so here is the story i borrowed a friends of mines car. i was under the impression that he had insurance on the car. anyway i was driving in town when there was traffic and everyone in front of me stopped i did not stop in time and rear ended her car. my car got damage, my grill and lights were broken and my hood was bent.her car had vary little damage just a few black scuff marks and a vary small crack. she said it was fine and she would probably not need it to be fixed. but what is she does want to get it fixed? it was not my fault my friends car had no insurance. i did not know. i do have aaa insurance but not for his car. so if she decided that she did want it fixed. it would not be my fault right? it would be my friends? thanks i live in cal
Sure it would be your fault. Why would you think someone else would be responsible for an accident you caused? You might be covered if you have insurance on your own car, but that is not guaranteed. Cali, AFAICT (IANAL) is a fault state, which means if she chooses to repair her car, or needs medical attention, she has a few choices:
- Sue you both (the driver and the owner) personally
- Report it to her insurance company, who have the option to sue you personally to recover their costs
- Work out an arrangement with you.
If there is minimal damage, the smart thing for her to do would be to ask you to pay it out of pocket. It would probably also be smart for you to try to work something out, making sure to document and payments and agreements you come to in writing. If you choose that route, I suppose you can ask your friend to pick up some of the tab given that he would likely have also been ticketed if the cops had been called to the scene, but how willing he is to do that is not something I could tell you.
thanks for the info. i was not meaning i was not responsible for the accident. i meant its not my fault he had no insurance. also on a side not it was 3 days ago not sure if that matters
I wouldn’t be surprised if your car insurance covered you in this case. You should talk to your agent.
No it’s not your fault your friend had no insurance. It is however your fault you were driving an uninsured vehicle. Ignorance to it’s insurance status does not excuse you from any liability. You are responsible for paying for any damage to either car as a result of the accident. If you are incapable of paying or unwilling to pay, the woman or her insurance will can sue both you and the cars owner.
If you have your own policy there is a fair chance it covers you while driving other peoples vehicles. I make sure my insurance covers me if I’m driving another vehicle including all rentals.
so wait when she reports it to her insurance company they will sue me for just that little mark on the bumper that would buff out in like a min? or does she have a choice if they sue me or not?
If I were you, I would contact her ASAP and offer to pay. If it goes to her insurance company both you and your friend are likely to be in trouble.
what type trouble?? like a fine? or lose my drivers license? or go to jail?
what type trouble?? like a fine? or lose my drivers license? or go to jail?
If she reports it to her insurance company they will expect you to pay whatever it costs to restore her vehicle be it paying an auto-body shop to ‘buff it out’ or replacing a damaged bumper or declaring the car a total loss, you’d also be responsible for any rental charges accumulated while her car is unavailable to drive. If you don’t pay what they ask they will sue you for those costs plus any associated collection fees. You don’t get to determine what repairs are necessary, that’s for paid experts to assess.
If you have insurance you’re insurance company will be able to negotiate reasonable compensation and cover these costs minus any deductible you have. Without insurance you are outgunned in the legal world and generally get stuck with whatever her insurance company deems to be ‘reasonable compensation’
99 times out of 100, the insurance follows the driver-meaning, your insurance will probably cover you, even though it is your friend’s car.
If you haven’t had a ticket by now, you will not, probably, get one, and your license is probably safe, since the DMV hasn’t been involved.
Contact your agent, but, again, you’re probably in the clear, since *you *have insurance.
Yep. If you have insurance, you are most likely covered. But it is odd that the other driver said it was no big deal - maybe she didn’t have insurance either. Were police called? I’m guessing if you haven’t heard anything in three days, you probably won’t.
In either case you probably owe your friend what the deductible would have been towards the cost of repairing his car. If that. It was really irresponsible of him, not only to not carry insurance, but to let someone else drive his car without coverage.
Question: Is it not actually illegal to drive without insurance?
In the UK, insurance is compulsory and the penalty severe (they take your car and crush it if you don’t pay all the fines, towing and storage charges). It is also very expensive, especially for a young driver, or one with a bad history - £2000 or £3000 for an ordinary car is not uncommon, so of course many take the risk and don’t insure.
Most car insurance used to cover us for other cars here (only if the other car was also insured though) but these days that does not apply because too many people were insuring a banger ans using that to drive daddy’s Porsche.
Surely the OP’s biggest risk is a whiplash claim from the third party?
About 8 years ago a guy ran into me who was driving a borrowed car. When the cars owner found out he grabbed the insurance card out of the car and refused to give out his insurance information. Well the driver then got stuck. He had to pay a fine for having no insurance and he got struck with my repair bill.
A major problem nowadays is the high number of people driving with no car insurance. They used to do this thing where they would set up roadblocks and check everyones insurance and title but that became too un-PC because they were finding all these illegal aliens and had to stop them.
Shouldn’t you be more concerned about the damage you did to your friends uninsured car? I’d be worried he was going to sue you for the damages, as he has no insurance.
Who lends someone their car and fails to mention they have no insurance?
In California insurance follows the vehicle first, the driver second (depending on your policy). The odds are that if you have valid liability insurance your coverage follows you as secondary insurance. This isn’t legal advice. Contact your insurance company and file a claim. I’d avoid paying out of pocket because things can quickly escalate. Don’t forget you owe her a rental while the car is being fixed. Did get phone get damaged? In 23 months while she have neck pain?
That’s why you have insurance. Your liability will cover that.
Doesn’t California suspend or cancel one’s driver license for driving an uninsured vehicle?
CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE AGENT. Most policies will cover you, no matter what car you’re driving. The chain of claim is usually that your friend’s insurance on the car would be the first source of payment; if he doesn’t have insurance, then your insurance will probably cover all (or much) of the cost. So, before you make any decisions or say anything to the accident victim, CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY. Call your agent or the help line or whatever.
It’s not your fault that your friend doesn’t have insurance, but it is your fault that you didn’t ask him to check, before borrowing his car. And, saying that’s not your fault, well, there’s lots of stuff in life that’s not fair.
Even though the visible damage to her car looks superficial and minor, that doesn’t mean that’s the only damage. Once the auto body shop inspects the car properly, it may find damage that’s not visible.
She probably doesn’t have a choice after she reports it. That said, her insurance may not bother to sue you if the damage is minor, and you are judgement proof (read: poor).
The only leverage he has is that the damage to her vehicle will be subject to coverage only beyond her deductible. If it is indeed minor damage, she might end up paying most of it out of pocket if she has a standard $500 deductible. So while I agree with your advice, he does have a little room to negotiate, especially if he suspects she will not use his payment to actually fix her car.
I highly doubt you would go to jail. I’ve read California has around 25% uninsured drivers, so I doubt punishing them is too high a priority. I would guess you and the driver will be ticketed if the police catch wind of this. I also imagine the car registration will be suspended.
Also, do you have your own car with car insurance? I don’t know if you mentioned it.