My nephew's girlfriend was listed on our auto policy so we can help them out. My husband is also the primary signer of their car.
Girlfriend wrecked the car and parked it on the roof of a vacant house that's being renovated. No injuries.
We're so fucked with this. We have the deductible to come up with and we have received a notice that it's possible costs will exceed what the policy covers. What happens if it does? We had gap insurance so that helps the car. We're so freaked out that we could lose the house or something wild. We've never ever dealt with this type of thing before.
She can sit and be miserable in jail for all I care at this point.
We're in Arizona. Is there any possible information available?
Felony property damage gt 10000, 3 DUI misdemeanors
byu/Live-Power-7195 inInsurance
Posted by Live-Power-7195
5 Comments
So, this is why it’s almost always a bad idea to do what you did. While being nice and trying to help can lead to these situations.
Since your named on the loan/title/policy of the car they can come after you if they seem fit.
Not to scare you, but they could garnish wages. I’m not sure of the laws in AZ, but in some cases they can come after assets.
Are your limits 10k for PD?
This could be very bad.
The short of it is this: if the claim DOES exceed your property damage limits, it could open you up to a law suit.
Your insurance will typically attempt to settle within your limits and that may or may not be successful depending on the route the victim wants to go.
If I were in this situation, I’d possibly consult a lawyer to see if I have a defensible case
It’s lawyer time for you and your husband (the girlfriend can handle her own business), at this point mostly to avoid making mistakes as this claim proceeds. Lots of issues here, beginning with what you told the insurance company with respect to where the car was kept and who was driving it. I’m going to guess that your nephew’s girlfriend doesn’t live with you, so if you indicated she did, that could be an issue. Could also matter if you told them the car was kept/garaged at your house and it wasn’t, or that the car was primarily driven by your husband if it wasn’t. These things might matter, and they might not, but you don’t want to find out the hard way when your carrier denies any coverage (and sends you to SIU), and even worse if your GAP coverage is vitiated- talk to a lawyer ASAP so you have a good idea how this should be handled.
With respect to the claim exceeding limits, it sure sounds like it could. A lawyer can help advise how to protect your assets here as well.
The best outcome here for you and your husband is that somehow, someway your carrier handles the claim, pays you for collision (with GAP covering the rest of your outstanding note), and the PD limits are sufficient to resolve the homeowner’s claim. That’s going to be tough if the car really ended up atop a house.
Not trying to scare you, but take this seriously and spend some time and money to get a professional’s take on what you’re facing and what you can do about it. And in the future, if you’re gonna be super nice to people you really shouldn’t be super nice to, at least have really high insurance limits and be exceedingly honest in any insurance application. This is a weird situation for sure, but $15K PD limits barely covers most mid-range used cars on the road. Even an everyday crash can easily cause high five figures (or more) in damages. When the dust settles, if you still have things to protect, consider at least 100/300/100, and 250/500/100+ is even better.
Good luck.
And the whole DUI thing is bad, but keep in mind a serious accident could have happened when she was sober and you’d be in the same situation. Protect yourself, and don’t cheap out on adequate limits.
Also, while not insurance related, tell your nephew he needs to dump her and find someone better. Her not being able to drive sober is impacting you, your nephew, your family, and now your auto insurance.
Sounds like a ton of property damage. The deductible will be the least of your worries, your insurance premiums are going to skyrocket.
This is the risk of adding somebody who isn’t your spouse or child to your auto insurance.
What can you do? Find out how much property damage coverage you had. Get estimates on the damages to the house.