Lynchburg City Risk Management (Forest: sales, home, legal)

[TerryLJam]

I need some advise on a situation with the City of Lynchburg's Risk Management office. Last week my wife was following a city vehicle that was painting the center stripe and was several cars behind it. They were placing cones and moving at the time as well but the painting process was not visible immediately. When she got home she found yellow paint all over the side of her red car. We called the City Public Works Department and explained to them what had happened. They connected me to the Risk Management's office representative. I explained to him what had happened and he told me to take my car to Fairview Auto Sales on Old Forest Road and they would use a steam cleaner to remove the paint. He also told me to get a receipt and get back with him. I immediately called Fairview Auto, made an appointment for Monday morning of this week, and they took care of the problem for $200 and gave us a receipt. When I called Risk Management back he informed me that the City had placed cones and signs on the road warning of the work being done and they would not cover any repairs to our vehicle.

My question is when Risk Management told us to take the vehicle to a specific location for repair and to get a receipt for the work, did they not verbally authorize the repair? He never implied that the City would not cover the repairs or that an investigation may result in not covering them. His first conversation with me implied that the City would cover the repair and reimburse us for the work. Does anyone have a similar "verbal" aggreement experience with the legal issued defined? Please advise.