Alright so over the weekend I was at some friend’s house along with my roommate hanging out. I let him borrow my car and he ends up losing control around a corner and hitting the curb, messing up the front wheel and bending it inwards against the wheel well. I get the car towed to my local Nissan dealer and get an estimate today for $6,000. Now, the problem is that he is my roommate and since he is not under my insurance policy my insurance company normally wouldn’t pay for this! Now, I probably should have told my insurance agent today that I crashed the car, but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead and mentioned that it was a friend, not my roommate. His driver’s license, employer, and insurance all point to his old address where I was not a roommate with him, but he does have the utility bill in his name at this new place. Was I stupid to tell the insurance agent he wasn’t my roommate? I don’t know how far they will go out of their way to verify his address… if they call his insurance they will get the old address. I’m worried I’m going to get accused of insurance fraud! Ahhhhh! I should have just said I did it… Any insurance-savvy people know the answer to this? (I live in Arizona if that helps any).

 

Why the hell would you let him drive your car anyway? I think your pretty much screwed unless your policy cover anyone that drives the car

 

First of all, since he crashed your car, I would have him call his insurance company up and file a claim on him.....not you, or yours. If he doesn't have insurance.......Then you were a stup1d A$$ to let him drive your car.

 

if he lives with you and you didnt tell your agent, you could be screwed.
depending on your insurance company they may not really get too deep into the claim. if he was hurt or there were injuries it could be another story. they will go by his address on his dl.
My best guess is nothing will happen, insurance companies wont go after you for insurance fraud for a 6000 dollar bill.

 

insurance follows the car not the driver. owners policy pays first.

 

shouldnt your friend/roomates insurance be covering this since he was the driver?

Does your friend have insurance?

 

Really,

What about when you rent a car & crash it with out buying the added insurance. Then it goes to your policy since you were the driver !

 

Whatever your insurance makes you pay (deductible etc) then he should pay you back for. If they wont cover it at all then he should pay for all repairs.

I know Id feel guilty as hell if I didnt pay for my friends car that I F'ed up.

 

Yes he has insurance, but insurance policies follow the car, not the driver (at least in Arizona). There were no injuries or anything, just straight up $6,000 estimate to fix the car.

 

Just dont tell them he is your roommate. Keep cool about it. If they ask him where he lives, give the old address and tell them how the accident really happened. Its not that big of a deal. They might look at the address on his driver's license but if his insurance company has a different address, then dont worry. Just make sure that your insurance company offers some sort of "Permissive Use" which will cover someone else who drives your vehicle.

 

Oh he is definitely going to pay me back. We wanted to go through his insurance (in my mind it makes logical sense for insurance to follow the driver but whatever). He is paying my deductable and the difference in insurance premiums after it goes up (assuming of course the insurance company covers this! )

 

read the rental agreement, you are the owner of that car you rented for the time you rent it. its in the fine print.
i have been an insurance agent for 8 years

 

How old are you? If YOU CLAIM to have driven the car and they find out it was your friend who drove it into the curb, THAT would be insurance fraud. Whether he lives in your household or not has very little to do with it. You don't have to get coverage on a roomate unless he drives the car casually or on a semi daily basis. Don't tell them he took the car without your permission, that will lead to more trouble and a police report. (It would be called theft) Just fess up, bite the bullet and give them 100% truth.

Review your coverage, if mom and dad bought your car, i'm sure they are savy enough to put full coverage on it. IT should be covered under accidental/collision and all you will have to pay is the premium. (Usually 500 bucks.) If you only have liability on the car, then you are really screwed and have to pay it out of pocket. Rather your friends pocket.

What you should do is have your friend call your insurance company with you present. (3 way it) Have him explain everything that happened. Meanwhile your insurance company will cover the cost and have an adjuster go after your friends insurance company to repay the debt.

With his report, your insurance shouldn't go up because he's admitting fault, although you still have to pay the premium.

Good Luck~

 

+1

Also Keep this in mind. Your Insurance will at least double for the next 5 years because of the claim. Your " Buddy " should reimburst you for the extra cash it is going to take you to pay for your new higher insurance policy as soon as it is up for renewal.

And beleive me....they will raise it. Doesn't matter who's at fault....they will tell you it won't go up, but it will !

 

Your worried about insurance fraud yet you want to lie about who was driving the car

 

Insurance is transferable between driver and vehicle. It does follow the vehicle but is also extended to a "borrowed" vehicle or "rented" vehicle. His should be primary and your secondary.

 

Yes, true. You can sue your room mate in civil court - small claims ought to cover the $1500 or so that your insurance will not cover.

 

So, you mean....the roommate is primary & the owner is secondary....in this case ?

 

every insurance application makes you list all the drivers in your household, a roomate is in your household. to avoid this he needs to be excluded from your policy by signing a form.
this wreck is the very reason they do this. your roomate has regular access to the car and should be rated on it or excluded from it.
your rate should not go up, you did not wreck the car.

 

Yes I'm aware they will raise it, he's already covering the difference in premium prices as soon as I get the exact numbers. The agent knows he was driving the car, just not that he is my roommate. I'm not worried about him paying me back at all, my only concern is the insurance company discovering that he is my roommate. Really the only way they will know that is if they dig deep enough and start requesting copies of utility bills/rent checks, etc... Other than that, his dl and insurance policy are under his old address. I was just mainly curious about how deep insurance companies dig in these cases.