Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
teen driver
My daughters (16) father just bought another fairly new car and wants her to have access to it. He says he has coverage, but I have not seen proof that he has informed his insurance company that he wants his teenage daughter to be able to drive his cars. I have contacted my insurance agent, too. Legally, however, I need to know where I stand should she be involved in an accident. I have both of my cars covered with her on the policy. Since she is a minor and I have sole custody of her, would I be the one held responsible even though she is driving her fathers car? To me this is one big mess that I would rather avoid and yet I don't know that I can enforce anything at this point. The candy has already been offered to the child if you know what I mean. Help! Is there anything I/we can do to protect ourselves?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Car Insurance Coverage of Non-listed drivers and coverage types
I wouldn't worry about it to much. It is your husband's responsibility to insure his vehicle. The way car insurance works is the insurance covers the vehicle and the driver. Since the father's car is insured, even though the daughter isn't listed as a driver, the accident is covered under his insurance, if it is determined she caused the accident. If the damages caused by the accident exceeded the monetary limits of father's car, your insurance would then kick in since your daughter is insured through them. If your daughter was not the at-fault driver in an accident than the at-fault driver's insurance would be liable for the damages. If the damages exceeded the at-fault driver's policy limits, your daughter could either file a claim for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage with your insurance policy, or the father's, depending on the policy limits.
Since your daughter is young, you may want to check the policy limits on your own insurance, just in case something does happen and your husband has a $15,000 policy ( the legal minimum coverage), if your daughter is at-fault and you only carry a $15,000 policy she would only be able to get $15,000, no matter how hurt she was. The uninsured/underinsured coverage only kicks in if your insurance limit is higher than the policy limits already paid to her, and she would only be entitled to the difference between the policies. For example, your limit is 30k. If she received the 15k limit from father's policy, she could get up to another 15k under your policy. I wanted to explain this to you because most people do not understand how uninsured/underinsured policies work. I have had many clients who have been seriously injured with over 100k in medical bills alone and end up with only 15k! I recommend to my clients that they have a policy limit of at least 50k per person/100k per accident for both liability and uninsured/underinsured. Plus collision, rental car, and med pay if they do not have health insurance.
I hope I have helped. I probably gave you much more information than you asked for, but I wanted you to know the basics of auto insurance so you can feel safer knowing that if anything does happen you are covered.
Sincerely,
John Hayes, Esq.
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