[juliedorf6]

My brilliant daughter, 15, no license totaled her boyfriends car. Of course we are going to have to pay for his car which is over $10k. I am just wondering how the insurance company will handle this? Will we have to pay it back in one lump sum? I sure do not have $10k laying around! Oh and she hit a telephone pole.. another expense. And she was cited and will have to go to court over driving without a license... I just need to know what to expect from this. Anyone have any idea?:(

[excon]

Hello julie:

Uhhh, what makes you think your (or his) insurance company is going to pay at all? I seriously doubt they will. As a matter of fact, they won't.

excon

[Fr_Chuck]

I will agree with excon, he allowed an underage unlicesed person to drive the car, in most auto policies that allows them to deny payment. So your first hope is that the insurance company is going to pay to start with.

So if the insurance company don't pay, her boyfriends famiy will expect you to write them a check most likely.

But either the insurance company or his family can sue you and get a judgement if you can not pay them.

** I will note that if they sue, your defense could be she was allowed to drive with permission, so the son has some legal liabilty for letting her drive. That one is up to the courts.

The telephone people will want that check witiin 30 days of billing.

[brazygirl08]

Hmm I don't know that she has to pay for it. He let her drive the car...

[tombb25]

What state is this in... many policies have a permissive driver clause that if the person was given permission by an insured to drive a vehicle, then they are counted as an insured, no matter if they have a license or not. It would be helpful if you could provide the state and the insurance company.

[excon]

Hello again:

Have I landed on a different planet?? One of you thinks the insurance company is a bank, and one of you thinks the insurance company is just sitting there waiting to pay claims.

Uhhh, on the planet I live, neither of those are true - not even close.

excon

[carcrashexpert]

The insurance company will pay if they are legally obligated to do so - and only then. Depending on your local statutes the boyfriend's having allowed her to drive might extend coverage to her, in which case they would be so obligated to pay. You say she had no license - did she have a learner's? If she had a learner's, and the boyfriend meets the necessary standards as a supervising adult driver (again, they vary by jurisdiction) the coverage issue may be much better.

Count yourself extremely lucky there were no injuries. It's one thing to be on the hook for ten grand in property damage - how would being personally liable for hundreds of thousands or even millions in pain and suffering, lost wages, and personal care grab you? I've seen claims well into the multiple millions.

[Tuscany]

excon is right. I am not sure what braze and tomb were talking about.

While the young boy might lose his insurance, for letting her drive the car (yes that does happen, it happened to my sister), I am sure that his insurance company will not pay for her damages to his car. Mommy and Daddy of the young lass will have to foot that bill.

[tombb25]

I am sorry to disagree guys but don't always count the insurance company out, I know that insurance companies have bad reputations but depending on the DOI standards and state laws, it can be pretty tought to deny claims on certain policies even for a driver that doesn't have a license.

I'm just letting you know there is hope, obviously there is a good chance coverage will be denied, ultimately you have to prepare yourself financially and try to stay in the loop on what is going on.

[ScottGem]

I'm going to go along with carcrashexpert here. I don't think we know enough details to be sure about what will happen.

What I think is safe to say is, the insurances will try their darnedest to not pay out anything. And there are very few circumstances in this situation where they they would have to. Your insurance MIGHT pay, if your daughter is covered under your policy. And that would only be if she had a learner's permit and you added her to your policy. His insurance MIGHT pay, again, if she had a learner's permit and he was acting in the capacity of a responsible driver. There is also a possibility, that your homeowner's insurance could cover this as personal liability, but that's a long shot.

So, the odds are the insurances will not pay. Now, I would recommend taking the stand that the boyfriend knowingly allowed an inexperienced and unlicensed driver to drive his car. Ergo, he should have been aware of the potential consequences of that action. That makes him at least partially culpable. If you take that tact, then you should only have to come up with a portion of the cost.

Of course, we don't know that the boyfriend allowed her to drive or any of the circumstances, so we can only present possibilities that may not apply given certain facts unknown at this time.

The real victim here is the poor, innocent telephone pole. ;) That repair she will be immediately responsible for.

[carcrashexpert]

I am sorry to disagree guys but don't always count the insurance company out, I know that insurance companies have bad reputations but depending on the DOI standards and state laws, it can be pretty tought to deny claims on certain policies even for a driver that doesn't have a license.

I have to say, most of the insurance companies I do work for (and that includes most of all the big names) don't generally go into claims saying "How can we deny coverage?", they go into them asking "Are we liable?". I've found a great many insurance adjusters to be compassionate and understanding, and they generally treat people fairly. That being said, the insurance company is in business to make money, and that isn't going to happen if they pay out when they don't have to. They might not be Santa Claus, but they aren't the evil Grinches people make them out to be either.