<p>My son borrowed a roommates car and accidentally drove off an icy road in it, and flipped and totalled the car. No one was hurt. (For that, we are so grateful!) We are paying the parent’s deductable, of course. They are asking their son to pay it back. What else do you think we should do? Thanks.</p>
<p>You should check with your/your son’s insurance. Years ago my father had an accident driving my car and his insurance company-Geico-paid the bills so that I didn’t take the hit on my insurance.</p>
<p>The key is that no one was hurt.</p>
<p>This is one of the prime reasons you do not borrow or lend a car. Ours each had “their” own cars (registered and insured in our names, not theirs) and were told that if ever they lent it out, or borrowed a friend’s, it would be the last time they drove until they could afford to buy and insure their own vehicles.</p>
<p>Just far too much liability, financially and legally for me.</p>
<p>Wow!! Glad no one was hurt.</p>
<p>sillymilly, My S1 wrecked his roommates truck last spring. He was hauling a couch and a loveseat in the back, changed lanes but didn’t see the small car in the lane beside him and sideswiped it. No one was hurt. The car he hit was a rental so the driver was not even upset (had bought insurance).</p>
<p>The truck was really old and not worth much. Even though it was just dented on one side, it was declared a total loss. The roommate took the money his insurance co. offered. His Dad has a fleet of work trucks for his business so gave his S another old one to drive.
S felt terrible and offered to do whatever was needed to make amends.
Turns out the roommate’s insurance did not increase because he wasn’t driving…might have had something to do with the father’s business,not sure. He just told S1 that he didn’t owe him anything.</p>
<p>I think your offering to pay the deductible was the reasonable thing to do. You did your part.
Hopefully, their insurance won’t take a huge jump. If so, they can blame their S for loaning the car.</p>
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<p>Whatever cost his friend incurs should also be your son’s responsibility, IMHO.</p>
<p>So you are paying the parents’ deductible and the roommate’s parents are making the roommate pay YOU back?</p>
<p>Maybe the roommate’s parents want to teach their kid that even when you loan your vehicle out, you are responsible. It might make him think twice about loaning his vehicle out in the future.</p>
<p>I totaled my roommate’s car when I was 21. I had pollen allergies, it was Easter Sunday and my roommate was flying in to the local airport. Everything was covered in pollen and I was sick as can be.</p>
<p>I remember the look of concern on her face re handing me her keys and asking me to pick her up at the airport. She has never seen me drive. I had no car. I was a daydreamer. Her father repaired trucks for a living and her Mom had a beauty parlor in their basement. She was not wealthy. </p>
<p>I went through a red light turning left while sneezing…the green arrow was over but a. I guess I sneezed when that happened, and b. I didn’t have enough sense to pull over till I stopped sneezing. I got out and told everyone “it is all my fault.” </p>
<p>My roommate waited and waited at the airport, and saw another Furman student and got in his car. They drove past me on the side of the road in her wrecked vehicle.</p>
<p>Not one of the happiest days in my life. My parents were also not generous and were financially pinched and I don’t think they “did the right thing.” Her father ended up fixing that car without much from my Dad to help. Everytime she turned left or right though we could hear some broken glass sliding around still somewhere in the back. </p>
<p>Kids who are 21 often don’t have their executive functioning brain in full operation…boys or girls. Some are quite impressive I admit at that age…I was not functioning on all pistons then myself as a driver…too inexperienced and not sure where I was half the time.</p>
<p>“Whatever cost his friend incurs should also be your son’s responsibility, IMHO.”</p>
<p>I agree. That’s the way the world works. Tough lesson, but that’s life. Even though one breaks things through sheer accident – one still ends up being responsible for the costs.</p>
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[quote]
Son wrecked roommates car!
