delema, need advice, if you can

[Jimmy B]

i was in NC this weekend, partyed, worked, partied.. etc...

sat night (2am) my boy wanted me to test out his turbo prelude, and take it for a drive.. he was hammered, and under 21, so no driving for him, he wanted to ride along though..
i took it down the road, a few turns, came up over a hill, and sitting there is a stop sign, he didnt tell me about it, i couldnt see it till it was to late, went through the stop sign and slammed into a metal storage contaner.
Good this is we are both ok, i have a sprained ankle, but thats it, he is fine...
Bad thing is, i think the lude is totalled, my insurance dosent cover it, since its not on my policy. He said his didnt eather, because i "dont live in his household".

I was under the impression his insurance would cover it, because the insurance goes with the car, no matter what.... whats yall think?

i offered to pay the deductible too, i know it was mostley my fault..

[Nemesis]

What is your friend saying about all this? Is he pissed?

Props to you for wanting to at least pay the deductable.

[Katie]

bad jimmy!

[B16a2 Civic]

Well, i work for an insurance company, but not a car insurance compnay....our policy cover people who are listed on the plan.....BUT....when i first bought my Si last year, the guy i bought it from paid for insurance on the car for teh first 6 months, it was in his name but it covered the car itself, not the drivers, plus iwent to court when i got a speeding ticket and my insurance held up in court....so to be honest, i'd try speaking to the insurance company that he pays for....and if you want, i can take a look at his policy, i read insurance real good.

[Jimmy B]

naw, hes not to pissed really. he wantsa new car anyway, but whatever..

im just not sure what to do,.. since he "said" his insurance wont cover it.. and mine is deffentaly not going to..

[Tiff-O-Bitties]

lol.. that's awful Jimmy! I thought his insurance would cover this and if his won't yours should..

[Jimmy B]

i just know i cant afford to buy a totalled prelude... lol

[Julio]

you guys shouldve never said you were the driver..... the insurance will not cover it since you are not listed as a DRIVER..

[Vteckidd]

^^^^^YUP

the car is insured, and if he had hit someone else, then it prob would have been covered, for the sake of injuries and hospital bills.

actually i take that back. you need to find out what his policy states. Some insurance companies extend the coverage to a third party for a certain amount of time. other companies do not. IE you let someone borrow your car and they hit someone, you are on your own.

I know my insurance company allows a secondary driver to operate my vehicles. I do know some insurance companies expressly forbid it.

[RutRoe]

In my experience, a car is insured, not a driver.

Cause I used to drive other peoples cars a lot and then when I started paying for insurance I had to learn a lot more about it.

If Mike wrecks my integra, its still insured by me. No one stole it. Its still my car, its still covered.

At least that's my case. I'd call his insurance co. Especially if you were driving for him since he was "unable to operate a motor vehicle"

[thinkfast®]

^^^ CORRECT

Jimmy I am a Personal Lines Underwriter- I work real close w/ Claims and see policies all day long (Home, Auto, Umbrella etc) and hold about 7 licenses. Let me explain a bit..

He obviously hasn't filed a claim yet, because he would tell you the car WILL be covered. The vehicle is what a company is insuring, not the driver. The driver is another risk, but that is what you pay premium for on a monthly basis. You will be covered on the loss regardless if you are on the policy or not, under a "permissive user" claim. You had his permission, correct? Then there is no grounds to deny a claim. Whether or not he has full coverage is another story, and his premium will likely increase because of the claim. (Nothing he can do about it, it stays on file for 3 years in GA)

If I were you, I'd pay the deductible (assuming he has one) just to be a nice guy, and be done w/ it. Make any statements you need to make, answer whatever questions the claims rep has, but face it- if you weren't driving, it would've been a lot worse for this dude.

Hope this helps

[Kevykev]

^^^ CORRECT

Jimmy I am a Personal Lines Underwriter- I work real close w/ Claims and see policies all day long (Home, Auto, Umbrella etc) and hold about 7 licenses. Let me explain a bit..

He obviously hasn't filed a claim yet, because he would tell you the car WILL be covered. The vehicle is what a company is insuring, not the driver. The driver is another risk, but that is what you pay premium for on a monthly basis. You will be covered on the loss regardless if you are on the policy or not, under a "permissive user" claim. You had his permission, correct? Then there is no grounds to deny a claim. Whether or not he has full coverage is another story, and his premium will likely increase because of the claim. (Nothing he can do about it, it stays on file for 3 years in GA)

If I were you, I'd pay the deductible (assuming he has one) just to be a nice guy, and be done w/ it. Make any statements you need to make, answer whatever questions the claims rep has, but face it- if you weren't driving, it would've been a lot worse for this dude.

Hope this helps

This sounds like a thorough explaination!

Hopefully this situation will work in your favor.

Sorry you had to go through that shit, When I drive other people's cars I always think about "what if"

[Julio]

^^^ CORRECT

Jimmy I am a Personal Lines Underwriter- I work real close w/ Claims and see policies all day long (Home, Auto, Umbrella etc) and hold about 7 licenses. Let me explain a bit..

He obviously hasn't filed a claim yet, because he would tell you the car WILL be covered. The vehicle is what a company is insuring, not the driver. The driver is another risk, but that is what you pay premium for on a monthly basis. You will be covered on the loss regardless if you are on the policy or not, under a "permissive user" claim. You had his permission, correct? Then there is no grounds to deny a claim. Whether or not he has full coverage is another story, and his premium will likely increase because of the claim. (Nothing he can do about it, it stays on file for 3 years in GA)

If I were you, I'd pay the deductible (assuming he has one) just to be a nice guy, and be done w/ it. Make any statements you need to make, answer whatever questions the claims rep has, but face it- if you weren't driving, it would've been a lot worse for this dude.

Hope this helps

Didnt know that. Why do auto insurance always want names and year of birth of people in your household ? Even though you would tell them It doesnt matter, they dont drive my cars? They still need this information?

I want to know more.. Since you know about this subject.

[drupason]

man that sucks dude

[Jimmy B]

thanks for the help guys.. ill let yall know how it turns out..

[thinkfast®]

Names and DL #s for EVERYONE in the household. Why? Because they are an exposure. Even if they never use your car, an insurance company doesnt know that! If we believed the insureds we wouldve gone broke a long time ago LOL. For the insurance company its good to have all drivers in the household listed on a policy, because we are getting appropriate rate for the risk. If its just your mom/dad on a policy, they are paying $50/mo, and meanwhile you have 4 DUIs and are living in the HH, yet arent on the policy, there is no rate ($$) we are getting for that. See what I'm saying? there are a few times where its "acceptable" that they werent on the policy, like your 16 yr old brother who doesnt have a DL, or dad has his own car and policy insured elsewhere. We're cool with that...

In Jimmys case its ok, because he doesnt live w/ the friend, so he doesnt need to be on the policy, and he had permission of the friend to use the vehicle.

Let me know any other questions..

[uproot]

so if someone was or wasn't listed, would that make it any more "ok" for them to be driving the car?

[thinkfast®]

Depends on the situation, but for the most part, yes. You have a buddy who wants to borrow your car to go to the store, and backing out of your driveway he gets into an accident, regardless of fault, we would cover it. He had your permission, its just like you were the one driving. On the other side we can talk about misrepresentation, for instance a sister/brother/friend who you lied about not living with you and we somehow found out (probably after the person is in an accident) they've been in the household the entire time, then no. thats grounds for policy coverage being rescinded.

What else you got?