Got in a wreck last night! Darn it!

[OKnewguy]

I actually have some other choice words but this is a family friendly site. We had a guy not yield at an intersection last night. He was making a left turn (he was going north, I was going south) as I was going thru the intersection he tried to zip in front of me. Hit right around the front tire. I am okay and my daughter, I believe everyone in his vehicle was okay. He got issued citations (not yielding to traffic, and I believe no license). He does not have a license, but the car was his dads and supposedly has insurance. How does this work since he was not even supposed to be driving, his insurance should still cover this right?

 

[sandman2234]

Every state and local will have different rules and laws, but in Florida if he stole the vehicle and it was reported stolen you might have a problem collecting. However if he was driving with owners permission, then most likely their insurance is going to have to cover it. Hard to tell for sure. Find out whose insurance is covering the vehicle and call them, or call your insurance company and get them to check. Uninsured motorist coverage would come in real handy about now...
David from jax

 

[OKnewguy]

We do have uninsured, but I would prefer not to have to deal with ours. I am afraid our rates will go up.
Dave

 

[OKnewguy]

I just have this almost overwhelming sense that I am going to be screwed by this all. Our insurance wants me to get them the accident report from the police station (the officer said the earliest is Monday), and so right now I am in a holding pattern. This is the first major wreck I have been involved in and I have been driving for about 20 years, so I guess it was going to happen eventually. This is the nicest vehicle my wife and I have ever had, man this STINKS.
Dave

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The vehicles insurance should cover your regardless who was driving. They would then have to go after the father or the kid driving if they wanted them to pay them back for having an unlicensed operator driving the vehicle.

I am so glad you and your daughter were not injured. I always worry about being hit with Ava in the vehicle. That is why our daily driver is a 2006 F-250 diesel. Its Ava's truck as that is the main reason we bought it, so she was safe. She sits in the back seat of the extended cab and it would take one heck of a serious accident for her to get injured back there. We hit a buck with it and she didn't even flinch, she just wanted to know what that noise was as the bumper was rubbing against the front right tire (it interupted her being able to hear her movie she was watching back there). It is terrible on fuel and sucks to park in parking garages and cities but most of our driving is around home and we live out in the country so when we go somewhere crowded we just park a little further away where there is plenty of room.

Good luck dealing with the insurance and getting a new vehicle.

 

[crbr]

My opinion is that the Dad's insurance will have to pay. Engage with your agent and let them hash it out. The agent / company will insist that the other driver's liability (or owner of the vehicle) will have to pay up.

I do not like irresponsible people, Dad allowed and the kid was stOOpid enough to do it.

Sorry for the bad luck but all are safe and you're here to tell about it.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I just have this almost overwhelming sense that I am going to be screwed by this all. Our insurance wants me to get them the accident report from the police station (the officer said the earliest is Monday), and so right now I am in a holding pattern. This is the first major wreck I have been involved in and I have been driving for about 20 years, so I guess it was going to happen eventually. This is the nicest vehicle my wife and I have ever had, man this STINKS.
Dave

That is normal, the insurance company will always want the accident report. Even when I hit that deer I had to give the accident report to the insurance company. Its so they know what happened and as long as you were not at fault you have nothing to worry about (in theory). I had to call the police to report the accident as I was stranded 30 miles from home and had no way to pull the bumper out. The police were great and helped me to fix the bumper so I could drive home.

 

[ray66v]

I have experience with 30+ years of this in Ohio.

Assuming the other party was at fault, since the driver was likely uninsured, the vehicle owner has the primary liability. That will be the insurance co. that will end up paying. They can then, sue the driver, to try to recoup their losses.

You can also go through your insurance co., if that is more convenient, or the other guys jerk you around. They will go after them, for you, if they are at fault. The difference here is you will be paying your deductible, until the your insurance co. gets their reimbursement. This generally takes about a year. Then you will be reimbursed.

Your rates will not go up for a non chargeable accident. (Meaning it was not your fault). But, if your insurance co. never gets their money back, (unlikely), that could be a factor in you getting canceled someday, (This is rare), if you happened to have a lot of losses that are your fault.

 

[Diamondpilot]

That really stinks. Looks like it was a nice Ford Explorer. Glad everyone is ok.

My experience was the family member said he stole it. Now that lifts liability and it falls on you and your insurance. So yes, that felling is probably for a good reason. Its a chicken way of doing it but I guess if someone really stole my truck and ran over a bunch of kids at a bus stop I would want it that way.

My advise is make your insurance guy deal with it all. Thats what you pay them for but I have a sick feeling that unless the dad steps up and does the right thing you will be paying for it. Sorry.

I have a feeling its totaled from the pictures. It does not take much. A deer did in my F-350 diesel. The tree hit after the deer did more damage than the stinking buck.

Chris

 

[OKnewguy]

Wow! Thanks for all the incredibly quick replies! This wreck really has me rethinking the whole car thing. I prefer econo boxes, but due to being self employed I have a big E-150, we have this Expedition to tow our deck boat and that was the only reason that we bought it. My wife wants to get rid of her Isuzu Rodeo and get a Acura TL, but man after this I am not so sure. This Expedition, did not have one section of glass that broke. The doors were mangled, half the front suspension ripped out, drivers side floor pushed in etc, put it really did a great job of protecting us.
One good thing that might happen from this, is my 15 year old will be driving before too long, and this was a relatively "safe" wreck. Hopefully this will help teach her to take driving seriously and let her know that we are not invincible and immortal.
Thanks for all your thoughts and help, Dave