Is there anything we can do?

[Sqgurl01]

My boyfriend got into a car accident with his at the time girl friends car. The car was in his girlfriends and her mother's name. It was a brand new car that should have been covered with full coverage but they did not make the payments and the car was not insured. My boyfriend did not know this at the time of the accident but the mother and daughter were fully aware and still let him drive the vehicle. The mother decided to pay to get the car out of the body shop and made my boyfriend sign an agreement to pay the money back. The said that if he did not sign that they would kick him out of the house and he would get fired from his job. This agreement was typed up by the bodyshop and states that he will pay her mother 200.00 a month until his income increases. The agreement does not state what his income was at the time he signed the agreement. Nor does it list the date each month the payment has to be made. So he technically has anywhere from the first day of the month to the last to make a payment. The agreement does not even state the day the accident took place. It is not notarized and has only one witness signature besides the mother's and his signature. She constantly harrasses him for money since he no longer lives there. Shouldn't the mother and daughter be liable for any damamges to the vehicle because they did not have coverage? Is it legal for them to throw threat's at him to get him to sign the agreement? And if he was financially responsible shouldn't they have let him decide which body shop to take the car to see if he could save money?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

My boyfriend got into a car accident with his at the time girl friends car. The car was in his girlfriends and her mother's name. It was a brand new car that should have been covered with full coverage but they did not make the payments and the car was not insured. My boyfriend did not know this at the time of the accident but the mother and daughter were fully aware and still let him drive the vehicle. The mother decided to pay to get the car out of the body shop and made my boyfriend sign an agreement to pay the money back. The said that if he did not sign that they would kick him out of the house and he would get fired from his job. This agreement was typed up by the bodyshop and states that he will pay her mother 200.00 a month until his income increases. The agreement does not state what his income was at the time he signed the agreement. Nor does it list the date each month the payment has to be made. So he technically has anywhere from the first day of the month to the last to make a payment. The agreement does not even state the day the accident took place. It is not notarized and has only one witness signature besides the mother's and his signature. She constantly harrasses him for money since he no longer lives there. Shouldn't the mother and daughter be liable for any damamges to the vehicle because they did not have coverage? Is it legal for them to throw threat's at him to get him to sign the agreement? And if he was financially responsible shouldn't they have let him decide which body shop to take the car to see if he could save money?

Quick question for you -- why shouldn't the driver of the other car pay for the damage?

The bottom line here is that it wasn't the girlfriend's responsibility to have the best insurance for the car, it was the boyfriend's responsibility to return the car in the same condition he borrowed it. He bears the risk of loss and is the price of borrowing the car. If insurance was such a concern he could have asked about this prior to borrowing it -- regardless, I don't think that hearing about the lesser insurance amount would have had any affect on his decision to take advantage of a free rental.

In addition, I don't think that the "harassment" is really harassment. They are out a good deal of money and have a right to get paid -- wouldn't you feel the same way?

Lastly, written agreements are enforcement and most don't need notarization. It would be onerous to require people to obtain notarization for every agreement they make, e.g. hiring a photographer to take passport photos. The law recognizes that people make deals -- even oral ones -- and that people should be held accountable for their promises that others rely upon in the exchange.

I'm sorry to tell you this but I think it makes much logical sense. I try the "put yourself in the shoes of the victim" mentality and that usually seems to work. Good luck to you and your boyfriend and hope they can work things out amicably.

 

[Duranie]

If youy boyfriend was at fault for the accident, he absolutely has the obligation to pay up. Even if they did have insurance that does not let him off the hook. He would still be liable for any damages not covered by insurance including any deductable and upside down equity. If he agreed to pay the money back, notarized or not, then he needs to pay up or they can sue him.

He sounds really irresponsible. Honestly if he does not know how to drive responsibly he should not have driven the car. Now that he wrecked it, he is negligent and liable for damages.