huboy…I am not the best writer,I’ll make this as clear as I can. bear with me puhleez.
A friend “Chris” loaned his car to his friend “Earl”. Earl parked the car near his work. The car got hit by another car,while parked(Earl wasn’t in the car @ the time,no injuries whatsoever) . Luckily the party at fault had insurance. Earl said he’d take care of everything,Chris said “OK cool I’ll split the insurance w/you then”.
Coupla weeks pass and Earl tells us there is problems with the insurance and they’d probably never see it.
Ok, so Earl left town about a week ago,and we found out yesterday from his ex-wife-to-be that yes indeed Earl recieved 700.00 smackers from the insurance (she gave Chris the check stub)
My questions are:
A) is this not theft since it was/is Chris’s car?(and registered under his name)
B) is this fraud?(since it is not Earls car)
BTW: We don’t know who the check was made out to,the check stub didn’t indicate that. we’ll find out monday when Chris calls the ins co. Although I couldn’t imagine why they’d make it out to Earl.
it’s earl’s insurance, and some insurance companies cover you when you are driving someone else’s car, and others don’t. some insurance companies cover anyone in your car and other’s don’t. if it is fraud, i don’t know how you would prove it; just like the woman that parks in front of me at my apartment complext hit my car and scratched my bumper but i didn’t see it, so i can’t make her pay for it. (but the bolt on her bumper is the exact distance-yes i took i measuring tape down to measure-from the ground as the dent in my bumper and her front license plat is now bent. . . . )just venting, sorry for the tangent.
It seems to me- and I’m no expert on this- that Chris’ only option is to take Earl to court.
Sue his ass.
Once Chris can get some proof that Earls insurance company gave Earl some money to fix the car, then it seems to me to be a piece of cake getting the money out of him.
That is, if Chris’ insurance gave him some flak and wouldn’t pay anything, and Earls insurance went ahead and cut a check, then the either the insurance people know what’s up, or at the least, they know who’s responsibility it is to pay (Otherwise, they wouldn’t have paid).
Have Chris take him to court, with the stub, and I can’t see how he’d lose.
Then, obviously, tell Chris to get rid of that friend Earl.
just clarifying,its the person at fault’s insurance, the lady who hit Chris’s car. her insurance was supposed to cover damages to Chris’s car,but earl got his grubby hands on said check,cashed it and left town :eek::eek::mad::mad::mad:
It seems to me more of a practical than a legal problem. If the guy skipped town, who cares if you have a case? If you can’t catch him then you are SOOL. And if you can get a hold of him, then just make him an offer he can’t refuse like “gimme the dough or I’ll bust your kneecaps”.
he’s definitly coming back, he has roots here. we know he’ll be back. I was wondering if we can go to the cops with this. oh BTW we did a little sherlock/magnum PI type thing and found out where he’s @,but it’s too far to travel for just 700.00.
Exactly. Chris should be talking to the person at faults insurance company. I’m not sure how Earl convinced them to cut him a check. But never mind that; if they cut a check to Earl that they shouldn’t have, that’s their problem. They still owe money to Chris.
Or not. There are a couple of holes in this story (the biggest being the check to Earl), so I suspect there may be something we don’t know about. I dunno, maybe Earl wrecked the car himself, and the insurance check came from his own insurance company. Or maybe his ex-wife is pissed at him and trying to hurt him. Or ???
We aren’t entirely sure the check was made out to Earl. Chris failed to call the insurance co. today, he has other things on the burner at the moment,not the least of which is being a single father to two youngsters.
No I looked at the wreck myself,the car was still there. It was rear-ended, then pushed into a chain-link fence post. Where it sat for days (idiot Earl also lost the keys),the police said it would be OK to leave it there for now since it was only moved a few feet,and still basically in a parking spot.the bumper was still in contact with the bent post. and the rear bumper was pushed in where it was hit,and the lady took full responsibly.oh and Earl doesn’t have insurance.
hence the reason she gave Chris the check-stub w/ the name of the insurance co on it.
What I don’t understand is why Chris would split the insurance settlement with Earl. If I lend you my car, and while you have it there is an accident, I wouldn’t say, “Hey man, 700 bucks! Way to go getting the car hit.”
