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Boyfriend broke my car, is he liable?
My boyfriend and I have been going to the same gym for quite some time but just recently (~3 months) started going out. We actually have the same model cars so I let him drive my car while we went somewhere the other day. He offered to drive since I had uncomfortable shoes on. But he was driving so slow I said "if you want you can go fast" but he SLAMMED on the gas to the floor! I said "without killing it" but dont think he heard, thank god the light turned red. Then I drove back but fast too just to show him I can too, I said I go fast too but I do it gradually without strain you see. And he knows I usually drive fast. I leaned on the gas pedal gently slowly building up speed as always. After we're in front of the house boom my car starts overheating, he put antifreeze and it made to the next morning. Next day I get stuck on the highway boiling engine, I bought it to the mechanic. He said leave it 3 days to diagnose.
I left it, I told my boyfriend hey I think you broke my car and most likely its a head gasket (no joke ~$1000) he said but you drove fast too how do you know i broke it (meanwhile he was the one that floored it with pressure which causes gaskets to blow). I said let me drive your car, and he said "no I feel like something will happen to my car now. I cant let you do that." I said "why..you're the one that broke my car not me, so you don't trust me but I trusted you with my car". I asked what if I did drive your car right now and something happened, he said he would want me to pay half and said I think that's what you want me to do. Later we argued and I said "Maybe I didnt even want to drive your car now, maybe I was just testing you, now I see what i had to." And he got mad he said "oh so you're just playing mind games with me, I hate that sh**, I'm not going to answer and feed your mind games" and for 6 days he still didn't ask or write while I'm living hell. Before I said that he was like "well let me know what the mechanic says", but now nothing!
Who do you think is at fault for killing the car, who should pay how much if it is a 1000 gasket? I really feel that he should pay at least half but have a feeling he really won't and I'm pretty sure we are through. My mechanic will call pretty soon and I dont know what to do or say. I've been sick and nauseous for days over emotional distress. Please help.
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Legally, he's not liable.
There is no way to prove, or to know, if his flooring it directly lead to the problem.
Just the same way there is no way to prove, or to know, if your driving too fast afterwards, was what actually caused the problem.
There is also no way to know, or prove, that it wasn't just a random thing that happened for entirely unrelated, or random, reasons.
It might be kind of him to offer to help, but it's your car and your responsibility. He's not responsible legally, and really, he's barely responsible in any other way, even just emotionally.
If you are too hurt by what's happened to go on dating him, that's okay. It doesn't need to be 'his fault' for you to decide you don't want to date him anymore. But he also doesn't really owe you any money. If he gives you any, it'd be a gift, not a debt payment.
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I wouldn't be looking to pin faults. As already said, age of car and the actual parts will matter more. If a new car and someone did that and there was a problem with overheating, it would then be a faulty part in a new car, something that is likely covered by the maker of the car. If it is a used car, and either the part was about ready to go anyways. If driving fast made it occur sooner, like a couple weeks sooner than otherwise, a mechanic can surely tell you if your theory holds any water. But flooring it causing the problem? I don't think so. The part that actually had the issue might have broken down real soon anyways if it was that old and worn. It's unlikely that flooring it caused a part to break down if a mechanic says it would've...only made it happen a bit sooner. You might ask the mechanic what his guess is how long before your car might've broke down without flooring it. If your car has computerized parts, it could be a computer part telling your car the water pump being broken when it wasn't. I had a car that consistantly had computer chips breaking down telling my car to quit working to protect it from further damage. It is in my opinion nothing more than a coincidence that your boyfriend drove your car recently before it broke down. It is more likely if it was that close to breaking down and flooring it would have bought this on that it would have broken down right then. Since it didn't, you can't blame him and I don't believe any small claims court would side with you over something like this. You and your boyfriend have the same mentality as you showed with his feelings being the same as yours if it was the other way around. The expense of repair is solely the responsibility of the owner when is comes to working parts under the hood or bad brakes or axles and such. If he drove it and dented the car, then the bodywork would obviously be his responsibility to pay.
So to answer the actual question, who is at fault. Neither of you in my opinion. Unless the mechanic says otherwise.
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I can't give you a good answer to this question without knowing how old the car is and how many miles are on it. At the moment you are not even sure what is wrong with the car or how much it will cost to repair.
Other than the head Gasket, it could be the water pump, the water pump seal or even a freeze plug leaking or at a minimum a hose leak. Fact is the older the car is the more prone to the things I've just listed failing. This would make you responsible for the repair bill.
For a head gasket to blow you would be seeing oil not water. Since you lost fluid and not oil, at least that is what you have written I don't think it is the head gasket unless you saw something you haven't written about.
Based on what I'm thinking your boyfriends driving may have been the final straw for something to fail but not the reason for the failure itself. The cost of the repairs are yours.
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Well heres the thing about cars, him driving the car fast may have been a tipping point for your car having blown a head gasket but YOU still drove it last on the freeway. Theres alot of variables in this whole situation that i would personally need answered before i could say whos fault it REALLY was.
Technically you drove it last right? so even though you wernt straining the car like he was the night before, you still caused it. sorry but thats the truth. Not only that but you didnt say how many miles are on the car, what kind of car it is, how OLD it is, nothing. so theres no way to definitively give you a logical answer for this.
If the car was close to ten years old and you hadnt had a major over haul or major tune up where the mechanic could tell you, "hey this and this should be changed soon just so you know" and you drove around only getting basic preventive maintenance done on the car then theres no way to blame him because maybe he took better care of his car then you do up to this point.
He must have hit the gas pretty hard for this to have happened, and then you stressing the car after that too probably didnt help either just to try to prove something. Not if the car is aging and you normally dont drive like that.
If you dont have a race car engine, dont drive like you do, the engine is weak and not meant for the kind of driving youve described here so basically you asked for this to happen. not to sound cruel or mean but standard 4 door sedans that do only regular city and highway driving arent meant for what could only sound here like drag racing type driving.
BUT since youve provided no details about the type of car it is, this is probably why youve gotten no kind of answers from anyone else but me because theres no way to answer this in a helpful manner.
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