Car accident. I'm uninsured. Who's responsible for paying?

Mutt

You are responsible to pay the victim's insurance company what they say you owe, and then you would be responsible to go after your friend to get the money from them.

Bill in Kansas

Your car = your responsibility

Ya heard me

Morally, they should pay for it but legally it will be on you since it was your car and you violated the insurance law. Be grateful someone wasn't seriously injured and if you are going to own a running vehicle, at least have liability for cases just like this.

Boo

You are the owner of the vehical, thus you are liable. You should also be ticketed for not having insurance on the vehicle. $650 is getting off easy. You are the one who lent out the car to your friend. It's up to YOU to collect the money from them.

Melissa

Uninsured drivers are the worst! You are getting what you deserve! You will have to pay the $650.00. It would have been so much cheaper to have had insurance!

About a year ago someone ran off the road and into my car in my drive way and my car went through my garage. They were uninsured so my insurance had to cover EVERYTHING, so it made my insurance go UP!

GET INSURANCE OR DON"T DRIVE!!

Rick W

No, it was your vehicle that slid in the rainy weather into another car. If you refuse to pay you can be taken to court and you will be told that your friend was not driving safely. I highly suggest you pay it off, if you don't it could be a costly lawsuit.

freshstart18

your car, your responsibility.
pay the fee and be happy it's only $650.
if your friend killed someone you'd have a huge lawsuit on your hands and they'd take everything you had to pay the bills.

INTERNET HATE MACHINE 2.0

It's required by law to have insurance on a vehicle

That 650 is like 6 months worth of insurance...

Man some people...

Pay the insurance bill it's your car

Joshua H

If your friend doesn't offer to reimburse you, (s)he's not a friend.

stenobrachius

You are legally liable to pay it, as the owner of the uninsured car. Ethically your friend should reimburse you, and you may win a claim in small claims court. But lose the friend in the process.

wizjp

If state law says you are required as owner to have insurance, it's your bad.

If not, it's the driver.

boknaai

You must pay damages as the vehicle is your responsibility. you can take the matter up with your friend in any way you like -after you have settled the debt.

,if you cant afford insurance then you shouldn't have wheels!!!

Pat F

If you make a stink the law will end up citing you for knowingly lending a car to an unisured driver. But the accident is your friend's fault. I would take the bill from the insurance company and send it back to them with a letter stating you were not driving the vehicle and they need to send the bill to the person who was. Give the insurance company as much info as possible on the other driver. The driver of the hit vehicle will almost certainly end up looking to sue someone for personal injury. Some lawyer will read the police report and give them a call and explain whiplash and insurance payments. You want to make sure everyone knows who was driving your car at the time of the accident.

And FYI thanks so much for putting me and other drivers at great financial risk by not having insurance and letting another uninsured driver drive your car. Just like shoplifters I end up paying more for insurance to cover irresponsible people like you and your friend. Can't afford insurance? Take the bus.

These other folks are idiots. The driver is repsponsible not the car. When you rent a car from AVIS if you get in an accident you pay not AVIS

Petey

Legally, isn't very complicated : you pay the $650.
Then you get yourself some insurance, or else sell the car. That way, at least it won't be around to tempt you or anyone else...

You have to pay this.
Your friend should help pay this (that would be the nice thing to do).

Annie G

YOU are responsible. And it's people like you that really pi$$ me off. I've been hit twice by uninsured motorists. Why should my insurance company have to cover the cost of negligent uninsured drivers? You are the reason our insurance rates are so high. I don't know where you live but here in Iowa, if you are in an accident and cannot show proof of insurance, your license is taken by the police immediately. I'd love to see all states pass a law that says if you can't show proof of insurance you can't renew your driver's license nor license your car. If you can't afford insurance, you shouldn't own a car.

