can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 93 ma

can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 93 mazda mini van,im not sure if that is the vechile but that is how is was described to me.ok as many of ya know ihave to elderly ladies who live around me one next door one behind my house there sisters one is around 80,other one is maybe 90 the younger one is basicly coherit she is all togther . the older one is not as togeher well they both wnet to the local gorcery store and the olderone was pushing a shoping cart to there car and it hit this car and the owner asked for 100 bucks to fix car.well the older sister called the police andfrom what i gather the police came and said taht the car was pretty damaged already that the owner should go get a estimate.well he does and comes back with a 543 dolor estimate or something like that.and well the olderof the 2 payed it bycheck .well it sounds like a scam to me what do you think and ore inpotantly what can i do to remedy this i was going to read the esitaame but i forgot ill do it tomrow or monday.i jst cant see a shoping cart doing that much damage

Re: can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 9

A cart can cause that much damage cause costs are so high.
I think it's a scam and maybe get the police report and threaten with some action.
It's a sad day when folk take advantage of the elderly.
Based on the car having damage before hand. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Tom

Re: can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 9

To answer the question: Yes, most definitely. Simply repairing a scratch can cost that much if done correctly. All depends on the car though. The damagershould only be expected to put it back to the way it was before the incident - not like new if the car was dinged up to begin with.

Re: can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 9

well it is my understanding that the car was in pretty bad shape maybe even wrecked at one point.so id assume it had many scatches and she just added to the many..it is hard to get acurate details.

Re: can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 9

This should have been handled through small claims court, with both sides presenting evidence regarding the damage done and the previous condition of that part of the car. The judge could then have rendered a fair decision. It sounds as though your neighbor may have been intimidated into making payment, but I doubt there's anything to be done about it at this point. Your neighbor might be able to put a stop payment on the check if it hasn't cleared her account yet. If the man threatens to have her arrested for a bad check she could threaten to have him arrested for malicious prosecution. In other words, it could get hairy. Whatever you do, don't get into a toe to toe confrontation with the man.

Re: can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 9

A fender with a dent can easily cost over a grand on an even an older car. Even if it has a ton of scratches, if it's dented the price will be for either a new fender, or some body work. It sounds more like body work for that price.

Re: can a shoping cart do 500 dollor damage to a 9

If the lady were pushing the cart and it contacted a car, I would think that the damage would be insignificant - along the lines of a minor scuff or at worst a minor scratch. Something like what would happen when someone opens the door of their car too far and the one next to them gets a "door ding." This is assuming that the cart was only being pushed normally and not rolling freely down a steep incline or some other unusual circumstance.

A repair bill of $500+ for that kind of damage is unreasonable. This is true for almost any car, but especially on an older car or a car with other cosmetic problems. Yes, of course you can find a body shop willing to charge $500 for work on almost any imperfection, but it is a question of what is really reasonable. If the owner of the car were paying for the repair himself, he would clearly not pay that much to repair a minor scuff unless it were a show car.

In this case I don't think the lady has any legal or moral responsibility to pay anything at all unless or until the car's owner decides to pursue it in court and get a judgement.

The basis of my opinion is that every car is subject to minor scuffs as a part of normal wear and tear and you can't expect your car to remain in perfect condition in public parking lots. Furthermore, if the car were already damaged, then the additional scuff was completely inconsequential and any reasonable person would disregard it or at most put some touch-up paint on it and forget about it.

Therefore I believe your friend has been scammed. And unfortunately it is all too common that the elderly get scammed. Encourage her to not be intimidated and to hold her ground. Let the courts work it out if the two parties cannot come to a reasonable agreement. It may be too late to stop the check, but she should try. If the check has cleared, then the situation is probably a lost cause, but she could sue the other person if she wanted to. That's a lot of hassle and she still may not get paid even if the decision is in her favor, so after checking with the bank, I would just chalk it up to an expensive lesson. Encourage her to talk to you the next time someone is asking her for money and she isn't sure what to do.

On the other hand, if the lady were clearly negligent or acting maliciously, and the damage were significant, then maybe I am wrong, but it is hard to imagine how this could be true given your description of the events. I mean, did she push the cart off of the top of a parking deck for it to fall on the van below? In that case, yes she should pay for the repairs. I don't think that is what happened, though.