Posted by ColleenCA on 9/23/05 8:49pm
Msg #67046

OT: Auto Claims Experts; question

Today, I was hit by a 16 yr. old permitted (not licensed) driver who was driving alone. In Calif. you must have a licensed driver 25 yrs or older in the vehicle if you are driving with a permit. Since it is friday, the insurance companies who take the accident reports could not give me any info and told me to wait until Monday or Tuesday evening for an answer. I would like to pose this question: If the underage driver is on his parents insurance policy, will they cover the accident even though he was driving alone (and his mother knew he was driving).

He also called me at home telling me that his mom would just pay cash for it and that she wanted me to call her. I told him that I had already reported it as the damage is extensive and my neck and shoulder are soar. I told him I would not call his mother (I had already talked to her on the phone at the scene of the accident, and she mentioned nothing about him being unlicensed) and that the insurance companies would have to handle it.

Then, he has his friend call my son (they go to the same school) he told my son to call the kid who hit me and "he knows why he should call". My son told him no, he wouldn't call him and hung up.

Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

Reply by OnTheGoInFla on 9/23/05 8:58pm
Msg #67047

Only suggestion I have is to start a journal log and document everything with dates, times, etc. All phone calls conversations everything. Then let either your insarnce company attornies handle it or get a private attorney to handle it on a contingency fee basis.

Reply by gentlebrz on 9/23/05 9:06pm
Msg #67050

yep yep...document document! I was hit by a 15 year old with a permit, her grandmother was in the car with her at the time. Insurance companies handled it, I missed 2 weeks of work, had to get a rental car..the whole nine yard. Didn't have one problem with it and insurance adjuster even came to the house! (this all happened in California, I moved to Tennessee to get away from all the traffic)! But if you learn now to document things, nothing will ever come back to haunt you. All phone calls, dates and times, names and brief note on what was said...invaluable when you're "fighting back".

Reply by MsMatilde_FL on 9/23/05 9:14pm
Msg #67052

Hi Colleen, sorry to hear about the recent loss you were involved in. I hope you feel better from the pain you're feeling. I work in the investigations unit for the auto insurance carrier I work full-time.
From my experience, chances are that if this kid is unlicensed, his parent's insurance carrier may not pay for the loss as he is not licensed nor listed on their policy. If this kid in unlicensed, he is not even an "excluded" driver on their policy. EVEN THOUGH, report it to their insurance either way!
I know that it's the weekend, although tomorrow is Saturday, you may want to start getting estimates and looking for a body shop where you'd like to fix your vehicle to expedite the process, and give his parents your estimates. Please free to e-mail me or call me if you have any questions. This post can get really long!!!! Good luck.

Reply by The Rose Investigstions and Process Service Inc. - David B. Martz on 9/23/05 9:18pm
Msg #67053

Colleen,
As my primary business is a Private Detective Business and we do allot of insurance investigations i may can shed some light on this. The permitted driver would be on the insurance policy. With that said the mother admitted to letting the son drive her car knowing that this was an illegal act, if the insurance company gets wind of this they can exercise their right not to pay. Now if the boy would have taken the car without permission from the parent this is a horse of a different color. This could come down to a court case as the parent gave the permitted driver permission to drive. This is not to say that the insurance company will not pay and turn around and recoup the loss from the policy holder. It will be up to the Insurance company how they wish to handle this. This is not legal advise as i am not a lawyer.

Reply by ColleenCA on 9/23/05 10:41pm
Msg #67061

Re: Thank you all so much for your advice

The mother called me and was begging me to "save her son loosing his license". I told her that with the extent of the damage, I did what I was legally supposed to do and reported it to the insurance companies. If she wanted to save her son his license, she shouldn't have allowed him to drive alone! Then she says that I hit her son, that I was just trying to make money. Ya right! I have 2 witnesses that saw that it was his fault, and the law in Calif. states that fact anyway. All I want is my car fixed and a rental while it is down. To make a long story short, I told her that I would let the insurance companies handle it, and that I didn't want to talk to her anymore. She started yelling at me, so I just hung up.

As for the documentation, I am a paralegal and realize how valuable that is. I have already documented date, times and contents of all phone calls, etc so I have everything ready to fight back.

Then while I'm on the phone with her, I had a call on my office line for a signing tonight that I had to turn down. I documented that as well as loss of income.

It's all just a hassle that I really don't need, but then at least I'm not in the path of a hurricane...or am I????? LOL

Thanks again everyone. I'm glad to have this forum to turn too for notary issues and otherwise.

Reply by Desiree Roman Innovations, Inc. on 9/24/05 2:07am
Msg #67078

One more tidbit...

