Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 8/11/2010

Question
We rent in a condo building, and our parking spot is situated between a wall an another car.  The owners of the other car are demanding that we pay for a small dent in their new car, saying that we in fact did it.  I am sure we didn't do this, as we are very careful everytime we open our door (they have a nice car). They were very specific on which weekend it happened, and we were home that weekend, however we didn't use the backseat - as that would be the door that would have to have hit it.  They stated that they saw a van pulling in and out of our spot that weekend....We are simply not the type of people that would walk away if we had in fact dented the door...we would have put a note on their car with our name and number.  They are insisting we pay for this??

Please help....

Answer
Hi Angie,

If you do not feel that you did the damage and they do not have a witness that will say that they saw you do it, then you should not pay. If there is no corresponding dent, scratch or chip on your car, then there is no way they can prove that you did it.

You should simply tell them that while you are sorry that their car has a ding, that you did not do it and will not pay for something you did not do.

There is nothing they can do beyond that because there is no proof that you caused the damage.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh