Recovering Repair Costs From a Family Member Who Borrowed Your Car

Attorney Answer

Lending someone your car does not make them your insurer. You can make them pay only if they drove carelessly — and hitting a hog that runs into the road usually is not carelessness.

A claim against the driver is a negligence claim: you would have to show he did something an ordinarily careful driver would not have done, and that it caused the damage. Speeding, texting, driving somewhere he had been told not to go, or ignoring a hazard he could plainly see can all support that. An unavoidable animal strike on a dark road generally does not, no matter how expensive the bumper is.

If you do have a claim, Florida gives you two forums. Fla. Stat. § 34.01 puts civil actions with an amount in controversy up to $50,000 in county court for cases filed on or after January 1, 2023. Florida's simplified small-claims track sits inside county court and is capped at $8,000 — a bumper repair often fits there, and it is designed to be used without a lawyer.

What you can do

1. Get two written repair estimates so the number is documented rather than argued about. 2. Turn it in to your own collision coverage first if you carry it. That is what the coverage is for, and your insurer can pursue him if the facts support it. 3. Write down, now, what he told you about how it happened — speed, time of day, road, whether he was on the phone. That conversation is your evidence. 4. Send a short written demand with the estimates attached and a deadline to respond. 5. If he refuses and you believe he was careless, file in county court under § 34.01 — the small-claims track if the repair is $8,000 or less.

⏱ Time limits apply. Under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a), an action founded on negligence must be brought within two years for causes of action accruing on or after March 24, 2023; claims that accrued before that date remain governed by the prior four-year period. Which one applies to you depends on your crash date.