The body shop told you there may be minor damage. Did he charge you for the door opening? Now you want him to pay for dents. He can just as easily say the dents were already there. Should he bill you for the time he spent trying to open door? Call it an expensive lesson. You didn't have any kind of written contract, so really your both at fault. You both are going to pay for your stupidity, you pay for the dents, and he lost a possible customer and anyone you will talk to.
submitt the info to your insurance. and report it to the police.
get an estimate at a different place. have them at least get it working and safe to lock and able to open. nowadays, reputable insurance companies go after them for you. if not, they can give best advice. you gave him the ok for incidental, accidental damage, not brutal stupidity. so far you pay. unless you prove he does.
if he was on the clock, and represented a repair shop you can have his insurance cover it after its decided. he is supposed to be an expert. if he performs repairs, he is responsible in most states. in the future, you must learn now, towing insurance, they use a technicians lockout kit. pop a lock, they have even gentler effective ways. they have a reasonable fee. you must pay them. the thing you might want to consider is a single extra key in your wallet or stashed in an accessible place. i once had to get a child out of a running, locked ,car and the hide-a-key was a life saver
Wow, what a complete idiot. In trying to open the door there is no reason to cause that much damage. The car make model and year would be helpful. For a newer car anyone mechanic knows you cant open the door with a coat hanger.
Go to a body shop and have them look at the damage and give you a quote on getting fixed. Then you can take the estimate to the other shop and talk to the owner and say this guy did this damage, here is a copy of the quote. I appreciate him offering to help, but I had no idea would cause $X in damage. And the body shop said the damage was excessive and there was no reason for him to even try to open the door with coat hanger. He should have called locksmith or tow company with the right tools.
We both made a mistake so we should split the costs, I need you to pay your half to the body shop.
He is probably going to say, no, not my problem, and there is nothing you can do.
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Before he tried to unlock it, he told me that he might scratch or dent the car and I told him it was ok.
what can you do ? nothing
So I accidentally locked my keys in my car and fortunately there was an auto repair shop across the street. I asked them if they unlocked cars and one guy said he could help me. Before he tried to unlock it, he told me that he might scratch or dent the car and I told him it was ok (I know, it was a STUPID answer but I was thinking that it would be a dent you couldn't even notice). Well, he used a hanger and screw driver to get the car unlocked. After 10 minutes, he told me sorry that he couldn't unlock it and left. When I looked at the car, there were about 10 dents and scratches around an inch and some less!!! Now my door won't close properly. I couldn't believe it!! (I then-I now know so I should have done this beforehand- called AAA) I want it fixed but I'm not sure whether to go back to the repair shop and demand that they fix it for free or if it's my fault for saying yes...I'm only 17 and I had never experienced this before, so I didn't know what to do at the time... What do you think I should do?
