he had a wreck, and he is not on my policy, he hit a tree and 2 boys did get hurt, and i only had liab, and he is not on my policy to drive , the truck is totaled,plus he was driving after hours, and like i said, i'm scared of what to tell my insurance, he got 150.00 fine with unsafe vehicale tires , the truck is in my name , what can happen to me and him, please help, in sc,,the trooper did not give a point violation , will i get in big trouble will i get canceld will he get his license took from dmv? i need help advise
2006-10-22 07:36:20 · 3 answers · asked by freemeimok 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Insurance & Registration
Your insurance company will pay for liability only for anyone who drives your car with permission. Even if you didn't specifically give your son permission, most insurers assume family members have permission as they have access to the vehicle. Your policy would cover the 2 other boys IF you cover medical payments. If you do not have medical payments coverage, they can file it under their own health insurance, or they can actually sue you to cover the bills.
If you carry liability only, you will not have any coverage for your truck. Because you are the legal owner of the truck, you are actually responsible for the damages. The insurance company will pay for the claim, but they may cancel you because you never added your son on to the policy, but let him drive the truck. A drivers license gets suspended once a certain amount of points are accumulated, but insurance companies do not care about points-they are concerned with accidents and violations only. It is possible that the state will suspend his license, but that is a very harsh penalty for him. They will notify you in the mail the next steps for his license.
If you are able to stay with your current insurer, or if you are forced to find another company... I would hope you've learned your lesson, and will add your son on your policy to make sure if this happens again, the policy will cover him. And do yourself a favor, and carry more than the minimum coverage. If he gets into an accident and injures the other driver or their passengers, that $15,000 wouldn't even cover a helicopter ride to the hospital these days. You would be responsible to pay anything more out of your own pocket, putting your home and other assets at risk. Your biggest concern right now is if these other 2 boys end up suing you to pay for their medical bills.
2006-10-22 14:05:00 · answer #1 · answered by Rexy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hold on! You can have a license and not have insurance. You only have to have insurance if you own a vehicle. Car insurance is for vehicles, and follows vehicles, not people.
Having said that, if he was driving with your permission it doesn't matter if he is listed on your policy or not. If he is at fault, your liability coverage will handle the bodily injury claims and pay for any damaged property (like if the trees belonged to someone and they wanted to be paid for it). Unless you specifically excluded him by a named driver exclusion endorsement, he should be covered as an insured.
Report it to your insurance company and tell them the truth, that he had your permission and what happened. They may ask you why he isn't a listed driver, and you should be ready to answer that question. They may add him to the policy as a driver from this point on. I don't know South Carolina specifically with regard to any different statutes, but that's the general way that insurance works.
The DMV should not take his license, I'm not sure why that would be a consideration. He'd have to have multiple violations for that, unless there's some sort of review that's done on newly licensed drivers, or something else I'm not clued in about. Your rates will most assuredly go up, but a cancellation is less likely than just a surcharge. They may be able to tell you what you can expect when you report this and give them all details. Just don't lie!
2006-10-23 12:19:36 · answer #2 · answered by Chris 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The other answer pretty much covered it but I wanted to add a little note. I live in SC and it is illegal to keep a license here without insurance. When the DMV finds out that he does not have insurance then they will take his license until he gets insurance. Your insurance could give you problems for letting him drive your vehicle while he is not on the policy and for him driving after hours, I am assuming you mean he has a restricted license. The best thing to do is call the insurance company on Monday and tell them exactly what happened and hope for the best.
2006-10-22 14:24:48 · answer #3 · answered by mlc24_1980 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