Hit and Run!!!!!
I live in Washington state.
I was at a friend's house about to pull out of their long, dark driveway. I was the designated driver. A car was parked behind me and a bit to the right, so when I backed up and turned, I hit it. At first, the bump was so light, I thought I had hit a big rock with my tire.
I drive a rav4 and I'm only 5'4", so it's hard for me to see out the back. It turns out, one of my passengers saw that it was a car. Everyone in the house was drunk and partying and I had no idea who's car it was, plus, I'd been hit before and nobody told me, so I went home. Yeah, I know I know. but there are NO marks on my car.
So apparently, the drunk minor saw or heard the hit outside and told the owner of the car the next day. She contacted my boyfriend because we have mutual friends and I called her back. I asked her how bad the damage was and she said there was a scratch but she "couldn't tell' if there was a dent. So, i never really said I did it, I just offered to pay for it. Neither one of us filed a collision report and she never called the police. Now it's after the four day cut off for filing and I believe we could both be facing misdemenors and license suspensions.
I told her to get estimates and she did, only one of them was from her friend's shop. Oh, and when I asked her about the damage again, because I hadn't seen it, she said there was a foot long dent now. How did she not see it before? So she said the estimates were "9 hundred something and 1000 something". Coincidentally the cheaper of the two was at her friend's shop. I don't feel comforatable taking it there.
I also don't want to call my insurance company for a claim of less than $1000.
How can I get out of this. Are there any loopholes in the law? Won't her uninsured motorist coverage cover this? If it does and she files a claim, would it bump up her premium? Would she be able to call the cops and get me arrested? Does she have any recourse if I just tell her I don't want to pay her? What am I looking at? can't I just say that it wasn't me? Judge me all you want, but the only money that I have is from my student loan and I need it for school.
Is there anything I can do?
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