[EMERIL LAGASSE]

Hello
On Feb. 28 2010 I went to a charity poker game at a local tavern restaurant in Ohio, the parking lot was full and I found a spot< I have met the owner and his son on occasion the son (25 year old) came up to me and my friend and said,” I will move your car across the street to the supermarket parking lot if you give me your keys and coat “( there was a snow storm at the time ) I asked him if he can drive a van and he said that he had experience so I gave him the keys and my coat he moved my van, he came back and moved my friends car as well, two days later I had the van washed and discovered damage to passenger side of the van a large scrape and wrinkled type of dents there was no paint transfer, the van is silver color so I went back to the tavern to see what he may have hit and went across the street to the grocery store parking lot and discovered that the dent lines up with a shopping cart corral which has large plastic sides I confronted the owners son and he said that he did not remember hitting any thing and denied it, he seemed very uncomfortable I went and got a estimate for the damage and presented it to the father and he took it and said he would contact his insurance co. He called back a week later and said his insurance co said for me to use my own insurance And that he would not pay even half of the cost
I am not sure if I have a case I have gotten two estimates one for 1,000.00 and one for 1,400.00
The van is a 2005 gmc 2500 savana
Thank You for your time

[AK lawyer]

... I went back to the tavern to see what he may have hit and went across the street to the grocery store parking lot and discovered that the dent lines up with a shopping cart corral which has large plastic sides I confronted the owners son and he said that he did not remember hitting any thing and denied it...

Doesn't look like the strongest case in the world.

You didn't notice the damage until two days later.
No paint transfer (Yes, I know the corral is plastic.)
No transfer on the corral either?

... I went and got a estimate for the damage and presented it to the father and he took it and said he would contact his insurance co. He called back a week later and said his insurance co said for me to use my own insurance And that he would not pay even half of the cost
...

See if he will give you the name of the insurance company, and if so, present them the claim yourself. I an not sure he even contacted his insurer. Does your insurance policy cover this damage? If he won't divulge the name of the carrier, you have no alternative but to sue and, as I say, you don't have the strongest possible case.

[Fr_Chuck]

You may want to use an accident investigator, they may be able to do exact matches , lines and they can testify about what they investigated.

[twinkiedooter]

Don't you have comprehensive on this vehicle? If you do you can just turn over the estimates to your insurance carrier and claim the damage was done while in the supermarket parking lot. How hard is that? That is, of course, if the father of the son refuses to own up to the damage done to your van (which they probably won't do considering your confrontation with them).

[cranky1]

I once had an experience similar to this where a tow truck company forgot to buckle down my vehicle onto the back of the flat bed and when the driver of the tow truck took off my vehicle came flying off the back. It caused over $3300 in damage. I tried to get the owner of the tow truck company to pay for it, but after careful research and legal advice, I learned that is why we have insurance. My insurance company covered the damage and waived my deductible. I totally think their insurance company should have paid for it, but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles...