Q: Mechanic picked car up to take it to his shop on weekend to fix it. Ended up wrecking into someone.
I found out I do not have collision insurance on my vehicle after the fact. The first quote I got back was for 10k. So if he does not pay for damages or does not have money, I will be taking him to court. Is it worth taking him to court and I am going the right route?
A: The repair shop most likely has liability insurance. Request their insurance company information to set up an insurance claim. If insured, that will likely resolve your issue, but if they don't offer enough money to settle it, you may sue the repair business, and their insurance will cover their liability there, too - and yes, it would be well worth the effort. In the unlikely event of no insurance, you'd need to see if the repair business is a corp. or LLC, in which case you'd need to sue that entity. Since the amount is above the $8,000 small claims court limit, you'd need an attorney (as a practical matter), or alternatively, eat the amount above $8K in order to file in small claims court, where you generally don't need an attorney. If the repair guy has NO insurance and NO business entity (just a sole proprietor) (VERY unlikely), you'd sue him personally - in which case collectibility would be the issue to be analyzed.
A: And if the defendant is a business entity that has limited liability, you should consider suing the individual owner as well (attempting to pierce the "corporate veil").
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