And this is why many of us have skid pads on the underside of our front numbers. A couple of weeks ago I was on a drive with group. We were on a backroad, car got light coming over the crest of a hill and then compressed just where there was a hump in the road. Lots of noise, no damage other than some of the paint off the skid pads.
I think the negligence is on the part of the salesman. Do they not have a regular path that they travel for test drives? Why deviate? The messy part is that the OP says it was his friend in the car so if there was a joyride component or a driving without permission aspect to it I can see some shared responsibility.
I agree you don't owe them anything. These things will happen and that's a risk the seller takes when he allows test drives.
A few years ago I was test driving a new Carrera S and was rear ended at a stop sign. The dealership said "Are you OK? We have insurance on the cars." I said I was fine and I left. Never heard from them again on the matter. I know in Texas, they take a copy of your insurance when you test drive a car. I don't know what kind of liability that entails.
Read the original post again ..............."The person accompanying the test drive is selling the car for the owner and the friend seems to be in the car business" Certainly wasn't a joyride. And to the OP, unless you feel like splitting the cost or covering the whole thing, you don't have to pay a dime.
Looking at it from another perspective, if it was your car someone was test driving and the circumstances were the same would you expect or ask them to pay? I would not.
They prescribed the route for you to take. The local roads are known by the locals. Rest assured if you can to my city to test drive my car, I will not take you any place that something like that could happen. I am not sure how you could have avoided the situation. Besides, if they want to take it to court, let them. They will have a hard time convincing a judge it was your fault since they were in the car with you and dictated the route. I would state the above facts back to them in a response letter and would clearly state you don't owe anything. There is no way they can hire an attorney to recover that amount. They are clearly trying to soak you and are hoping they can get away with it.
at the end of the day, are you a man? did you damage someone else's property? if you answered yes - Then you know the answer.
If you need to, ask a lawyer. I believe that in most states the owner of the car has to carry insurance on the car and things like test drives by another person have to be covered by the insured owner of the car. This is a fairly common insurance issue, I believe. At the end of the day, it's someone else's vehicle and they still own it. They or their insurance would have to sue to get someone else to pay to fix it.
It sounds like the transition of road surface was not visible to the naked eye at driving speed and not knowing the clearance in a car you do not own would be another contributing factor. I have let multiple people drive my cars and would never hold them responsible for an incident like this. It has happened to me, these cars are low and they do scrape the road surface at times. No big deal, live with it or fix it but it will happen again. If I was screaming for them to slow down and they disregarded my advice maybe I would reconsider my stance on this but just driving and hitting a bump. Owner is responsible.
Call your INS. agent and let them know what is going on. I believe there may be some policies that cover damage during test drives....
We agreed that I'd cover $350 - Can't live with myself if I do nothing. My Gallardo rear bumper respray was $500, so I'm paying more than half of what that cost me. -It was the actual painted bumper not the underside, so it's not able to be fixed with flat black spray. It does need to be repaired to sell it. Thanks for all of the perspectives. Here's why I didn't pay all of it: I test drove others from a well respected dealer in town they took me down roads where this wouldn't happen because they know the area and they know the car's limit. They protected themselves and they protected me. If I gunned it around a corner, slipped out, and crashed it - Yep fully my fault If I rammed a curb - Yep fully my fault. I personally pay 5% commission for a dealer to sell my old cars because I don't have time for it (Gallardo, R8 V10, 911 Turbo etc.). If it happened to me, I would expect the dealer to take it out of their 5% and make less on that transaction which would keep me coming back. Terrible situation for all.
It sounds like the 350.00 will not hurt and you did something that you really did not have to do, but from the way it sounds makes you feel better in the long run Good Luck and Lesson Learned
Admittedly, I am not an owner (yet) of a 360 - but I'm trying to picture how a road transition as you described resulting in a scrape on the bumper, is "not the underside" ? Did you plow it that hard, or make side contact with something?
Out of the cars i've sold in the past this has happened a couple of times. I did blame myself for not addressing how low the car sits and to use extra caution going up and down driveways/dips. I guess you just assume everyone already knows. I would never ask anyone to pay as I felt it was simple mishap and not bad intention. Things happen. All in all this shows your character and that my friend is what counts, not the money. Nicely handled.
If $350 dollars is the price you would pay to get it off your shoulders, than you did the best thing you could. I have recently learned in the past couple years, that things like mental health, character, integrity etc. is more valuable than money, and If it bothered you that much, its a small price to pay to keep your integrity.
Sounds like you resolved the matter to your own satisfaction, which is very important. Glad it's over.
I personally would feel obligated to settle the matter amicably . Doing nothing just would not sit well with me . At the end of the day it's about karma . Sounds like you played it well.
