The prime requisite of friendship is to share good news as soon as possible!

In that spirit, I’d like to share what happened to me recently. I had a little fender bender in a parking lot. I backed into a car that was stopped but was not in a recognized parking space. It was clearly my fault as I was moving and he was not… There was only a scrape on my bumper, but he had a significant dent.

We exchanged information and seeing as how the other driver looked rather young to me, I asked that he get an estimate and let me know so I could decide whether to put it through my insurance or just pay for it out-right.

He ended up getting two estimates because he thought the first – $1,400 – was high. He emailed me the second which was for $1,000. I talked with my insurance agent to get some idea of what to do and in the process noticed that the owner of the vehicle was not the young man I was dealing with. Now I had a bit of a quandary. What would happen if I sent the check to the young man and then the owner (who was probably his father as they shared the same last name) decided to put it through his insurance. My insurance people recommended that if I was not going to put it through them, I should meet with the owner to give him the check directly and also to have him sign a release of liability stating that he was not going to put it through his insurance.

So I contacted the young man and said I needed to talk with the owner, who then both called and emailed me. We talked and he seemed like a perfectly reasonable person and we agreed that I would send him the check without us needing to meet. So I did.

A week or so later, I got a card-looking envelope in the mail. (When was the last time you got real mail and it wasn’t your birthday or Christmas?) Here is the note I received:

“Dear Ms. ___,

“As discussed, we received your check for $1,000 for the repair of our son’s vehicle. Thank you; however, when.___ was home this past weekend, he asked that we send you back the check. He felt really badly that you would lose that amount of money to fix his car, which is old and has seen better days. As long as it can last until he completes his residency program, he’s good!

“Therefore, enclosed please find your check and know that you are released from any liability or responsibility regarding this matter.

“Sincerely,

___ and ___
Parents of ___”

Is that not truly amazing – and the kind of news you wish you could hear all the time?