I was rear-ended by a woman who "just bought her car" - a real ancient eye sore. I was stopped for a light with cars on every side of me. I saw her coming in too fast but was stuck and couldn't move so I braced for the impact. She says she was putting her shoe on and didn't hit the brake in time. Of course, she hadn't bought her insurance yet (yeah right). When I went to the police station to make the report, they wanted to see MY insurance information or else they were going to give ME a ticket! Then I got the song and dance about lots of people who drive uninsured, and that's why we have uninsured motorists coverage. So even if the kid is not insured, or if he is and the insurance company refuses to cover him because he was alone, YOUR insurance will cover you. So relax and breathe a sigh of relief

Reply by Renee Kovacs on 9/24/05 6:20am
Msg #67083

Colleen - thank God nobody suffered any serious injuries ... or worse. These situations lend everyone valuable lessons, if they chose to learn. Perhaps the mom will make wiser parental decisions, perhaps the boy will spend the rest of his driving career far more cautiously.

There are a few opportunities here for you, also. You seem to have decided to forego the first opportunity to obtain the things you said you wanted, by refusing the offer of cash to pay for damages. There must be additional things that you want?

I empathize with the anger and the sense of violation. Our worlds can be turned upside-down in a heartbeat, any one, at any moment.

There is the opportunity here to act compassionately, in the way that you might hope someone would offer to you. Even the 'smartest' people are not exempt from 'stupid' mistakes, and hind-sight is of course 20/20.

I was hit a couple years ago while sitting at a red light, and that became an epiphany for me. I should NOT have lived through that, yet I was w/out a scratch. I would have had all kinds of opportunity for financial gain, had I sued the poor soul that hit me. (He was NOT drunk, or this might be a different story.) I will deal with the neck and back issues the rest of my life, which I hope is a LONG TIME =) I didn't sue him, in fact I hugged him, he was nearly hysterical over what he had done. I was (and am) just happy to be alive.

Things have a way of finding balance. I am by no means a 'stupid' person, but I am not exempt from making 'stupid' mistakes. Some time ago, I failed to see a school bus with their stop-sign out. The bus was on the opposite side of traffic on a busy street, sitting in a sea of backed-up traffic - my side of the road was not backed-up. I saw the schoolbus only as I passed it, and as I reacted of course I knew it was too late.

There were no children in the road. I want to believe if there had been, I would have seen them since my side of traffic was empty and clear. The what-if's will haunt me the rest of my life - but here's the point: perhaps this was an act of compassion towards me, for the acts of compassion I've given out.

I'm sorry that this is so long, but it hit home and strikes a nerve. Ask yourself again what it is that you really want.

Reply by ColleenCA on 9/26/05 8:08am
Msg #67307

Re: OT: Auto Claims Experts; question- To Renee

I am by no means "looking for any gain" other then getting my car fixed! I am extremely soar from the accident, I have no idea what all could be wrong with my car and I will need a rental while it is being fixed. If I wanted to sue this woman, she has certainly left herself wide open for me to do so. I am highly insulted that you would say this to me without even knowing the full situation. I am not taking cash from her because I simply do not know what the full extent of the damages, etc are at this point and am not going to be in the "hole" because she decided to let her kid drive unlicensed. All she cared about when she called me was that I save Her son's getting his license. No question if I or my son were hurt, etc. Just she'll pay for repair to my car and please save her son his license. I am only doing what I should leagally do. It never would have happened if they were doing what they legally should have done!

Reply by Kevin Thrasher on 9/24/05 3:12pm
Msg #67155

First, don't turn me in for giving legal advise, I'm a Paralegal and a notary. Did you contact the police when the accident happened? You will need an accident report for your insurance company. Second, is your state a no fault state? If it is, your insurance company is resposible for the damage to your vehicle. The only thing you can collect from her is non-economic loss, your deductible. She wants to pay for the damages to avoid legal trouble. The other's are right, document everything that takes place. Now here is the part I could get in trouble telling you. You have a tort claim (negligence) against the mother for failure to properly supervise her child's operation of a deadly weapon which resulted in damage to proprty and injury. This claim goes beyond the non-economic claim. And if she does not have insurance, You can sue her for the damage to your vehicle, non-economic loss (deductable), pain and suffering, the works. If she does have insurance, you can only get non-economic loss. But, you can file the tort claim against her seeking damages unrelated to the car accident. However, the accident will be the underlying cause of the suit. Get a Lawyer!. don't talk to her unless there is a third party who has no interest in the matter is with you. Correspond with her as much as possible and incourage her to do the same with you. Log all loss of income you have suffered as a result of the accident. Get reciepts from people who drive you places if you put gas in their car. I hope you get the picture.