Car accident, what to do?

[Jzero]

Maybe the business's insurance isn't going to pay, but that business is still certainly on the hook for their employee's actions! Call your insurance company...they will take the business to court if they have to.

 

[ElFenix]

Maybe the business's insurance isn't going to pay, but that business is still certainly on the hook for their employee's actions! Call your insurance company...they will take the business to court if they have to.

iirc, agency law says nothing of the sort.

 

[Fizzorin]

iirc, agency law says nothing of the sort.

If he's "on the clock" he's the business' responsibility whether they want it or not. If he was off the clock, like driving to or from work, there's still the question of permissive use of the vehicle.

 

[krylon]

pics of your fiancee?

 

[Jzero]

If he's "on the clock" he's the business' responsibility whether they want it or not. If he was off the clock, like driving to or from work, there's still the question of permissive use of the vehicle.

Actually that may be where the "not authorized to use the vehicle" excuse came from....if he was not on company business.

I think it's still hard for the company to dodge the bullet, though.

 

[rasczak]

if yo have not contacted your insurance company, do so jnow, have them make the repairs to your car, and have them subrogate (i.e go after the douchebag who hit caused the accident) the repairs fees.

you should have called your insuarnace company the moment you were hit just to get a claim file started. waiting a month or two makes it that much harder for your ins. company to do its job.

 

[SportSC4]

Rasczak, we've already contacted the insurance company and everything. We contacted them the next business day. Right now we're just waiting for everything to happen - if that makes sense.

With the whole 'not authorized to drive that vehicle' thing going on... I think the insurance is trying not to pay with the excuse that they only cover driver's with a valid license. Total BS. The letter from my fiancee's insurance just said they are still investigating this whole thing. We got letters from both insurance companies (the guys and whoever owns the car) that said they aren't covering the accident... oh, and the tickets the guy has gotten, we're all in the same car, so he's been driving his scion tc for at least a year. In fact, he was still driving it when he got his latest ticket a couple weeks ago...

I think we're going to forgo the whole hiring an attorney. But we still need to find out if my fiancee's rates will go up (it shouldn't but i'd rather it be clear). Worst case we file something in small claims court.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Bullshit. The company is liable for that car whether the guy was authorized or not to drive it. Even if there insurance refuses to pay the company should. Sounds like they are trying to skate on it.

That depends on their actions.

Company insurance covers authorized drivers, it does not cover everyone in the company. Also, the company is not technically liable for unauthorized drivers either (think about it, if someone steals your car and gets into an accident, are you liable).

Now, if there is evidence that the driver was, in fact, authorized, then the company is liable. It would also be possible to argue for a de-facto authorization if he had regular access to the keys, had driven the vehicle on previous occasions, or was allowed to keep his job after the accident since misuse of company property is generally grounds for termination.

For those talking about the company filing a police report for a stolen vehicle, that's simply not reasonable. It is entirely possible (indeed, it is more than probable) that the company did not even know that the unauthorized driver had taken the car until after the accident. Even if the company decided not to press charges, that still is not enough to indicate a de-facto authorization as the company may feel that termination is sufficient retribution and that the potential loss of goodwill from pursuing a conviction of the terminated employee would be a greater cost than simply paying out of pocket to replace the vehicle.

ZV

 

[Uppsala9496]

Let the insurance companies do their thing.

And of course the company policy on the car used by the individual that caused the accident is going to initially deny coverage, especially if he wasn't 'authorized' to use the vehicle. Don't worry about that. They (or the company itself) will end up paying. It just takes a while.

 

[spacejamz]

I got rear-ended pretty good back in October and it cost over $7K of damage to an 08 Honda Accord Coupe... The rear end damage (back bumper had to be replaced along with a bunch of other work) for $6K and the little nicks in the front (because he pushed me into the car in front of me) was about $1K (I brought my car to the dealership body shop). If two bumpers were damaged, the OP's estimate sounds kinda low, especially if Insurance is going to repair it.

Thankfully, the guy that hit me had pretty good insurance (Unitrin) who paid for my rental and all of the repair work which took 7 weeks to complete.

I did not involve my insurance company as it would have gone on my record as a no-fault claim (I talked to my agent who is a good friend of mine about this). This may or may not cause your premium to go up so this is something you need to find out. However, if the insurance company has already created a claim, it may be too late. I agree that the insurance is there for accidents, but it causes a increase your premium to go up, you should consider if just paying out of pocket to keep your premium from going up might be the better course of action.