What to do when car insurance refuses to cover an accident?

Question

My boyfriend crashed his friend's car recently. He had permission to drive it but happened to get into an accident. His friend has insurance for the car and my boyfriend has his own insurance, but neither ones' insurance will cover the car.

He thinks his options are limited to only taking over the car payments or going to court (the friend's insurance says it should be reported as stolen if he doesn't pay up).

Shouldn't the friend's insurance be extended to cover my boyfriend as a temporary driver? Aren't there other options?

Answer 1

He needs to call his insurance company again and ask them.  They will also be able to explain why they won't cover the damages and why the other company should.  The fact of the matter is that the vehicle and driver were both insured so one of them needs to come off the money.  He needs to keep pressing the issue.

Something similar happened to me once.  Our parked vehicle was hit by a mechanic on a test-drive.  After screaming fits with both insurance companies, mine finally came through and paid for the loss of our vehicle and then sued the company that insured the other car who in turn sued the garage owner because he didn't have any insurance at all.

Answer 2

For car insurance the most efficient way to get a very good quote is do a policy comparison on car policies. Make certain that you pick similar options with the same limits, car type, zip code, etc so that all things are a good comparison.



What I always recommend is an online comparison quote at http://www.InsureAutoNow.info since they have top name insurers and can give many quotes on car insurance polices.

Answer 3

If both insurance companies are not paying for the claim, there is a reason for it.

We can't help you without knowing that reason.

Are you filing for the damage to your friends car? If so, the damage to his car would be covered under either collision or comprehensive coverage (depending on what happened). If the friend only had liability -- then there is no coverage for the damage to his car because he did not purchase coverage for his car.

In that case, if your boyfriend has a policy of his own where he is the named insured and he has collision coverage on his car - that coverage should come in to cover the friends car as a substitute auto. However, if boyfriend only has liability coverage then his auto policy would not apply either.

Collision and Comprehensive coverage are not required by the state.

The first place to start is to find out the basis of the denial. Then you may want to consider speaking to your insurance agent.

**just general information based on the limited information provided - there may be policy provisions/information that would change the answer

Answer 4

Does your boyfriend have full coverage on his own car...if so...his insurance should cover the damages. If he only has liability on his car...then they will not pay for anything on his friends car.

It looks like your BF might be paying for a car that he does not own and he can no longer drive. His friend's insurance will have to pay for any damages to whatever your BF hit...because they are responsible for that....but not the damages to the friend's car.

Answer 5

Your boyfriend needs to read his policy under 'permissive use' section and see for certain if coverage does indeed not extend to another driver. It this is correct then this will be the only policy I have ever seen like this. Remember, insurance follows the car, NOT the driver. probably some more to this story that we aren't hearing....