who is responsible for damages when borrowing and damaging a car?

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georgecat

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my son lent his car to a girl who ran a red light and caused an accident. his car was totaled and she is refusing responsibility saying his brakes failed and that the passenger in the back seat will attest to that. my son has maintenace records showing the car was well-maintained and the front brakes were changed 10 months ago and the rear brakes that were damaged in the accident had 50% brake pad life left. my son asked her to reimburse him the lower of either 1) the blue book less salvage plus towing fees or 2)the cost to repair. he got a written estimate for the repair and a copy of the kelly blue book value for his car. his insurance did not include collision coverage and that is why he would like her to take 100% responsibility for replacing his car since as it stands, his insurance premium will be negatively impacted since she was found to be 100% responsible for the accident and his insurance will pay out to the damage to the other car as well as medical claims. she is claiming that he lent her a "faulty" car as the brakes failed and he should be thankful she prevented him from being in an accident. she had hired an attorney and she is telling him he threatened her life as well as her 3 passengers by lending a defective car to her. my son is not even entertaining her comments (which he has on email) but is proceeding to file a lawsuit in small claims court. note that the 2 are students in a major university. my son is 21 and the girl he lent his car to is 20. the other question is this? she has car insurance as she just purshased a new foreign car and it was at the dealership hence her request to borrow his car. can her insurance cover the damages to the other car as well as reimburse my son for his car?
 
Lesson learned about not carrying full coverage.
If the friend refuses to pay then try small claims. If the friend doesn't have the money or any assets then pursuing a judgment may not do much good. She will likely not get far with her argument of bad brakes, but neither will your son with maintenance records. You would probably do well to avoid the maintenance issue and just stick to her liability.

As for her insurance, if she actually had coverage at the time of the accident, and if that policy covers her while driving other people's vehicles (unlikely), then you might eventually get payment, but not without an attorney's help. The cost of the attorney may not be practical if it is an inexpensive vehicle.

I think your son learned a lesson the hard way... if his vehicle was not covered he should not have loaned it out.
 
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Definitely your son learned a lesson nut now that is not enough. If the girl is refusing to pay then you will only have to pay and its your loss. The girl's license should be taken away this would be the good penalty for her.
 
definitely a good lesson learned. don't lend car out unless you have a signed waiver/contract as you cannot trust that the borrower will take responsibility for their actions.
 
it will be interesting and a good learning experience in small claims court. it was not a friend but a school acquaintance that asked to borrow his car as her brand new car was at the dealership......so it appears the acquaintance is far from destitute as she has acquired an attorney and her parents flew in from a foreign country. at this point, he just feels she is trying to intimidate him when all he is asking for is that she be responsible for the damages to his car since she asked to borrow his car and caused an accident. his insurance will pay for the damages/medical claims to the car that she caused damage to and this negatively impacts his future premiums so he just feels the ethical thing to do is for her to take responsibility for the damage to his car.
 
Hi, your son learned a valuable lesson, and I bet the girl has also. You should let the kids solve this out themselves, instead of asking around for help. Let them solve this out, they are already in their 20's. And looks like neither your son or the girl will win the case 100%. You should have agreed to any offers made by the girl instead of taking her to small claims court. Its a loss.
Also, it is not right for you to judge whether the girl is destitute or not. Its her business, and her parents' business. You should merely look at the matter, on the accident, instead of making assumptions about the girl and using those reasons against her.
I hope you take these into account, and advise your son to do the right thing.
 
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