Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia
My car rolled down my friends driveway into another vehicle. the vehicle it hit, my insurance company totaled it. Now the young lady owes more on the vehicle than it is worth and wants me to pay the difference. Am I obligated to pay the difference the insurance company will not cover?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No, even if you're legally responsible for causing the damage to the other vehicle, you cannot be held responsible for more than the car's fair market value at the time it was damaged(assuming that this is less than what's still owed on the note).
your insurance company has the duty to 1. defend you ;and 2. indemnify you--meaning that if you are legally responsible for the damage to her car, your insurer has to settle with her and if that cannot be done, defend you in any lawsuit she brings and pay the judgement up to your policy limits. If they have paid her for the totalled car, they probably got a release--meaning that she has released her claims. you should be protected, have her deal with your insurance company, not you