Are you responsible for a down payment on a vehicle if you wreck someone's car?

Question

Two weeks ago, I was using my friend's truck when I hit a tree that had fallen in the road. It totalled the truck out. The vehicle was in bankruptcy, and the insurance paid it off, but now she has no way to get another vehicle. I rented her a van for two weeks, and have done everything possible to help her out. Now she is saying that I should give her the money for a down payment on another vehicle or finance one for her. I don't think I should have to do that. I do not have alot of money and I am a single mother of two children. We are still friends, but I think things are going to get ugly, and I did not wreck the truck on purpose, there was no way to avoid hitting the tree that had fallen in the road. She knew that if something happened to the truck she would have problems getting another one because of the bankruptcy. I don't want this to end our friendship, but I feel that she is somewhat responsible as well for letting me use the vehicle not caring at the time what would happen.

Answer 1

Are you legally responsible to her?  No, because her insurance paid off the vehicle.

Answer 2

When we drive, we often drive fast enough that we can not stop in the distance we can see. If the tree was falling when you approached, you really have no way to avoid it, If it was already down, you were driving too fast for the distance you could see,

But regardless of perceived fault, when you borrow, you must return the borrowed item in the condition it was in when borrowed. The exception is insurance. We have two problems.

First is deductible, you owe that.

Second is increased cost to insure in future, you may not be required to pay that, but ethically it is your cost.  We should not load onto our friends costs that we should shoulder.

Your strained economic situation has to be part of your  decision when you borrow. If you can not afford to fix it, don't borrow it. Just think how this plays out if instead of an insured accident you had run the engine out of oil and destroyed it. You would be faced with thousands of dollars of cost, and not just a deductible.

Answer 3

No, her insurance has paid for the value of her vehicle. It is not your fault that she is in bankruptcy and she did not get the money. You have gone above and beyond by giving her a rental for two weeks. She has no legal ground to stand on. I think this may be the end of your friendship.

Answer 4

You do not owe her a down payment. You do not owe to finance her another vehicle.  You did not owe her a rental vehicle for 2 weeks. You do not owe her any increase in her insurance premiums.

If you want to be nice - you could pay her the amount of her deductible. But I'd have her produce a copy of her policy declaration or bill as proof first.

The insurance company would settle the total loss for the market value of the vehicle. Any money after the note is paid off would go to her --probably through the bankruptcy trustee.  

The fact that she is in bankruptcy is not your problem. If she had equity in the vehicle and that went to the bankruptcy trustee -- that is her problem. She's the one who caused her financial problems and she's the one that had to declare bankruptcy.

At this point - after getting proof of what her deductible is - and paying her by check or certified funds (so you have proof), I'd tell her you are not paying her any more. You may need to reconsider this friendship.  Sounds like she's not that good of a friend to you.

Answer 5

It was an accident and this is what insurance is for.  You were nice enough to rent her a vehicle for a couple of weeks.  You have more than taken care of it.

Answer 6

Even if the vehicle was in bankruptcy, she would have had to insure it.  Take it up w/ the insurance carrier.  If you are over 25 and a licensed driver, MOST carriers have permissive driver clauses on their policy.  It was nice that you rented her a vehicle, but it wasn't really your responsibility.  You may chip in for the deductible, but, again, it's not your responsibility.

Answer 7

First of all, all you would owe her is her deductible.  You should be commended for putting her in a rent car like you did.

You mentioned that the car was "in bankruptcy".  To me, that means that your freind was "upside down" on the loan.  In other words, your freind owes more on the car than what it was worth at the time of the accident.  All the insurance company owes is the "Actual Cash Value" of the car at the time of the accident, if the car is "totalled" (costs more to fix than what it is worth).  If your frend made a bad deal on the car, paid too much, didn't put enough down, has too high of an interest rate, etc...this all contributes to the loan being "upside down".

But you have nothing to do with that. That's not your problem.

I hope everything works out.

Answer 8

you aren't responsible to get her a new vehicle.

Answer 9

Insurance paid the vehicle off?  That would be the same deal she would have gotten if she wrecked it herself.  If she was in bankruptcy prior to this happening then she would not have had the money in the first place.  The insurance did it's job and got her back to where she was and actually sounds like it helped her out so now she does not have to claim that debt on her bankruptcy.

You are not responsible to buy her a new car regardless of whether you are at fault or not.

Good luck to you and I hope your friendship continues.

Answer 10

Doesn't your friend have car insurance?  The insurance company should pay for the damages.  It is illegal to drive the car without any car insurances.