Auto Insurance Claims: Vehicle Involved in Accident, No Insurance, motor vehicle accident, unsafe lane change

Question
Vehicle Involved in Accident, No Insurance

Hi,
Can you please provide me some advice?  My 18 year old daughter was involved in a Motor Vehicle Accident in which ONLY she received a citation for "unsafe lane change".  At the time of this accident, the vehicle she was driving had NO INSURANCE, as we were having difficulties with our insurance company trying to settle a payment dispute.  In any event, once the insurance co found out there was an accident, they refused to cover me, so I got screwed.

Here's my dilemma.....Motor vehicle has just notified myself & my husband that because the vehicle is registered to us, our registration as well as driver's license's have been suspended for 1 year, & we are now required to carry & SR22 for 3 years.  My daughter seems to be SCOTT free here, no notices regarding her license being suspended, no demand for her to carry an SR22 if she purchases a vehicle, etc.  Both my husband & I have SPOTLESS driving records, no accidents, no tickets, nothing in over 20 years.  Now to complicate matters further, I'm being hassled by the insurance company of the person whom my daughter was involved in this accident with, to pay up a very LARGE amount of money.  

Do I have any sort of recourse at all???  We have notified Motor Vehicle that she had the vehicle without our knowledge, they don't really care.  HELP!!!!!!!!  By the way this all took place in October 2006, in the State of Arizona.

Any advice you can provide would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Answer
Hi Eileen,

I'm sorry about all your trouble.

Unfortunately, if the vehicle is titled in your name then you are 100% responsible for anything that happens with the vehicle. It is your responsibility to be sure that the vehicle is insured and that the premiums are paid, regardless of any arrangements with other people. Your daughter may have been at fault for the accident, but it was your responsibility to be sure the vehicle insurance was maintained.

About the only way to get out of any of this would have been back at the time of the accident and would have required you to file charges against your daughter for stealing the car. Assuming that you would not have wanted to go that far, you will just have do work out the best deal you can to pay off the other insurance company over time.  

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh