my roomate got into a car accident this monday. it was the other drivers fault, he ran a stop sign and hit the back passenger side on the left. it busted out the window, dented the door pretty bad, and our muffler is loose. she was fine, but the car got hit pretty bad.
anyway, he pursuaded her to settle it privately, being that hed got into an accidnet a couple months prior, and his license was suspended. so she wanted to be nice, and agreed as long as he’d pay for the damage. otherwise, he would have gone to jail for a suspended license. she took down all his personal information, including his drivers license number and cell phone and theyve been calling back and forth until she got the estimate. which was $1,418 for parts and labor, and now he doesnt want to pay, but instead repair it himself.
we would rather it be done professionally to insure quality, so she called in a claim for insurance, and it turns out he doesnt have car insurance. what do you think we should do from here?
What If A Driver Hits Your Car And They Dont Have Car Insurance?
31
Oct
girl
October 31, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Sorry, but your roommate is a trusting fool. The fact that he was driving with a suspended license should have been a *major* red flag. Letting him do the repair work himself would simply be adding insult to injury.
If she has uninsured motorist coverage, then it should cover the damage. If not, her regular collision should cover it, but she’ll have to pay the deductible.
As far as the other driver, she’s holding all the cards. Either he pays, or she reports him to the police. He could be facing jail time for driving on a suspended license without insurance. However, don’t have her be too quick to jump the gun with reporting him to the cops; he can’t pay if he can’t work.
Flyboy
October 31, 2009 at 6:51 pm
sue them!lol just kidding….well only thing u can do is get the money, and make sure everytime she goes to his house someone else goes with her too. i dont want her to be in danger.u dont even know him….threaten him to report or pay =)i’m sorry i dunno anything else.
Yea
October 31, 2009 at 7:33 pm
You have an uninsured motorist claim under your roommates policy. There shouldn’t be any deductible since the other driver is known. However, this varies from state to state and you need to have your roommate find out with her adjuster.
Let the insurance company handle the repairs and later going after the guy at fault. He will get his just dues.
That’s the problem with the high cost of carrying auto insurance these days, people driving without insurance. All too often the bad drivers getting into accidents are the losers with no valid driver’s license, suspended license, no insurance, and no financial responsibility to pay for damages they cause.
Be thankful your roommate didn’t get injured and that she has insurance to protect herself and her vehicle. Unfortunately, she may never trust anyone enough when involved in an accident and call police, which isn’t such a bad thing anyways.
From a senior liability claims rep
Kamikaze
October 31, 2009 at 7:41 pm
If they are paying for damages, let it go. If not you might want to consider a lawyer.
chief_ea
October 31, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Tell your friend to check with her insurance company and see if she has uninsured motorist coverage. Most insurance policies include that, even liability. If you do have to claim it on uninsured motorist insurance, you normally have to have a police report before the insurance company will cover it. Even if she would have called the police when it happened, if he didnt have insurance there is nothing that could have been done.
justwond
October 31, 2009 at 8:31 pm
She must file a police report and claim it on her insurance. The other driver’s lack of a license and insurance is HIS problem. His license and tags will be pulled until the damages are paid in most states.
(Obviously the lack of a license hasn’t stopped this fool from driving so you’re dealing with a basically dishonest person who doesn’t give a damn about anyone else. At least when they pull his tags he’ll be less likely to drive THAT vehicle.)
If your friend has Uninsured Motorist (UIM) coverage (mandatory in some states) then it will pay for the damage. If not, her collision coverage will pay. In either case, her insurance company will go after the other driver for reimbursement.
If she has neither UIM nor collision coverage she will have to sue him (probably in small claims court) for the damages if he doesn’t pay up immediately.
If she wants to be REALLY nice to the other driver, she should DEMAND immediate payment of the damages IN CASH. If he doesn’t deliver on that IMMEDIATELY, she should file the police report and insurance claim. I would not recommend that though as the damages are certainly over the state floor for mandatory police reports.
Note to all: If you state doesn’t require UIM, buy it anyway!! It’s cheap and will protect you in situations like this!!!
Bostonian In MO
October 31, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Your friend didn’t have uninsured motorist coverage? If she did, your insurance will pay for it. If she didn’t, she’s SOL.
geeniusa
October 31, 2009 at 10:09 pm
She should immediately report it to her insurance company. Hopefully she has uninsured motorist coverage. If not, she can take the guy to court for the cost to repair her car and her court fees.
I don’t know about your state, but in CA- if the damages exceed $750 the law is that the incident must be reported.
Once you mention you are reporting him, he may somehow “find” the money to pay…
Hopefully everything works out for her!
bellytai
October 31, 2009 at 10:11 pm
If your friend has insurance (most companies have unisured/underinsured motorist offered). If your friend has this coverage, she can pay a deductible of say $200 to $250 and have her insurance company to pay for repairs.
butch
October 31, 2009 at 10:18 pm
crap…….that happened to me. Only, she spoke no english, was underage with no license. I just bought this 1979 Pontiac Firebird TransAM…and this ******….crushed it and put me and my kids in the hospital. I went to small claims court and filed on her. I won…but, it’s been over 2 years and I’ve got nothing for it yet. Now, I have to go file some other kinda form to prevent the driver and the owner of the vehicle from getting a drivers licence renewed or buying plates…or whatever…. Pay the $65.00 and go to small claims court. They claim up to $5000 good luck