if you had few accidents recently OR the damage is only a hundred or two. And on old cars the payout will be almost nothing. What they do is to assess the damage, then reduce it by depreciation. In another words, it the real repair cost is $2,000 and the car is only worth 10% of the original purchase price, then the car repair is only paid $200. If the damage is $500 and the car (after depreciation) is worth 10%, then the insurance would only payout $50. YES 50$!

I was told by an arbitrator that neither party should benefit from an accident. If the damage car is repaired then in actuality, the repaird car would be worth MORE than before the accident. And that would be unfair to the party paying for the damage (to make it better than pre-accident).

If the insurance / adjuster felt that the car is only worth $300, then that would be the MAX he'll ever get paid.

The axle is not your fault. Forgetaboutit.
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The insurance company loves to spread the myth that your insurance will rise because of accident. You will only get rise in premium if you keep getting into accidents.

If you still decide to pay him off, make sure you get a signed statement that this is the final and only payment for the accident (for car and any personal damages). Don't just write it on the check. Some people will just scribble it OUT and you cannot prove it was full or partial payment.


Good Luck

P.S. none of the above is put into consideration when they re-evaluate your insurance premium (don't that the other guy know that). All he has to know is that if he won't take your offer for (say) $100 or $200, he can go through the insurance process and he probably get even less.

P.P.S. Remember he want to avoid insurance claims also.

P.P.P.S. My wife had 2 major accidents (her fault) in 2 years. The insurance went up by about $50 per month. At that rate it will take 10 years to recoupe the extra $500 (your case) and by the the rate would have gone down again.

Answer 2

Did he say this was an 87-88 datsun? The datsun name ended in 1983. A 1988 Nissan Sentra is worth about $1000 in excellent condition. Was this car in excellent condition? Was the body and paint excellent? Interior excellent? If the car was in fair to poor condition then the car itself is not worth $500, possibly no value at all. In this case, if this is an old car and you put a small dent in it, what value has he lost?, do you think his car is now worth less?. The bent driveshaft story is ridiculous so he is just trying to get as much money as he thinks he can get away with, which I think is what you suspect is going on here. It sounds like he is being dishonest with you while you are trying to be fair and pay your part. I would be inclined to not want to pay him anything but maybe you could compromise. You could offer, say $50 for his trouble, So, tell him $50 (or whatever but no more than $100) is all you can pay otherwise you will have to go to your insurance, for them to pay. I would be surprised if he wanted the insurance company involved because he would probably get nothing.

Answer 3

Hi, how much is an 88 Datsun worth? Not alot i am sure. How can the driveshaft be bent when you hit the fender? Sounds a little fishy to me!! You never know, the vehicle might have had previous damage before you hit it......like, if you hit on the front wheel, and the CV joint is now damaged (he may claim), it was probably already clicking and failing before you hit the body. $500 is cheap for bodywork today. I would probably give him the $500 to avoid my insurance going up to pay a claim.....BUT, MAKE SURE HE SIGNS A RELEASE!!!! Agreeing that your payment to him was accepted as damages in full!! And, he will not come after you and your insurance company in the future if it turns out the car has more damage than he has described.......Good Luck!!

Answer 4

You're going to be better off doing this through your insurance. Once you open up your wallet with out the support of your Ins. Co., this guy could rake you over the coals. If you go with your insurance co. the most you will have to pay is the deductible. Yeah, your rates may go up a bit, but it's still better then having this guy make you pay for crap that wasn't involved in the accident. You can always shop around for cheaper insurance once this issue is resolved. Additional details: If you had already made up your mind on what to do, why did you ask the question? And how can you be 100% sure the guy you hit isn't going to make additional claims against you? Your insurance co. is not only there to pay for an accident, but to help protect you from fraud as well.

Answer 5

Well, if you go through your insurance the deductible would be 500 dollars anyways. And if you go through insurance, by the sound of things, his car isn't worth too much, and they could say it is totalled if the value of the damage outweighs the value of the car.

Then in that case you could end up owing whatever that car would be worth based on blue book. Which could very likely end up being more.

You really have two options:

1.) Go meet this guy, take him to a mechanic you trust and get it diagnosed and pay for the bill.

Pros: You will know that you are paying what the damage really costs.

Cons: The damage could be more than the 500 bucks this guy is askin for to fix it himself.

2.) Just pay the guy the 500 bucks. (In this case though, you MUST make sure that when you pay him, you both sign a statement of some sort saying that you are paying him 500 dollars to completely dissolve the debt that you owed due to the damage of his car, and that he has stated he is satisfied with that amount. This will make it so that he cannot seek additional payments as he would have signed an agreement that you had absorbed the cost of your responsibilities already.)

Pros: You will be done with this. And knowing what I know about mechanics, 500 dollars does NOT seem unreasonable to replace a drive shaft.

Cons: This guy could have already had problems with his car and you are just paying for his own lack of maintanence.


All in all, you know the circumstances. If you have damage on your car, he is sure to have suffered some on his. But you have to decide if this is worth pursuing or just bite the bullet, sign a check (and agreement) and be done with it.

Answer 6

You could request him to get an estimate from a body shop and compare the parts listed in the estimate. If he wants $500, I'm guessing the parts are actually costing him only about half that or less.

If he starts to give you trouble over it, you might want to let your insurance company handle it. It could cost you some higher premiums in the future, but at least you won't have to deal with all the legal ramifications.

I wouldn't just give him $500 without a formal WRITTEN agreement that the $500 settles ALL claims against you (for damages to his car as well as to his person, etc.).

Lastly, where are you? The name Datsun hasn't been used on a car in the United States since around 1985.

Answer 7

Was a police report filed on the accident? If no pay him and tell him that future claims will be met with a solid NO.

If there was an accident report you need a release of liability signed and notarized by the "Victim".

Lacking that do not pay them as this could become a running sore or blackmail!

500 is reasonable to not have your ins know about it. No you are not entitled to estimates or reciepts. You are purchasing silence.

ASE Cert Auto Tech, Old Guy been on both sides before

Answer 8

Report it to your insurance company or your lawyer. As others have mentioned, he can come back later and claim more damage or personal injury. By paying him now, you are accepting blame.

In your state it may be a violation of the law, if it was not reported to the police. You could get in even more trouble if you delay reporting it longer.

This could even be a scam on his part. Get into a minor accident with an old beater and make some easy money.

If this gets to your insurance company and you did not tell them about it, it may be a reason to drop you.

Answer 9

It all depends if you want your insurance to go up something like 10-20%. $500 sounds somewhat reasonable if there was a good bit of visible damage.
But, I think it would be difficult to bend a driveshaft in just a fender bender. And he unfortunately sounds like someone who will pester you even after you give him the $500.

Answer 10

Stupid....first of all an 87 Datsun isnt worth more than about $500.......the guy is b/sss you to the extreme....he will probably junk the car and pocket the money......if you want to go ahead draw up some papers,have him sign it releasing you of any further obligations and make sure he puts his drivers license no. on the form.....signs it and dates it.