IceT

Since it was your car you have to pay. The only thing you can do is try to get the money from your friend. You either need to get insurance or not lend your car to friends.

liltray92

No you cannot win the cause because you lent out the car without it being insured and your car hit the other car..... did your friend say that they would pay half or something if not see if they would and if not your out of luck sorry.

Mr G

The insurance company has every right to go after you to recover money. You were negligent by failing to have insurance and lending the vehicle. Count yourself lucky no one was hurt or that you do not get a hefty fine for failing to have insurance. People like you are the reason we have to pay extra for uninsured motorists.

Rebecca

I don't know about where you are, but in Ohio it's against the law to drive without insurance.

Anyway, it's legally your responsibility to pay the money. You are the owner of the car and the person who allowed someone to borrow it. There's always a chance that something will happen when you lend anything to a friend, especially a car. I personally would never lend my car to a friend, unless it was a dire emergency. I'd rather just drive them somewhere myself.

Have you even spoken to your friend about paying you back for getting in the accident? I would just pay the fine and then, if you want, go to small claims. Honestly, your friend probably won't even want to be taken to court so he/she might just pay you if you say that you do want to take him/her to court. My mom owns a business and when people don't pay she'll threaten to take them to court and they immediately pay because it just isn't worth the time and money to go to court.

I highly doubt your friend will remain your friend if you sue them, however.

You're really, really lucky it was just a fender bender. It could have been so much worse. I recommend that, after this is all over, you get insurance and don't let other's drive your car.

Low Gear

You may be able to sue your friend and let him pay for half of it but you are partially responsible. You let your car be driven without insurance.

submarine7

You are. It is illegal to drive without car insurance. You may be able to get the ticket passed on to your friend, but do you really want to loose a friend over your stupidity? It was your fault for letting them drive the car...and it was your fault for not insuring the car they were driving. (my parents have some thing where who ever drives their car is insured) Maybe split it. One of you have to.. the victim def shouldn't have to! Its your choice, loose a friend or pay a bill.

Toledo Engineer

First of all, I'm pretty sure all 50 states require you to have some form of car insurance now on all registered vehicles (which basically means good license plate tags). But there could still be one or two holding out. So you could probably get cited for that. As well as your friend for driving without insurance.

Even though your friend was driving, they can take you to court for the damages since it was your car that hit them. If there was a police report filled out for this accident, get a copy of it. Most places put them online now. You can then prove that you had nothing to do with the crash, except that you owned the vehicle. But even though they can bill (and sue if you don't pay) you, you can then take your friend to court for the damages that you had to pay for on both vehicles. Since it was their driving that caused the accident and damage.

Just last week I was watching Jugde Judy after I got off work, which is small claims, and one teenager was driving another teenager's car and they got into an accident. The car's owner couldn't drive due to something that had happened and was in the passenger seat during all of this. The guy driving was eventually ordered to pay for damages to the car (which was totaled) since he was the one behind the wheel at the time of the accident. And I'm fairly sure this precedent holds true for most, if not all, US States.

fire_bug21

the laws vary from state to state. However it ultimately falls on the owner of the car. They will be the ones responsible for the no insurance ticket but the victim can collect from you that's why I never loan my car to any one

GREGORY G

possess as much information as you could maybe is one of the options,however it is quite time consuming,here http://www.CarInsuranceFree.info/free-car-insurance.htm is the resource i have ever had good experience.

Chanel

if my child was a passenger in the back seat of a car, driven by a family member-and they were involved in an accident-causing serious injury; and if the relative driving was clearly responsible for the accident-BUT had an undisclosed medical condition ie diagnosed 2 years ago with early dementia......would my child or any other adult in that car be covered by 3rd party insurance?(they also have private/comprehensive car insurance) i'm concerned-naturally-as the driver has said he will stop driving if the adult passenger whom he trusts-says 'it's time'. the passenger also has 2 reportable med conditions that she also has not disclosed-where are we if they are involved in a serious accident:-the child is 14 going on 15 this year.

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