mattzheng

hey everybody. I got t-boned by a 86' GMC truck today. I was on the middle turning lane and was getting ready to turn left, and out of no where the fucking truck t-boned me at my right side, both of my front and rear door needs to be replaced, so is the rear quarter panel, and some other stuff like the center pillar and the side steps.
So the cop came, after some argument, the cop decided that it was both of our fault, and decided not to write neither of us tickets. The cop said that it was the trucker drivers fault because he was suppose to yield right of way, but it was my fault because I got on the turning lane too soon. does this make any sense? also, my mom is the only name on the insurance, so, it there anyway to make claim against my (or my mom's) insurance even though I was driving the car?? Any help would be greatly appreciated, pleaseeeee

kennyc

are you covered under your mom's policy?

Riu

If your not covered under your moms insurance your mom better start looking for a new insurance company.

JERU

Man oh man, if your coming to Acurazine for legal help, you are in trouble.
Start by pulling out your mom's insurance policy and reading it. After that give the Insurance company a call, but do not tell them your name or policy numbers. Ask them the same questions. They will make a record of what you say, so until you are ready, do not give them names, numbers or places. You are just a curious guy off the street with some questions.

93SHOcar

IMHO, if you are regularly driving the car, the insurance company may have issue with the fact you weren't on the policy. However, if for example, you are just visiting from out of state and happened to use the car when this happened, you would be considered a "permissive" user and your Mom's insurance would cover it. The key, at least from what I understand, is whether you are a regular user of the vehicle. My $.02.

MichaelBenz

iTrader: (2)

Most likely you will be covered under moms policy...if not....most likely her insurance will cover the damages and spank her pretty bad on rates or cancel her. There ususally is a clause in there that covers if she "loans" the car out, if you catch my drift. Just cant be a normal everyday thing....hense....why she never added you to the policy.

joed40

In the fair and taxable state of CT, you would not have a problem. It's the car that is insured, not you. If I were to let a friend borrow my car (fat chance), and they were involved in a MVA my car would be covered. I don't know where you live, but that's how it usually works.
We live just next door to Mass., which could be why the insurance is like it is, there are still a lot of Kennedy's driving. Not to mention I think Ted's liver has it's own car, or possibly a chauffeur.

05TLTony

Your mom's insurance will cover another driver (ex. you), if you reside at a different address and are "borrowing" the vehicle to say, run to the supermarket or something. If you reside at the same address and are not in the policy, you may be screwed. Exactly what Joed40 said.

mamboking

avs007

Doesn't make a damn difference, what your address is. If your policy allows permisive use, it allows permissive use. They can't prove you are a regular driver or not. Even if, by definition, you can "permit" somone to regularly use your car. Like me letting my neighbor use my lawn mower whenever he wants. If they want to exclude this type of thing, they MUST explicitely define what permissive use means. So I'd look into your policy about that if you are worried.

Besides. What if your mom doesn't want you to "regularly" use her car, and as such doesn't list your name on the car. She is still allowed to let you borrow it, should you need to borrow the car.

davenlei

You should be covered unless her policy specifically excludes you. With my insurance, they want to know everyone that lives in the same household of driving age which I will not be putting on the policy. Then they take that list and place them on the specific exclusion list of the policy so if they get into an accident with my car, the insurance company will not cover the damages.

EnvisionTL

First of all, glad you are not hurt. Secondly, my insurance company is similar to that of davenlei's. They (the insurance company) sent us a letter requiring us to list all our roommates (I dont live at home) so they can exclude them from the policy. The insurance paperwork is under my mom's name and goes to her house. So you should re-read your policy to see if there are any exclusions or you can try what other members have suggested, to contact insurance company and ask questions without giving them specific info about you or your situation. Good luck with it.

mattzheng

thanx you guys, you guys have been really helpful. more infos for you guys, I was looking at her insurance card, Her name is the only one that is under "Insured". Also, i live in Florida. some one mention that if we have different address then it qualifies for "permissive" use, which "supposely" will cover the cost, but me and my mom lives in the same address, is there anyway Geico will prove that we live in the same address and refuse to pay for the damage? again, thank you guys for being so helpful in a diffcult time like this (at least for me)

mattzheng

New Info, I wrote to Geico yesterday pretending someone is doing a comparison shopping and asked them about the "permissive usage coverage" and here is what they wrote:

Dear Matt

Thank you for your inquiry.

The situation you described is taken care of on a case by cases.

We do require that all drivers of a vehicle insured by us be listed on the
policy.

We do understand that there are situations where someone may borrow the
vehicle. If they have your permission and have a valid driver's license,
this usually isn't a problem and would be covered.