I would understand that the accident wasn’t Chris’ fault but my car is now theoretically worth $700 less. Why Earl should be rewarded is beyond me.
I work for an insurance company, and I find it hard to believe that they would deal with anyone other than the registered owner of the vehicle in a matter like this. We wouldn’t.
So the only way that this would make sense is if the lady decided that she didn’t want to have to file a claim against her insurance, and so paid Earl the money directly. Then no insurance companies would be involved.
I think Chris should phone the insurance company and talk to them to find out more of the story. The adjuster would be able to tell him more, if indeed a claim was filed.
I asked Chris the same thing, he didn’t answer. I left it alone
I dont understand it either, I am hounding Chris to make the call to the ins co. he’s sitting on his hands on this one. He’s a fart smeller most times, but seems to lack common sense.
Apologies if thats the picture I painted. As I stated, I am not the best writer. He planned on skipping town months before this happened.Things just happend in the snake-in-the grass’s favor.
Tony, this whole thing is way too fishy. The first person I suspect of lying is Chris.
All he has to do is call the lady’s insurance company and explain that she hit the car. They’ll take a report, investigate and (assuming she did hit the car, which frankly I’m not convinced of yet), give him a check.
God knows where Earl got a check, but you can bet it didn’t come from the lady’s insurance company since Chris says he’s never talked to them.
This whole thing is unbelievable. Before I’d be helping anyone with this, I’d want to know what really happened here.
Okay, this is what I understand – Chris loans his car to Earl and said car becomes wrecked while in Earl’s possession, through no fault of his own. After this, things start to get sketchy.
I don’t understand the whole “splitting the insurance” thing. First off, it’s Chris’ car. Why is Chris letting Earl use his own insurance? Secondly, why is Chris letting Earl keep some of the insurance money? If Chris plans on repairing the damage, I would think he needs ALL of the money, not half, or however much they agreed upon.
Another thing is this $700 check. Who was the check made out to? Chris or Earl? Was the check from the insurance company, or from the lady’s own pocket? If the check was in fact made out to Chris, then Earl would have to forge it, thus committing fraud. If the check was from the lady’s own pocket, then Chris would just be up the creek.
But, nonetheless, this whole dilemma stinks to high heaven and I would definitely get all the details before jumping to any conclusions. I would also be distrustful of Earl fearing he may of actually planned this. In any case, get all the facts.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by vandal *
**Okay, this is what I understand – Chris loans his car to Earl and said car becomes wrecked while in Earl’s possession, through no fault of his own. After this, things start to get sketchy.
the car was a POS. Chris tried to sell it for 200.00 before all this happened,no takers. as stated before(I couldn’t be that bad of a writer) it is the lady who is at fault’s insurance Chris had no plans on fixing the car.
Did you read this thread thoroughly? I stated his ex gave Chris the check-stub from the ins co. And it didn’t state who it was made out to. I’m more pissed than Chris is about this, He hasn’t even called the damn insurance co yet.
I am gonna make Chris call the ins co today.
facts: a) Chris loaned the car to Earl
b) some lady hits car while its parked
c) police make report
d) lady takes full resposibilty
e) Earl talks to ins co (the lady’s)
f) Earl recieves check from said co for a car thats not his (remember Chris has the stub now)
g) Earl fails to mention this
h) Earl also leave town w/out mentioning it
i) Tony montana posts this and regrets it
this is what I know to be true. I dont know how to make it any clearer
The big question here is who the car is titled to, if Chris has the legal title to the car and the car is damaged, then any payment for damage to the car should go to the person injured by that damage, i.e. the car’s owner. Anyone who is not on the title of the veh, and cannot show an insurable interest (loan, legal documents etc.) is commiting fraud by accepting pmt.
So, two scenarios,
a) Chris does have the title in his name and not earls.
Simple, just call the lady’s ins co, talk to the claims dept and say that a pmt was made on this pol to a non-owner. stick to your guns with the claims rep, mabye speak to supervisor if neccessary but you should get a pmt, with the ins co bringing legal action against earl.
b) chris doesn’t have the title, not in his name, or lists earls name.
problems here, legally the only people who can be compesated for damage to the vehicle are the people listed on the title at the time of accident.
disclaimers not an ins agent, my experience only, state laws may vary. for entertainment only, a charge of $0.99 will appear on your next statement.
