New changes practical car driving test?

I was test driving a car and crashed, is the car lot legally allowed to do this?

• Yesterday I was at a used car dealership in Santa Clara and I was going to test drive a 08 chevy tahoe ( had over 101,XXX miles ). When I got in the truck to pull out it was parked at a really awkward angle. The truck was on a slight incline followed by a guard pole about 3 ft in front of it with the wheels pointing towards the guard pole. As soon I pulled out the car salesman shouted " watch it! " and I immediately slammed on the breaks but at that point in the time it was to late. We got out of the truck and assessed the damage. It look very minimal, the bumper was slight hanging low on the left side wheel, it looked almost as if you can just push the bumper back into place. Keep in mind before the test drive the car salesman did not ask for my license, insurance, and he did not pull the truck out for me at a safe distance so I wouldnt hit any other cars, considering this is a very small lot with a lot of cars there was barley any room. I gave them my license and insurance after the wreck, we went inside to the managers office and they told me that since I'm on my parents insurance I can do 2 things : either pay them 1200 under the table and insurance companies dont have to get involved ( which would be " alot of work on their part " and I also didnt want to let my parents know because I'm on their insurance and did not want their rates to go up ) or we go with filing an insurance claim. I decided to go with paying under the table. Although they did not set a certain time limit as to how long it would need to be before I come back with the money, all they said was " as soon as possible, the end of today would be nice ."). I told them we can go to the nearest ATM and I can withdrawl all my money I have in my account ( which would leave them with about $250 and the rest i would have to work for, sell my stuff, etc etc ). So the car lot employee who was in the car with me at the time says ok and to get in our car and follow him to the nearest ATM which was at safeway up the street. We go to the ATM and I withdrawled all of my money, plus my friend who was with me at the time gave me some cash as well. The guy waited in the car outside the atm, when I gave him the money a strong weed odor came out of his vehicle along with a pipe on his center console. I did not trust this guy with my money. I told him I have another friend coming to meet us here so hell give me some cash. He told me " I have to go home, i cant be out here all night " ) my friend who was with me told me that he does not trust the guy and you need to get your money and just go with the insurance, it will be safer and more legit. So I ask for my money back and he said he needs to call his boss so he called his boss and told me we will give u back ur money tomorrow ( sunday, today ) when u come down for the insurance claim. I told him well we could file a police report right now and i could call them up to this parking lot and we can discuss it, he called his boss back and then gave us our money back and asked me if I didn't trust or not. I went home and told my parents and they told me that I do not need to go back down there tomorrow because our insurance policy will handle it. Was it legal for them to do this? Can I make a case out of this so I won't have to pay anything? It seemed almost like they where threatening me to get the money and I felt like I was on a serious time limit.

• Answer:

  I think they let people with licenses and no insurance take test drives all the time. So I think this was a scam to get you to pay something. Once I bent the hood on a new Buick on the showroom floor. It was right after they began using prop rods instead of springs to hold up the hood. Needless to say, I bent that aluminum hood in half. They ate the loss.