My son borrowed a roommates car and accidentally drove off an icy road in it, and flipped and totalled the car. No one was hurt. (For that, we are so grateful!) We are paying the parent’s deductable, of course. They are asking their son to pay it back. What else do you think we should do? Thanks. [\quote]</p>
<p>My question (and NOT a criticism of the OP’s actions) is at what age would you expect your child to deal with the financial consequences? 18 - too young, IMO, 25 - way past sell-by-date… I was rereading the OP thinking, what if the son was a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, grad student…</p>
<p>As my youngest is a freshman, and my oldest has graduated, this transition of responsibility is one that we are still working through - daily. Most recently with the oldest it was gently letting him know that we have given him the car to drive, we are giving him the car itself, and now that he is working and earning, he has to maintain the (not at all new) car. </p>
<p>When he left a debt to his former roommate, he had to pay it off. And he did. Friendship still intact, although I think he learned a thing or two there.</p>
<p>I guess this is a dumb question, but how does it work when you are driving someone else’s car and have an accident? Does their insurance pay or does yours? My S was just asking me about this the other day. He was telling me that lots of kids at his school loan their cars to other kids to make runs for food, or to Target, or even to take kids to the airport. He asked me who was liable if there was an accident and I didn’t know the answer.</p>
<p>Patsmom -
I’d make it crystal clear to son that HE is not to drive anyone else’s car, and NO ONE ELSE is to drive his. Under any circumstances. Then what you have is an interesting intellectual discussion about legal liability, instead of an object lesson. :-)</p>
<p>I’m interested in this discussion because we’ve given our kids the go-ahead to loan their vehicles to roommates for quick runs to drugstore/grocery, etc. as my roomie save my life on numerous occasions when I was in school. Are we wrong? </p>
<p>Thinking about it, my understanding is the two insurance companies (the vehicle’s company and the driver’s company, if he’s insured) would hash out the responsibility for the accident. I vaguely remember something about driver’s insurance covering bodily injury (god forbid!) and owner’s insurance covering damage to vehicle–not totally sure</p>
<p>The OP is right to pay for the deductible and clarify with the family if there’s something else they need.</p>
<p>Our daughter just got into an accident driving the BF’s car. His insurance took care of the costs. She is paying back the deductible. His insurance cost did not increase because he was not the one driving.</p>
<p>I insist my daughter not drink and drive as I’m sure all of you do. Sometime that may entail letting someone she trusts drive her and her car home or drop her at home or school so I don’t lay down any hard and fast rules.</p>
<p>Your insurance would pay for any damage to your car. They would claim against other insurance companies if they choose to. We have told D1 that under no circumstance is she to let anyone drive her car. If someone should get in an accident and hurt someone (or kill someone), the injured party would sue whoever has deeper pocket. By letting someone else drive your car, you are making a judgement call that the other person is a capable driver. </p>
<p>It happened to someone who I used to work with. He let hist brother borrow his car. His brother was going through a traffic light (just turned green) when a woman went through a yellow light (which then turned red), two collided and the woman died. The woman’s estranged husband took my friend to court for letting an unfit person (his brother) drive his car, which in turn killed his wife. The case dragged out for years. My friend went as far as transferring all of his assets to someone else’s name. The case finally got settled. </p>
<p>If anyone needs a car when he/she visits me and wants to borrow my car, I would try to get him/her to rent a car, or I would pay for it if the person is not able to do so.</p>
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<p>I would really re-think about that policy. With kids, it may just be someone who is less drunk. If they should get into an accident (not related to reckless driving) and someone should get hurt, your liability would be huge.</p>
<p>Insurance can vary from state to state. In our state (NC), the insurance follows the vehicle, not the driver. </p>
<p>When S1 wrecked his roommates truck, the officer who responded to the accident told S1 that our insurance was not applicable in this situation. He (the cop) needed to see the insurance on the roommate’s truck.
It was the roommate’s insurance co. ( in IL)that paid out the $$ when the truck was estimated to be a total loss. The roommate’s insurance rate did not increase because he was not driving the car.</p>
<p>S1 was a 21 yr. old college senior at the time. If there had been money owed on his part, it would have definitely come out of his pocket not ours.</p>
<p>The insurance typically follows the car and the driver’s insurance kicks in as secondary coverage if the owner of the car didn’t carry enough insurance. When kids are driving cars and possibly allowing their friends to drive, parents should carry a $1m in liability coverage or have an umbrella policy. Even if someone else is driving your car, injured parties will often sue the owner.</p>
<p>It’s the car that is insured, not the driver. It is a mistake to allow friends of your children to drive your/their cars. We’ve always made this clear to our Ds. You can have a reasonable expectation of the driving habits of your own children, not so with others. If a friend is driving your car and causes a bad accident where someone is hurt or even worse, then the liability that may be attached to you can be a big problem. If your kids are routinely lending the car out, you should, as cartera has mentioned, be sure that you have a very high limit on your liability coverage and/or an umbrella policy. Even a $1m limit may not be high enough in some states. We have $5m on our vehicles, and additional umbrella coverage.</p>
<p>It is not always the case that someone’s rates won’t increase because someone else was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. I would not count on that being the case. In fact, I would think that that is a rarity.</p>