You win the thread.
Bravo, Sir.
Learned something new - didn’t know insurance follows the car. I assumed it was the opposite - my insurance follows me and I am insured to drive any vehicle - so if I wreck someone else’s vehicle it’s my insurance first. Apparently that’s wrong.
How does it work for car rentals then?
In any case - yeah the boy’s parents should cover the deductible and chalk up any other increases to lessons learned.
I don’t actually see in the OP that she asked him to drive her car–I see that she asked him to drive, and that they were in her car, but I don’t see any direct indication that she specifically asked that he drive her car. It’s possible that she specifically made that request, but it’s also possible that they have always defaulted to taking her car, and even when she started asking him to drive they automatically got into her car out of sheer habit. Or hell, they may have reached a joint decision to take her car because the weather was lousy and they didn’t want to get stuck in the cold if his old beater broke down. Who bears financial responsibility in those cases?
I think who asked who to do what with whose property is a moot point, honestly. If I wrecked someone else’s car, I’d report it to my own insurance, let them fix the car and take the premium hit that goes with having a wreck. Of course, the premium hit as a middle-aged woman is going to be a lot lower than the hit as a late-teen/early-twenties boy–which is probably why C’s dad isn’t telling him to just report it to his own insurance and be done.
Each policy is different, but from what I’ve seen, your rental vehicle is primary with your insurance secondary. What that means is if you get into an accident your adjuster will request a copy of your rental agreement showing no additional insurance was purchased. If there isn’t any addition insurance then your personal insurance kicks in.
Let’s say you did 2k worth of damage to your rental vehicle. If you carry collision coverage then your insurance will send a check for the cost of the repairs, minus your deductible, to the rental company. So they’d send, let’s say Enterprise, a check for $1500 and Enterprise would collect the other 500 from you.
You want real fun? Start reading about “permissive use” and “excluded drivers.”
In most, if not all, states it doesn’t matter if you report it to your insurance company.
Example: So Clarence was driving Madeline’s car and he wrecked it. Clarence reports the claim to Geico. Geico will find out he was driving a car not on his policy. Geico will figure out who car it belongs to. They’ll submit a claim to Travelers (or whatever). Once the claim has been opened and Geico finds that Travelers has valid coverage Geico will close down their claim. Travelers will code it as an at-fault collision and pay for the cost of the repairs minus the deductible.
At no point does the insurance company care 1: Who the insured wants to pay for the damage or 2: who pays the deductible. So even if Clarence wanted Geico to pay the claim, they won’t if they don’t have to.
Evidently he also finds it ethical to collude in hiding the accident from M’s insurance…
Nobody questions this logic when it comes to houses, though. If someone comes over to your house and accidentally burns it down, nobody would think to submit a claim against that person’s homeowner’s policy.
Assuming M is named on the policy and gave C permission to drive it, it is up to the owner of the car (and their insurance) to pay for the damages.
If C’s parents want to pay the deductible or even the entire amount, they certainly can but they have no moral or ethical requirement. However, people do things they aren’t obligated to do in order to maintain relationships.
The increase in premiums is a tough one because the increase will be at the next renewal based on everything relevant that has happened since the last renewal. It will change at the next renewal based on events in that interval.
Almost. They wouldn’t collect a deductible from the insured. When your insurance pays to fix a car you have damaged, you pay no deductible. You only pay a deductible if your insurance fixes your own car.
If they fix a rental vehicle it is paid via your Collison coverage, therefor the deductible applies.
If something is paid out of liability property damage, then the insured does not pay a deductible.
I agree, I’m talking about ethics, not legality. If I wrecked a friend’s car after borrowing it I would do everything I could to make them whole. If that meant paying the deductible, paying for the repair, whatever. Legally, the owner of the car bears the responsibility.
If I was driving the car, stopped at a light and got hit by an uninsured driver, or by a hit and run, or any accident where I wasn’t at fault I’m not sure I’d feel the same responsibility to make the car owner whole.
You are not under any legal or ethical obligation to report an accident to your insurance company. Fewer claims = more profits.
The traffic tickets will be discovered, however, because they are part of your driving record.
Your policy might say that you do. Under something like “duties owed” it might say, “Report a claim within 21 days” or something.
But that’s company dependent.
If I loaned someone a car and they wrecked it, I would not expect them to pay for the damage. That is why I have insurance on my car.
If I loaned someone a car and they wrecked it by being a dumbass, I would stop loaning them my car.
If I loaned someone a car and they wrecked it by doing something deliberately awful, like running someone off the road, I would stop being their friend.
Part of the responsibility of having a car is being responsible for anyone driving it with my permission. The car is my obligation.
This is how I view it as well. When we road tripped in college, that’s exactly the deal we had. Luckily, we talked about it beforehand so there’d be no confusion. (And an accident did happen once on a road trip with the guys that I was not involved in. The car owner accepted the hit to insurance, but the passengers did all split the deductible, at least.)
A time limit on reporting a claim isn’t the same as being required to report any accident.
This just happened to my mom. She had a rental car while her car was being repaired. My lovely daughter took the rental car and damaged it. Mom’s insurance covered, no deductible applied. If fact, she doesn’t even have collision on her car.
My liability coverage fixes the rental car so no deductible applies. I see.
I am genuinely confused by this and goes against everything I’ve experienced. Why would the insurance company pay for the rental vehicle if there’s no coverage? Liability property damage covers property done to another party. Collision covers your own vehicle, regardless of fault. If she had collision on her vehicle being repaired her coverage would transfer to the rental.
Maybe she bought additional coverage? Rented the car with a credit card and one of the perks is coverage? I’m honestly not sure.
Hmm…interesting. I wish I had all the information for my own edification.
I’m weird. I genuinely enjoy auto insurance. I find it fascinating.
I found this via Huffington Post:
What is this “primary coverage with a third party?”
Simply: It is a separate policy that protects you when you rent cars. Maybe you are protected with your credit card and your auto insurance policy, but if you get into an accident and have primary coverage elsewhere, you can leave your insurer out of the loop entirely, avoiding any potential rate increases. American Express cardholders can purchase a Premium Rental Car Protection policy for less than the cost of one day’s damage waiver in many destinations. For $24.95 per rental period of up to 42 days – $17.95 if you live in California - you’ve got $100,000 in coverage for damage and theft, plus $100,000 of Accidental Death or Dismemberment coverage, $15,000 for excess medical expenses and up to $5,000 for personal property loss. The real deal here? No deductible. Nada. It’s a good policy. Best of all, it kicks in automatically when you begin your rental using that card. When you do, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to stop agents in their tracks - most know about the policy. Tell them you’ve got it and they’ll generally understand that they’re dealing with someone who has come prepared.
Was it that?
This is exactly how I see it, and you phrased it far more clearly and concisely than I would have.
I would only add that C, a college freshman, is ostensibly a legal adult; his parents are absolutely not responsible for his actions, neither legally nor ethically. It is grossly inappropriate for M’s parents to ask C’s parents to cover the damages, and it’s particularly appalling that their motivation for doing so is their daughter’s shitty driving record.