Estimate for damage not consistent with invoice

[zowiehowie]

What is the name of your state? Florida

A few weeks ago, an incident occured in which an object fell through someone's back car window. It broke the windshield, and my friend was honest and decided to wait for the car owner to come to the vehicle. She did, and my friend said he would take care of the back windshield.

She told us where she was taking the car to get the windshield fixed, and we called them up and got an estimate. She sends my friend the bill, and it is $100 more than the estimate. My friend showed me the bill, and it looked a little shady, so I started doing some detective work ;-) I called the place that did the work, and asked for a price quote. Sure enough, it was $100 less than the invoice she sent. As a result, my friend sent her a check for the amount of the estimate.

She returned the check, and said that she would be taking my friend to small claims court if he did not pay the amount on the invoice. She is also now trying to claim additional damage, which is absolutely bogus. I called a friend of mine who works on cars, and he says her additional claim is also bogus.

What do you all think? Should my friend fear her taking him to court, or is she just trying to scam him for as much as she can get?

 

[compworkr]

How much was the bill? Maybe $100 isn't much in light of the total amount on the bill. An estimate I think is merely an estimate, not a guarantee of how much the bill will come out to. Anybody can be sued. $100 is often not worth the expense of suing, even in small claims court, but it's possible for her to be sued. Maybe your friend can persuade him to meet her at a public parking lot with his vehicle, to see if he really got his windshield fixed (you said the bill looked "shady" - not sure what that means - maybe he fabricated the document). She can say she wants to meet him in order to inspect the vehicle and give him cash for the repairs - I think that sounds reasonable. Your friend shouldn't meet him alone though, if she wants to meet with him. If she does meet with him and the windshield is indeed fixed, and she does pay him, she should have a Release / "release from liability of all claims" kind of form ready in hand for him to sign, so he can't come back later and sue for more damage (she should also tell him beforehand over the phone that she can only pay the bill in exchange for his signature on the Release form).

 

[zowiehowie]

The estimate was about $250. The handwritten bill was for about $370. After receiving the bill, I called the place that did the work, and asked what it woudl cost to do the work, and they said $250. I then asked if there were any additional charges, and was told that everything (glass, molding, and labor) was included in the $250.

Something is fishy about the bill. The burden of proof is on the owner of the car that a check was written for $370. Additionally, what if the car owner was ripped off? They knew what the price was, so why was the charge greater? I think there may be some fraud involved here. I mean, if my friend did not admit to breaking the window, the owner of the car would be looking for the best price for the repairs. It seems like the car owner does not care what it costs, since someoen else is paying for it.

Maybe my friend can ask for the cancelled check. Is that an option?

 

[BL]

Ok , you write a request to the owner .

request a copy of the original Estimate .

Also request a breakdown of the bill ( additional parts & labor ) , beyond the estimate .

Depending on the year of the vehicle and it's wear , additional work may have HAD to be preformed .

Request that the owner provide the proof to you , or you will let the Judge decide .

 

[zowiehowie]

We asked for a detailed bill a few days ago, and were sent a computerized bill, but nothing was itemized. It said exactly what the handwritten invoice said. Basically, it said replacement of glass in vehicle.

The vehicle is an '04, so age should not be an issue.

 

[compworkr]

>>>>The estimate was about $250.

Not an expert on vehicle repairs, but I'm not sure $100 difference is so great that it's inherently unreasonable, if the amount of labor involved can't be determined to a certainty. Even though you called the repair shop later, and the estimate was still $250, that was just an estimate. Presumably you told the repair shop the year, make and model of the car, and that would give them a pretty good idea of how much the glass would cost, but I'm not sure about labor - if the only damage was to the windshield. In addition, it may be too late to do anything about that now (if the other driver already got the windshield fixed, it would be too late to try to get an estimate on your own before the car is fixed and for the parties to agree to the lower estimate) - hence I repeat my earlier suggestion that your friend ask him to meet her at a public place with his same vehicle in order to inspect the vehicle and give him cash for the repairs so she can see the windshield for herself. (And for your own satisfaction, you can call various repair shops to ask how much it would hypothetically cost to fix a windshield on his year, make, and model of car, including cost of labor - just for comparison purposes - see what they say about cost of labor.)

>>>>Additionally, what if the car owner was ripped off? They knew what the price was, so why was the charge greater? I think there may be some fraud involved here.

Again, it may be too late to do anything about that now, but see above. Even if there was "fraud", your friend wouldn't have standing to sue the repair shop since the windshield wasn't hers. (He would have standing.)

>>>>It seems like the car owner does not care what it costs, since someoen else is paying for it.

I agree. He probably doesn't care as long as someone else is paying for it.

>>>>Maybe my friend can ask for the cancelled check. Is that an option?

She can ask. There's no guarantee that he'll agree.

 

[zowiehowie]

Ok , you write a request to the owner .

request a copy of the original Estimate .

Also request a breakdown of the bill ( additional parts & labor ) , beyond the estimate .

Depending on the year of the vehicle and it's wear , additional work may have HAD to be preformed .

Request that the owner provide the proof to you , or you will let the Judge decide .

UPDATE:
The owner of the car showed us a cancelled check, so it is justified that she did pay too much. I called the glass repair place this AM, and their answer was that the price of glass fluctuates from day to day. This is bogus since I called on 3 separate occasions for estimates, and each time, it was $100 less than the actual bill. My friend is going to settle up with the car owner, and we are going to file a BBB report against the company that did the glass work.

Additionally, when my friend was called, the owner of the vehicle's father started cursing at my friend and said he would beat her with a baseball bat. I do not think this should be ignored, but we do not want to escalate the situation anymore. We are going to send a letter saying that by signing the check, my friend is clear of any other issues with the vehicle. Should we also put in the letter that is is absolutely inappropriate to resort to threats of bodily injury. Therefore, if somethign does happen, it is documented?

 

[compworkr]

>>>>We are going to send a letter saying that by signing the check, my friend is clear of any other issues with the vehicle.

Such a letter isn't enough to protect her from a future lawsuit/liability for damage to the vehicle. She should try to get him to sign a Release form - where I am it's called a "release from liability of all claims."

>>>>Should we also put in the letter that is is absolutely inappropriate to resort to threats of bodily injury. Therefore, if somethign does happen, it is documented?

I think that would be okay, although I don't know how much it'll help when we don't know what that father is capable of, and putting that in the letter doesn't really "document" the threats. If your friend meets with them, she should bring along a [big] strong acquaintance, preferably not a close friend/boyfriend/family member (in other words somebody who can't be construed as biased), so that if the father shows up and makes another threat like that, your friend has a good witness, and, if he carries through on his threat, the acquaintance can protect her. If the father of that owner continues to make more threats of that nature, your friend should report it to the police (or maybe she should do it now), and maybe even get a protective order.