Was hit by a drunk driver, he has no insurance, and i don't?

Question

My car was totaled and i owe $11,000 on it. The tow fee was $661 to get it out. What can i do?

Answer 1

Niether one of you had insurance?
You're screwed toots.
Niether one of you should have been driving!
That's what makes it TOTALLY unfair for the REST OF US that DO pay for insurance.

You may just be sh*t outta luck.....

Answer 2

Well, the person who hit you doesn't have insurance, and you don't either, so who is supposed to pay for all this? I'm sure one of the requirements for the loan on the car was that you were required to keep insurance on it, probably full coverage.

The finance company is going to want the payments, every month, no matter what. You can ask the drunk to give you money, perhaps even take him to court and get a judgment against him, but if he has nothing, that's what you will get.

You made a choice to drive without insurance, now you are enjoying the consequences of that choice, having no car and being in debt.

Someone is bound to tell you "Get a lawyer." Yeah, right, more debt is exactly what you need now.

Answer 3

Well for right now....you owe the money to the lender...plain and simple.
You chose to drive without insurance....which is a risk.
You agreed to take on that risk when you knowingly drove without insurance. The risk was that precisely this was going to happen.
You could have transferred that risk simply by buying insurance.
But since you didn't, you agree to take on that burden of paying back the loan.

So you will have to pay back the loan.

But, you may be able to recover money from the person that hit you. Even if they don't have insurance....you can still sue them and get a recovery. You may not get much...especially if they don't have any money....but you need to try.

Now comes the tricky part....your lender may have required you to carry insurance in order to continue to qualify for the loan and since you didn't....you may be in technical default on the loan which means the interest rate can be immediately raised to the default rate....which can be as high as 30% or more...AND they may have the right to call the loan...making it immediately payable in full.

This means you are going to have to pay back A LOT more than the $11,000....probably more like close to $20,000 or $25,000 by the time you are done with this.

(There is a slight chance that the lender did a forced coverage scenario where they bought the insurance for you....they held the policy and had you pay the premiums...which may have been added to the cost of your car payments.....IF they did this...then their policy that you paid for will pay out and you won't owe them anything.....but you'll need to call the lender right away to find out).

Answer 4

Why do you have a car worth 11k if you cant afford insurance?! I just dont understand some people..

First off... pray you dont live in a "no pay, no play" state. If this is the case regardless of fault you cannot collect any money if you do not have insurance of your own.

If you do not live in the states listed above then your only choice is taking him to small claims court for your damages. But just to let you know... unless hes some rich dude with tons of money in the bank... your pretty much SOL unless you want payments of like 50 dollars a month for the next 20 years (people who cant afford insurance RARELY have the money to pay back the money they owe.)

I just ... wow... i hate to be harsh but... i hope this teaches you a lesson.

Answer 5

You're screwed! Get an attorney and pray that the drunk has substantial resources. If he's a working stiff, you're both screwed. And pray that you don't live in a state with a "no play, no pay" rule like LA. In that case, driving without insurance bars you from recovering any damages regardless of fault for the accident.

Answer 6

Well, unless your bank has single interest insurance on the car get ready to keep making payments on a bent up pile of crap for a few years. A drunk driver is NOT going to have any assets and I doubt a judge will have much sympathty for anyone in his court trying to sue someone for auto damages when she herself didn't bother to comply with the law.
You dished it out, now eat it.

Answer 7

If you had no insurance, either, you are out of luck. You can sue him for the cost of your car, and any expenses, but you may not be able to collect it. Likely as not, if he was driving drunk w/o insurance, he has nothing for you to take. If you get a judgment, you could garnish his wages, if he has a job, but this may only net $100/month.

Like the folks above said, call a lawyer.

Answer 8

And YOU don't have insurance because??????????????

What can you do? Mitigate your damage. Pay to have your car pulled out of the tow yard and moved to your driveway where you can look at every morning and be reminded of how STUPID it is for you to not have insurance. Keep making your payments--you owe the money, car or not.

Answer 9

You are out of luck.

How do you owe that much on a car but have no insurance?
I thought the insuarance co. notified the bank if you dropped your coverage and the bank IMMEDIATELY put collision on the car to prevent just what you have done from happening.

Answer 10

You're asking the wrong people, I think you may want to contact a lawyer. Hopefully you are alright though. With that kind of price on a vehicle it sounds like that you should have insurance on it. Usually loan companies require that you have a insurance on the said vehicle. Regardless, the company that you got the loan from will want there money......GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 11

You were hit by a drunk drive who had no insurance and YOU dont have insurance either? Consider this a lesson learned, the other guy was drunk, whats your excuse?