QuestionMy daughter was backing out of my driveway and hit her friend's parked car. On several occasions I asked the girl's parents to get in touch with me regarding the damage and heard nothing. Two months later another friend hit the same girl's parked car doing damage on the same side of the car but in a different spot. The following month the car owners asked the two insured parties for a combined total of $2700.
The blue book value of the car is $800. The estimate for my daughter's damage is $1500 and includes repairs for damage not caused by my daughter. I have liability insurance on my daughter's car and understand that I am liable for some damages but I am not willing to pay for damages that my daughter did not cause. What should I do?
Answer Hello Marie,
If I am understanding you correctly, there were no claims filed and the owner of the car in question is now asking two private parties for a sum greater than the value of the car.
Yes, your liability coverage will pay for the damages - caused by your daughter's hit only. The problem would be if you never filed a claim and the insurance company never had an opportunity to document and estimate the damages.
What you need to do is to file a liability claim with your carrier and let them sort it out. You need to make sure that they are aware of all of the details so that the 2nd hit is not included in their appraisal.
Having said that, however, if the car is only valued at $800, chances are your daughter's hit "totaled" it. What that would mean is that your liability coverage would pay the owner up to the fair value of the car - nothing more. If the damage caused by your daughter reached that value, your coverage would be responsible regardless of the 2nd hit. If it did not reach $800 - which is probably unlikely, then your coverage would be responsible only for the actual amount of damages your daughter caused.
The owner cannot collect for damages greater than the value of the car. If they are filing similar claims with two insurance companies, each carrier needs to be made aware of that. If your daughter's hit totaled it, the second carrier should pay nothing.
Let the insurance companies work it out, but make certain that both insured parties inform the carriers of the specific details. Chances are, it will only be your coverage that will pay out.
Since you pay for liability insurance, I would not recommend that you pay for any of this out of pocket. That is never a good idea in my opinion. It leads to too many potential serious problems.
Is this insurance fraud? Not if there are no insurance companies involved. But if claims are filed, fraud would only apply if it could be established that the owner is presenting false claims for monetary benefit. That would require an insurance investigation. It would not be your direct concern. Just make certain that both carriers are aware of all details.
Hope this helps.
Jane Pytel
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