Sincerely,
[Name of Representative Blanked Out]

GEICO: Internet Sales Representative
-------------------------------------------------------------



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pimpinz427@aol.com
> Sent: Feb 11, 2006 12:36:11 PM EST
> To: ratequotes@geico.com
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> Hello,I'm doing a comparison shopping for my new car insurance, and
> is looking for the company with the best coverage. My question is if I
> purchase insurance from your company, does it automatically come with permissive
> use coverage, which means that if I lend my car to someone else, and they got
> into an accident, and I will still be able to make claims against my own
> insurance even though my name is the only one under "Person Insured"? Any replies
> will be appreciated.
>
>
> Sincerely Yours,
>
> Matt Zheng

sftroy

Was it cool when the side airbags deployed?? It's an option that I don't ever want to have to use, but I've always wanted to see them work!!

Glad you were not hurt.

mattzheng

the side airbag didnt deploy, because the hit wasnt severe enough to deploy airbags, but it is severe enough to cause 8000 dollars worth of damage

mickey3c

[QUOTE=mattzheng]New Info, I wrote to Geico yesterday pretending someone is doing a comparison shopping and asked them about the "permissive usage coverage" and here is what they wrote:

Dear Matt

Thank you for your inquiry.

The situation you described is taken care of on a case by cases.

We do require that all drivers of a vehicle insured by us be listed on the
policy.

We do understand that there are situations where someone may borrow the
vehicle. If they have your permission and have a valid driver's license,
this usually isn't a problem and would be covered.

Sincerely,
[Name of Representative Blanked Out]



I know in mass.. you have to have all the drivers (where the car is principally garaged) listed on the policy. Now this might not be the current regs, but it was to avoid people from having drivers that were greater risk driving the car.

kennyc

I asked my insurance agent once why my premium were so high. He indicated that it's because my roommate has a very bad driving record.

It effects my rate just b/c we live under the same roof and even though he is not on the list of authorized drivers.

drdamian

If you can prove that you live somewhere else, via bill in your name for a different address. Or, if yo have a lease in your name somewhere else then you should be okay.

jimmyjet

Kenny, if your roommate is specifically omitted from the policy you can save a few dollars. I shared a house with a few people in Colorado several years ago - one of which was a real drag-on-society type of guy. We all had our own cars and didn't share them for any reason so I had all my roommates names specifically listed as NON-drivers on my policy. I saved myself a few hundred bucks!

NyRider

Well Matt let me explain how this happened to my friend my friend. Well you see his mother was extremely sick and she was having dizzy spells:wink: and she couldnt drive so she leant her son (my friend) her car so that he could go buy her some medicine. Unfourtunatly the one and only time she did this this this horrible accident happened. other factors slipped in such as why didnt you go to the store at the corner , "well they were out of the specific medicine that my mother wanted becuase it dosent give her mindgraines." anyways appraiser came and cut a check 2 weeks later. DOWNFALL mothers rates shoot up like a 40yr old virgin in a canadian strip club.

Solution: my friend went to the dmw and changed his address to his grandmothers house and the insurance thus went down again

N=E-WAYS just my

dalieu

my insurance company (wawanesa) did the same with me. i had to sign a piece of paper for each person which stated that if something happened to my car and they were the driver, my insurance company will not cover it.

SouthernBoy

Looking at your description of the incident, it's hard to assign guilt because there is not enough information. Of course this is water over the dam since you have already been through the "police" part of the ordeal, but just for your own satisfaction, if you could give a more detailed (keep it uncolored, as in unbiased), description of the accident, it would be easier to evaluate the case.

As a general rule, anyone attempting to make a left turn across a road or lane which carries on-coming traffic, must yield right of way to all traffic unless there is a controlled turn lane (i.e., a light, stop sign, or traffic officer).

FightingTL

I have quite a bit of experience with officers of the law that have no concept of putting together the right accident report. Generally they dont do harm because it happens in questionable situations, but sometimes they screw up so bad that it's ridiculous.

Sadly it's something you can say to the judge, and CAN take to a trial and prove your side against the assailant, however that's costly and not a guarantee.

rmoran

Please contact me if you are interested in Legal Services. Where do you live? My email is rmoran@sbcglobal.net.

I do not personally provide, but I can get it quick and cheap for you. Let me know.

Russell

Tecciztecatl

I would look into exactly "who" is at fault here and get more detailed/legal advice - that is also what small claims court is for (if it was not your fault). I do not know the details, but police officers are not the judge and jury here. That is also why I always carry a camera in my car ...

subinf

doesnt 8k exceed the max allowed by small claims?

mattzheng

well, thanks for everybody's advice and reply. after talking with my parents, we decided that just to pay for the damage from our own pocket, we dont feel like to go through all the legal trouble, which sometimes can be very mentaly stressful.

So, its just pay the price, learn the lesson kind of experience for me.

MR1

I think you made a good decision. Pardon me but sounds like you were cheating the insurance company out of premium by not being listed as driver of your car.

mattzheng

true, thats because without me, the insurance rate is around 300 dollars (6month), and with me, it jumped to 2100. so, we thought we'd save alot of money.

But, lesson learned,

kennyc

It's an expensive lesson. Just make sure your mom add you into the policy from now on.