Help, getting sued by allstate and I'm in the middle of having a baby and saving up for college.?

Question

Well, in December I drove up to Virginia in a car that I was basically buying from a friend. We were going to get everything switched over when I got back but I needed the car then, and on the way back I hydroplaned on the interstate in the middle of a big storm at 4 in the morning and slammed into a guardrail which bounced me back out into the middle of the interstate. I pulled the hazards and got out of the car right before another wave of traffic went around me, but one of the cars in that wave hit my car and knocked the battery off of it, leaving it a hunk of metal in the middle of the interstate. Now its been 8 months and now me and the guy I bought the car from (i still had to pay for it of course) are geting sued for $16,000 and he had insurance on the car and I had liability, He thinks it'll get turned onto his insurance company and his premium will go up, but I'm worried, I'm 19 years old and having a kid that's going to be born in a week or two from my 17 year old fiance.

Answer 1

Any liability claim will be made to his policy as he owned the car and you were driving it with his permission. Since the actual purchase had not been completed you will not be considered as the owner and your own policy will only be excess coverage if needed. I assume his insurance company was notified right after the accident, if not you might have some issues with late reporting of the loss.

Please allow me to play Devils Advocate on who is at-fault for this Allstates damages. If I was the owners insurance company I would consider fighting Allstate on this one. Sure you are at-fault for driving too fast for road conditions and hitting the guardrail, but there are some factors that could lead to you not being found at-fault for the damages that Allstate paid. At the least the Allstate driver should be held partially responsible for their own damages for striking a stationary object

- at 4am I assume it was dark, but was the area the impact occurred in lighted.
- How many cars were able to see your emergency flashers and avoid the car?
- What was the time frame from when you exited the car to when the Allstate policyholder hit the car.

The Allstate driver had a duty to drive in a safe manner and to be driving in a manner that would allow them to react to an emergency situation an avoid it.

Just my 1.5 cents worth.

Answer 2

It's hard to give an answer since there is no real question and some very important information is missing or in question.

First off, in what state did the accident occur? This is importance because that determines whether the owner of the vehicle or the driver of the vehicle is responsible for the car.

Secondly, when you say 'I had liability', do you mean 'I had liability insurance coverage' or 'I was assigned liability for the accident'? There's a huge difference.

There are many ways this can play out. Let's start with the car you were driving. Did the owner of the car have collision coverage? If so, their insurance should have fixed the car or paid for the total loss. If not, then it's an out of pocket expense.

Next, let's go to the other car. Let's say you have liability insurance. One of two things will happen.
1- The policy of the owner of the car will be considered primary. They will pay the claim. His insurance will go up.
2- Your policy is considered primary. Your insurance will pay the claim. Your insurance will go up.

Now let's say you're uninsured. If you're uninsured, the vehicle owner's policy will cover you, since you had the vehicle with his permission. (You DID have the car with his permission, right?) If the coverages aren't enough, you could be personally liable for the amounts above the policy limits.

Honestly, in a worst-case scenario, the owner's insurance should be handling things. And what they SHOULD be doing is denying the claim. If you spun out, stopped, turned on your flashers, exited the vehicle, and saw several cars go around you, there was plenty of time for the other car that hit you to avoid contact. I would be heavily pressuring them to investigate the driving conditions of the other person and assign the majority of the negligence to them for hitting a stationary object. The fact that you were stopped in the road means that you contributed to the accident, but nowhere near 50% which is the threshold many states use to assign damages.

Answer 3

First let me say I do not like allstate. I had an accident with one of their insured and my bills are 25 grand and they will only give me 14. Something about the doctor I went to over charging insurance companies. Ok maybe he did but how would I know. Also because of the offer no laywer even though I have a case will take it. Now on to you Depending on the outcome his rates may go up. It will probably be a fight between his agency and yours. If your liabilty covers you no matter who's car you are driving then you could end up being the one sued. Is allatate his or the car that hit you. were there tickets issued as this would also affect the outcome. Either way someone will probably have to pay allstate back if they fixed either car.

Answer 4

OK, the baby part is irrelevant.

"In the process of buying" doesn't happen. Either the title was already signed over to you, or not. If it wasn't, it's his car. If it was, his insurance isn't going to cover ANYTHING.

Regardless of ownership, you being the driver, can be held fully responsible for any damages you caused - as can he, if he's still the owner. And if he hasn't turned in a claim yet to his insurance company, what's he waiting for? If he already signed the car over to YOU, then you were driving uninsured. If not, his policy *might* be picking up the damages, but won't provide defense costs for YOU. But after this long delay in reporting the accident, I sure wouldn't count on it.

Looks like those college savings are going to end up with Allstate. Be prepared to have any bank accounts attached, wages garnished, and tax refunds attached, as well.

Answer 5

What happened to the person that hit the car while the flashers were on and the vehicle was disabled? You haven't mentioned him. If you didn't have insurance that covers you in any car you drive, and the owner you were buying froms insurance doesn't cover you, it is actually the owners problem including allowing an uninsured person to drive the car. Sidenote is that since the paperwork was not completed, you did not own (or have to pay for) it. This court case should be very interesting.

Answer 6

And what is the question? If Allstate is trying to get what they paid out back from the person who caused them to have to pay out in the first place, why is that a surprise? If you didn't have the vehicle in your name, your insurance doesn't come into play since insurance follows vehicles, not drivers. You can ask your insurance, but I suspect they will tell you that you were not covered except under your friend's policy as a permissive driver.

Allstate doesn't care if you are expecting, or saving for college. They paid out a pocket full of losses and would like to be reimbursed. Pay them.

Answer 7

Usually the liability follows the owner of the vehicle and the driver's insurance, if any, is secondary. Therefore, the person who still owned the vehicle is the one who should be worried, not you. Most lawyers arent going to bother going after someone who has nothing to get anyway. Trust me, you are lucky you didnt have ownership of that vehicle when this happened otherwise it would be you who would be the primary focus of a lawsuit. Good luck with the baby!

Answer 8

I am not sure the state laws where you are from but in most states the owner of the vehicle is the one that is legally liable for the accident, so if he had insurance (who I am assuming is not Allstate) he needs to have allstate contact his company and take it from there his insurance is primary and yours would be secondary, and yes his insurance will probably go up due to a permissive driver involved in an at fault accident. when you loan your vehicle and do not transfer title you are also loaning your insurance as well. good luck

Answer 9

Soooooooo.....your question is........?

What to do?

You both had insurance. HOPEFULLY you turned it in to one or both insurance companies. If you haven't? Do it now and hold your breath. There are reasons your insurance company wouldn't have to handle the claim but you can always hope they will.

Will his premium go up? Um - I thought he sold the car to you. Does he have a car still? If he doesn't have a car - then he shouldn't have insurance...thus - no premium to worry about.

Kid, college and what not are not going to matter. If insurance doesn't come to the rescue and you end up in court - you can HOPE to pray on the mercy of the court to get some kind of reasonable judgement. You ARE going to be responsible. They can get liens against your tax returns, garnish your wages....liens against property, etc.

I hope it all washes out for you. Goodluck with your baby.

~jifr!

Answer 10

Well, the good news is they can't take your baby from you as payment. You drove a car without insurance that you didn't legally own. From your own story, you obviously lack good judgement and don't put too much thought into things.