The People's Court!
Been a long time since I've updated, but here goes.
About 4 months ago, I sold my car to a girl in Issaquah. She seemed okay, liked the car, had a steady job, lived in a decent house and neighborhood, so we signed an agreement stating that she should be financially responsible. The agreement outlined how much she would pay every month toward the car payment and how much toward insurance, and when it was due. It also stated that if she broke the contract, I could take the car back and that I could repossess the car at any time for any reason as long as I provided two weeks notice in writing.
During the time that she had my car it was impounded twice (don't have the story behind it) and she was involved in a not-at-fault accident. She never paid one cent toward insurance and only made two car payments (one of which was late).
She was not returning my e-mails or my phone calls, and since she was in breach of contract, I decided to take the car back (I had the spare key). When I picked up the car, I found that there was a severe problem with the alignment that had apparently been there for some time. She had been driving on the bad alignment which ruined both of the front tires as well as a spare.
She claims that the alignment damage was caused by the towing company during the second towing. I contacted them and they stated that they used a flatbed and no one had reported any damage. There's an estimate of the cost to replace the tires and fix the alignment, it's about $400.00. At this point, I've offered her an ultimatum. I've stated that she can either pay me (or arrange for the towing company to pay) for the immediate damages (the alignment and tires) by 11/20, or I'm going to take her to court for everything, including the insurance payments, the car payments, and the alignment/tire damage.
I've done some research into taking someone to small claims court, but I wanted to poke in here to see if anyone here has any experience. Is it painful? How prepared should I be? I spoke with a lawyer who said basically that no matter how prepared I am, as long as I go in there acting and sounding like I'm in the right, that will go a lot farther than having tons of documentation and evidence.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or whatever else would be greatly appreciated. ;)
About 4 months ago, I sold my car to a girl in Issaquah. She seemed okay, liked the car, had a steady job, lived in a decent house and neighborhood, so we signed an agreement stating that she should be financially responsible. The agreement outlined how much she would pay every month toward the car payment and how much toward insurance, and when it was due. It also stated that if she broke the contract, I could take the car back and that I could repossess the car at any time for any reason as long as I provided two weeks notice in writing.
During the time that she had my car it was impounded twice (don't have the story behind it) and she was involved in a not-at-fault accident. She never paid one cent toward insurance and only made two car payments (one of which was late).
She was not returning my e-mails or my phone calls, and since she was in breach of contract, I decided to take the car back (I had the spare key). When I picked up the car, I found that there was a severe problem with the alignment that had apparently been there for some time. She had been driving on the bad alignment which ruined both of the front tires as well as a spare.
She claims that the alignment damage was caused by the towing company during the second towing. I contacted them and they stated that they used a flatbed and no one had reported any damage. There's an estimate of the cost to replace the tires and fix the alignment, it's about $400.00. At this point, I've offered her an ultimatum. I've stated that she can either pay me (or arrange for the towing company to pay) for the immediate damages (the alignment and tires) by 11/20, or I'm going to take her to court for everything, including the insurance payments, the car payments, and the alignment/tire damage.
I've done some research into taking someone to small claims court, but I wanted to poke in here to see if anyone here has any experience. Is it painful? How prepared should I be? I spoke with a lawyer who said basically that no matter how prepared I am, as long as I go in there acting and sounding like I'm in the right, that will go a lot farther than having tons of documentation and evidence.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or whatever else would be greatly appreciated. ;)