A WOMAN has been stuck paying for a rental car after her own vehicle was shot full of holes while parked outside her home.
Brenda Keys’ car was left damaged in a shooting that broke out in her neighborhood last year, ruining her and her neighbor’s vehicles.
Keys has been forced to drive a rental car for over four months after cops told her they couldn’t help fix her car after the shooting.
She had just been sitting down to relax when she heard the gunshots on the fateful night of December 17, 2024.
Keys was shocked when she went outside her home in Washington, DC, to find her car body riddled with bullets.
A teenage girl was hurt in the shooting, and a teenage boy was later arrested for opening fire.
Key’s vehicle had been parked at the time, but it was hit by multiple rounds.
“I had nothing to do with it. No fault of mine,” she told CBS affiliate WUSA.
Her neighbor alerted Keys to the damage to her car.
“He said, ‘Look at your car.’ I said, ‘Oh my God, no.’ It was just hard to digest,” she said.
Police took her information at the scene, but she says they pointed her to a crime victim group.
The group’s offered help wasn’t what she expected.
“He [official] says, ‘if you buy a ring camera and put it on your house, we’ll pay you up to $1000’,” Keys said.
“I asked if there was anything they could actually do to help me with compensation. He said, ‘there’s nothing we can do for you.'”
She contacted Geico, her car insurance company, which agreed to cover repairs, but the process dragged on.
Each time she went to collect her car, she was told it needed more work.
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While waiting, she rented a car and has now paid more than $3,000 out of pocket.
“Geico paid $900 and said they don’t pay no more of it. So, the cost has been on me,” she said.
“I still don’t have a car.”
She tried to get legal help, but says one attorney questioned why she needed a car at all.
“She asked me, why do I need an automobile,” Keys said.
“Then she said, ‘why don’t you ride a bus?’ I said, ‘because I have never rode a bus.’ ‘What about Uber?’ And I said, ‘you ride Uber.’ I just hung the telephone.”
That’s when she decided to speak out.
“I feel like it’s a story that needs to be told. You know, I’m sitting here in my chair, my car gets shot up, in December and here it is April, and I still don’t have automobile and you know, what do you do? What do you do,” Keys said.
KEYS’ OPTIONS
Attorney Allan Siegel told WUSA9 she may have more options, including filing a small claims case.
“She certainly does have rights and things she can do,” he said.
He explained her insurer is responsible for the damage, but rental costs beyond coverage are her responsibility.
He said she could also sue the suspected teen shooter.
“The person who caused the damage is ultimately responsible under the law,” he said.
Keys said that’s not realistic for the teenager.
“He [is] 17 year old, how many 17 year olds have a job? Have money?”
Siegel said a judgment could help later, since it would be valid for 10 years.
“She can monitor his life when he gets a job, she could garnish his wages.”
Keys said she just wants it all to be over.
“All I wanna do is throw up my hands and I’ll be so glad when it’s all over. It’s been rough.”