A friend who I'll call Brad was in charge of handing our dog at our wedding last week, and decided to take our dog Max to our car when Max got overstimulated. It was raining heavily, and Brad decided to take my wife's car to drive over to the bar area of the wedding venue to get a drink. Neither I nor my wife gave Brad permission to actually drive the car, but given the hectic nature of the day with all the wedding stuff being unloaded, we had left the car unlocked with the keys in it.
Apparently he drove the car up and down to the bar a couple times, and eventually managed to drive my wife's car into the ditch, damaging the venue's private road while he was at it. I was not made aware of this until the venue owner came into my wedding reception and asked for some guys to volunteer to get a car out of the ditch. Between several guys pushing and the venue owner coming up with a wench, we were able to get my wife's car out that night. It's in the shop currently getting the damages assessed.
Now the venue owners want to know who is paying for their road to get repaired. It's a rural mountain venue with all private roads, so I'm not sure if Brad technically did anything illegal by driving drunk on private property. They have to get an excavator up the mountain to fix the road, so I'm sure that won't be cheap. My question is, whose insurance has to pay?
1) Our car insurance. Would like to avoid this myself for obvious reasons of rate increases.
2) Our wedding insurance. Has a $1000 deductible unfortunately.
3) Brad's insurance. This seems the most fair to me since he was the one driving, but he claims the road just washed out from under him, so he's not taking responsibility.
4) Our wedding venue's insurance. I suggested they make a claim about the road, but they want either us or Brad to pay instead.
So, where do we start? Who makes the claim and to what insurance?
Friend crashed our car at our wedding
byu/juniormintleague inInsurance
Posted by juniormintleague
25 Comments
Did Brad steal your car?
Number 2 and Brad pays you back via court
Your insurance. All roads lead back to your auto insurance.
Unless you’re willing to throw Brad under the bus and file a police report saying that he stole it, your insurance will be the one paying here.
Other commenters are right. If you’re not willing to file a police report for Brad stealing your vehicle, you are on the hook. There’s no way around it.
I hope you added liquor liability to your wedding insurance policy because otherwise you’re going through your car insurance.
No. 3 as permission was not supposedly granted, however it does seem suspicious that you left your keys in your car…..who does that?
Since Brad drove your car without permission, it could be on Brad. That being said, for it to be on Brad, you would need to file a police report, reporting the vehicle as stolen and then inform your insurance company that he drove the car without permission.
Or you could use your policy, to take care of your car and the property, advising them that Brad had permission. Make Brad pay your deductible. Since Brad isn’t in your household, it shouldn’t be a chargeable claim.
Did Brad have reason to believe he would have your permission to drive your car? Has he ever driven your car in the past? Have you ever told him that he was not to drive your car? I handled several claims over the years where friends took the car & hot into accidents, each was handled on a case by case basis. In each instance we asked each of these questions & ultimately had to determine if the driver in question – from their perspective – had reason to believe they had permission to operate the car. Leaving keys in the car does lean towards him (or anyone else on site that day) having implied permission to operate the car.
Your buddy is a douchebag, Cut your losses and let the moron go. He ruined the wedding, crashed the car and doesn’t want to pay?
Who needs enemies when you got friends like Brad.
Your friend needs to pay.
You will either have to file a police report or you are paying and will continue to pay when you insurance hikes your premiums.
Why hasn’t anyone addressed the road damage. How did Brad driving into a ditch cause road damage? Just curious. If he in fact did cause the damages then a theft report may get your car insurances liability off the hook. If no theft report then your cars insurance could be primary or excess depending on your wedding insurance coverafe. Venue could still pursue you or your guest Brad depending on the paperwork you signed.
Too many unknowns to answer clearly. Borderline lawyer territory.
#2 and Brad pays you $1000 back.
Brad is a deadbeat loser. Napalm that bridge and sue his ass after the fact – assuming you retain right of recovery. That is usually transferred to the insurance company, though.
Resolve the issue with the venue through your wedding insurance. Ideally, you can also use it for the car. You’ll have to find out if vehicles are covered. That’ll allow you to skip your car insurance entirely and avoid a rate increase on the back end.
Alternatively, use your car insurance. “Accident forgiveness” likely won’t apply because someone else was driving. So you’ll definitely have a rate increase at the cost of paying a lower deductible on the front-end.
Honestly if the road was messed up because it was wet from rain they venue should cover the road… its not like he was using the road to mud bog on
The good news is you’re protected and you have options. That’s unfortunate the road was damaged but does sound like you have liability either via your wedding insurance or car insurance unless you file a stolen vehicle police report, but even then your liability may still pay out depending on your state rules. You pay premiums to protect yourself. Have Brad fork up the deductible and go through your insurance. Let your adjuster investigate and determine coverage and payout. Good luck. Congrats on the wedding. I’m sorry Brad put a stain on it.
Brads insurance would be primary, then your auto insurance if Brad was uninsured in his own vehicle. But it is not permissive use—so depending on where you live—Brad could be sued
You’re getting alot of advice here and not all of it relevant. The correct answer is you file a claim with your insurance company. You explain everything, you give them Brad’s contact information, you get it fixed pay the deductible. You have a not at fault collision loss. Maybe your insurance sues brad and you get your deductible back down the line. Thats it
Why was a dog at the wedding? Should have kept him at home with a house sitter or boarding house.
That’s not good
***Your*** vehicle = ***your*** insurance.
If this were me, I would ask “Brad” to cover the deductible, then file a claim with my auto insurance. It’s an unfortunate situation, but that’s why you pay for insurance.
Today I learned about wedding insurance and will likely purchase it for my own in January…
How did Brad become “in charge” of taking care of your dog during your wedding? Was he doing you a favor or did you pay him? Did you give him permission to get into the car while it was raining? How did he get the keys again?…
He’s an implied permissive driver who was doing you a favor on your wedding night and unless you’re willing to be a dick and press charges against him, accept your role in this and report it to your insurance and let them handle it.
Vehicle insurance is typically primary, driver’s insurance is typically excess.
Best option is to have the wedding insurance cover it and have brad pay for the deductible. Brad gets off with nothing on his record, and you won’t have increased insurance premiums for years to come because of it, with nothing out of pocket for you.
If Brad is unwilling, and it sounds like he is, then press auto theft charges on him, pony up the 1000 bucks deductible and move on with your life without Brad in it, or go through your car insurance.
I know you are concerned about the $1000 cost, but it’s less money than what you will pay in increased insurance payments by the end of however many years depending on state and insurance carrier.
PS… not a lawyer. Just the options that I see, and I would just pay the wedding deductible if he won’t and go no contact with Brad. Maybe small claims court could get that $1000 bucks back but idk.