This is my story. I'll make it short. A couple of months ago, my daughter let her auto insurance lapse and it was cancelled. She also had some traffic tickets not paid, so her license is currently suspended until she pays them off. The neighbor asked my daughter if she could use her car to run some errands, and my daughter told her that her car had no insurance.
She said it was OK with her and they both go in the car and went to run their errands. After an hour or so, the neighbor gets in a small fender-bender hitting another car. It seems like she freaked out and called her mother, her mother shows up at the scene and agrees to pay the other driver $500 to get the car repaired. The cops got called in an my daughter showed an insurance card, but of course didn't say the card was old, so everybody thught the car was insured.
The neighbor's mother now wants my daughter to give her $250 (half of the $500) that she paid the other driver, even though her daughter was the one driving the uninsured car. My daughter feels that she doesn't have to pay for it, because she told her daughter and her daughter knew the car was uninsured and still agreed to drive it like that. All that I know is that Florida has a "no-fault" law, but I am not sure how that works.
The neighbor is harassing my daughter to pay her or that she will call the cops on her.
Any ideas/suggestions?

Hello lrhall:

Well, this thing is pretty screwed up. The person who is responsible for the repair is the driver who was at fault. Interestingly, you don't mention that.

If the driver's mom wanted to pay, that's on her. The cops aren't going to do anything.

By the way, who is going to pay for the damage to your daughter's car? Interestingly, you don't mention that either.

excon

There was no damage to my daughter's car and the her "ex-friend" is the one that hit the other car. That is why her mom went out there and offered to pay the other driver, now she wants my daughter to pay for half because it was her car. My daughtr's car is OK so I assume that the other damage must have been minor or so...

Yes, $500 would be very minor damage. Have your daughter write the mom a letter saying, that since she had informed her daughter that the car was uninsured and since her daughter was driving, she has no responsibility for the accident. That the matter is now closed and to stop harassing her.

The threat to call the police is empty, since your daughter did not do anything illegal. If anyone broke the law, it was the friend who drove an uninsured vehicle.

I have talked to the mother and she insists that my daughter has a "moral" obligation to pay her debt because it was her car, and she was trying to keep my daughter out of trouble. I personally think that she was trying to keep her daughter out of trouble, but I am not sure if she can come back and retaliate or call the police and get my daughter in trouble for unpaid traffic tickets, etc.

Your daughter has no moral obligation or any other type of obligation. She was not driving and she had informed the driving that the vehicle was uninsured. The driver caused the accident and the driver is the one with the moral obligation.

You said her license was suspended for the unpaid tickets, so the police already know about them. The mother can't get her in any further trouble over that.

So the only trouble she might get into is for letting someone drive her car without insurance and I don't think that's illegal.

Pay up and get proof of payment. You and/or your daughter own the car, so you're responsible for the damage, even if another person was driving and even if that person operated the vehicle with the knowledge that it was uninsured. If the authorities get involved, you and your daughter will get chewed up and spit out!

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Originally Posted by s_cianci

Pay up and get proof of payment. You and/or your daughter own the car, so you're responsible for the damage, even if another person was driving and even if that person operated the vehicle with the knowledge that it was uninsured. If the authorities get involved, you and yoru daughter will get chewed up and spit out!

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Can you cite the laws on that? I don't believe that is the case.

Yes, s_cianci, if you have some information that I do not have.. please provide. Otherwise, we have to assume that you don't know what you are talking about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lrhall41

Yes, s_cianci, if you have some information that I do not have.. please provide. Otherwise, we have to assume that you don't know what you are talking about.

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That was harsh and uncalled for. s_cianci has given a lot of good accurate advice here and I have respect for his knowledge. His answer here goes against what I know so I questioned it, but I did it politely.

I will agree, both the driver and the owner of the car ( if different than the driver) can and will be named in a law suit for damages.

As the owner of the car she is not allowed to let someone "use it" so by doing so, she had a part of the crime ( driving with no insurance)
She was never to allow the car to be drove.

*** now had the "Mother" not offered to pay, the person with the damage could have easily sued both the driver and car owner. The only one that could not be sued was the mom.

Now that the mom offered to pay it, since the mom was not a party to the accident, she took on a third party obligation. And She had a verbal agreement to pay for the damges or at least to settle for 500 dollars.

So as a preacher I can easily say on the moral, no she warned them, she was not driving, so there is really no or little moral duty ( OK she let the car be drove, so I will give her maybe a 10 percent moral obligation.

But from a legal point, the person whose car was damaged, yes they have a right to sue the car owner.

But I don't believve the drivers mother who is not a party to the accident has any legal standing to sue. Legally, yes she was suppose to pay part of the damages, along with the driver, but since a third party agreed to pay all of it, I don't see a legal standing to sue.

And yes allowing someone to drive your car with knowledge it is not insured is illegal ( at least it is in GA where I was a officer) we would often cite both the driver and the owner of the car for its being driven with no insurance. ( and impound the car also)

So I doubt the mother can sue for the money since she has no legal standing to collect. The other driver was already paid, so they can't sue.

BUT>>>> actually if your car was also damaged, you can sue the driver for at least partial damages to the car she was driving.

Yes the driver who's car was damaged has the right to sue both the driver and the car owner. However, by negotiating and accepting the offer from the mother, that driver has settled the case and no longer has a right to sue.

But Chuck is right that the mother has no legal standing and no recourse against the car owner.

I didn't mean to be rude or unpolite but he sounded like he was upset with me for not paying the debt. All that I want to know is if his information was accurate and where did he get it from. If it was his opinion or based on legal information.
I apologize if it sounded harsh. Just trying to get the right info.