QuestionMy 16 year old unlicensed daughter took my car without permission and had caused an accident. My insurance company said that if I don't have her charged with grand theft auto, it must be implied consent. What are the implications of that?
AnswerDear Susan,
I am Morgan Jacobsen, a personal injury attorney at www.SettlementCentral.Com Since Dr. Settlement is down and out for last week and this week, I have been asked to take over his service here so that will not have to wait any longer.
Dr. Settlement had two dozen requests like yours backed up, and he wanted me to contact him on each answer I am submitting for him, just to be sure that you questioners get the best information. He also wants me to give FULL information to compensate all of those who have waited for his answers.
Thank you in advance should you send any well-wishes, which I will pass along to him. Meanwhile, Dr. Settlement thanks you for your patience and understanding and he hopes to be back to work later this week (at which time he will face a full two week’s worth of backlog ).
You are trying to use your own insurance to pay for damages to your vehicle—and perhaps third party damages as well. You did not state whether or not your daughter caused any property damage or personal injury to any third party, but I will address that anyway.
The beginning point is your own policy. Most likely, your insurance does NOT cover non-permissive drivers. Hence, if a driver took your car without permission, and caused damages to both your car and to a third party, your own insurance will not pay any damages to the third party, and your own coverage for damages will be subject to your deductible. Does that make sense?
So, your insurance is giving you two ways around that problem. You have asked the implications of declaring her to be EITHER a felon or to be driving with your implied consent.
There are FOUR kinds of consequences that you will need to check out before making your decision. You can make the contacts on your own, unless there is a lot of third party damage exposure, in which case you might want to consult an attorney.
FIRST, call the juvenile court and speak with a probation officer to get an idea of how they would handle this crime.
SECOND, figure out whether there will be financial consequences to using implied consent in order to get coverage. For example, will they raise your rates if you gave implied consent to an unlicensed driver? Your sources will be both the insurance agent you sold you the policy AND the state insurance commissioner http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php
Ask whether or not this can be construed as an “at-fault” accident if you use the implied consent defense.
THIRD, if there is third party damage, get a handle on the amount of the damage in order to see if you want to pay it yourself or to suffer the consequences of the criminal charge to your daughter or the raised rates of implied consent. In other words, if she caused only $500 in damages, you would be more inclined to just pay that yourself. But if the third party damages were a lot more, you surely will try to find a way to get this accident covered.
FOURTH, if there is only damage to your vehicle, then figure out whether or not it is even worth going thru your insurance to pay the damages. In other words, if all that you are saving by using your insurance is some amount that you could pay over time, then why not delay repairs to your car or cut down on the repair bill and hence eliminate the need to make a claim under your policy.
One way people do that is by agreeing to repair with USED and/or NON-OEM PARTS. Often the repair bill can be reduced substantially if one agrees to take after-market parts, as opposed to Original Equipment Manufacture’s (OEM) parts. Plus there are often good used parts available in order to cut down the costs of repair. That is one way to keep your vehicle without incurring high expenses.
I trust that my time here has been of value to you, and if so, I am asking you to take a moment to leave some feedback for Dr. Settlement.
Good luck on recovering from this loss, Susan. And remember, all of us did some dumb stuff somewhere in our lives (maybe mine was not confined to early years!)
Morgan Jacobsen, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
Http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
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Dear Susan
I am sorry to say that our own Dr. Settlement is out sick still. He went down last week with the flu, and he thought that he would be back on Monday. Things did not improve today, so rather than wait for him to return in order to answer your question, I am going to pass your inquiry along to another experienced personal injury attorney at www.settlementcentral.com Her name is Morgan Jacobsen, J.D. She will set aside all of her work tomorrow in order to get to the backlog of work on the desk of Dr. Settlement. Hence, while we apologize for the delay owing to sickness, we are tuned in to the needs of those Dr. Settlement is serving---so expect your answer from attorney Jacobsen tomorrow morning. .
Very Truly Yours,
Douglas H. Green, President
Www.SettlementCentral.Com
