snow1er

So I loaned my car to my dad. He claims he hit a curb but I am not sure. The two tow points in front are bent. Passenger side front has a green fluid leaking which I assume is coolant. Between the tires middle has a leak which seems to be oil is leaking. The front plastics from frame to bumper just below radiator to bumper is torn off. The clips and holes in the bumpers are torn and gone. Car has 10k miles and is 1.years oil. Should I take it to the dealer or call insurance first? Bumper clip is 500 and plastics are 300 from nissan how bad do you think it is going to be ? Weeks to repair?? Days??? Just looking for input ...
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Gator5000e

How much is your collision deductible on your auto insurance? You will obviously have to pay that before your insurance kicks in to pay the repair bills. Now if your dad cops to causing the damage and he has his own auto insurance, you can make a claim under his policy and have the damages covered at 100%. But nothing stopping you from getting an estimate of the cost to repair the damage. Damage sounds pretty extensive. If he has insurance they will provide you with a rental while you car is being repaired. If he doesn't then you have to have rental under your coverage to get a rental paid for.

snow1er

My deductible is 500$ . My wife is willing to take blame. Is it worth us taking blame? I owe substantial money on the finance. Do you think it will be worth much much less than total owed after this ? Is there anything I can do about that? I have never been in this position....

Gator5000e

Hard to say without an estimate. You're going to have to get it fixed no matter what, correct? So you have to figure out the cost to you to repair it. If you don't go thru insurance you will have to pay the entire repair bill plus rental if you need one. If you use your own insurance, you will pay the $500 deductible and the rental expense if you don't have rental. If you dad has his own coverage, it will pay for everything at no cost to you, if he accepts responsibility for causing the damage to his insurance company. As long as The car is not totaled, value of the car versus the amount you owe on the loan should not come into play. The only time that will come into play is if you total the vehicle and you owe more on the loan in the car is worth. Now, if the car is in fact totaled, you would have to see if you have gap insurance to cover the difference between the value of the car in the payoff on the loan. But if it's not totaled, based on just what you have posted here, it sounds like your best option is to go through your dad's insurance so there is very little out-of-pocket expense to you. But all this is very difficult to anticipate in a vacuum. Also, I'm not sure you want your wife to except blame for something she didn't do and report that to the insurance company. Well the chances of getting caught are probably slim, if you do that would be considered insurance fraud and insurance companies don't like when that happens. So, as I said, you're better off going to your father's if he has any.

blazinhassan

Your dads insurance won't cover since it's your vehicle and you are the named insured or your wife. If you both are on same policy that is. Your dad just had permission to drive he doesn't own it.

Call your insurance pay your ded and get it repaired. Your insurance probably has preferred networks of shops they work with. If you have a 20 on your policy, you will have rental coverage for about $1500.
Call your broker to see if you have accident waiver as well. If you have 43r you are eligible for oem parts.

Dont take it to to your dealer, they probably will get another shop to repair the damages and send you a pretty Decent bill.

I do work in auto insurance, so do suggest that. I would do this asap.

Gator5000e

I disagree about the dads insurance not covering the damage. I think they will. Just because he is a permissive driver doesn't mean his insurance isn't on the hook if he is negligent and damages the car. But it's his call as to how he handles it. But I agree he needs to get it fixed.

I just noticed your a member of our great friends to the north. I'm not sure if Canadian auto insurance is different than US policies, but as far as I know we don't have 20s or 43r on our policies. His policy will tell him on the Dec page if he has rental and how much his daily coverage is and the total limit of the coverage.

If the dealer has a body shop and a decent reputation, you can take it there. The insurance company, whichever one you use, will have to approve the estimate before they authorize the work. The shop won't start working before they get approval. They want assurance they will be paid. If the dealer has a shop, they will work with all the insurance company adjusters. So don't worry about using the dealer if they have a shop with a decent rep. You aren't limited to using the dealer, but it won't cost you more if you do.

As I said you will be limited to the $500 deductible if you use your insurance and no out of pocket if you go thru your dads.

compyelc4

I could be wrong but I think you may be wrong there blazinhassan. Gator5000e is right in what he advises.

You do auto insurance work? If I borrow a car and damage it then MY insurance pays, not the one I borrowed it from, unless of course I have no insurance of my own. For the same reason I never take out insurance on a car I lease, 'cause MY insurance will cover any damages I do, less my deductible of course. Let's just hope the guy's dad has insurance. Then my advice is to have dad check with his insurance after admitting to the accident. I would NEVER put the responsibility on my wife. Why would anyone do that, unless the dad is in major, major dire straits or something? Just my 2 cents.

snow1er

Calling insurance tomorrow. Don't really care about devaluation. But if I'm going to keep paying I want a reliable car with equivalent power.

blazinhassan

Yes, i do auto insurance. Vehicles carry insurance, an individual doesn't. when you say you "lease" do you mean rent?
and never take out insurance that is correct only if you are in an accident and your vehicle is being repaired, and you have a 20 on your insurance policy which gives you a rental vehicle and your policy automatically transfers over to the rental. You can't just rent a vehicle and assume you are covered through your insurance. It doesn't work that way. Since its your dad, so he must have had permission to drive the vehicle, so you trusted him therefore it will be your insurance and not his. Let us know how it goes. And please correct me if my information is wrong, because this is what we have been taught.

Dad's insurance will only kick in if OP's insurance caps out at its maximum, which usually is when there are injuries etc.

For now, your best bet is to let your insurance know what happened, make a claim be thorough. Your insurance might want a statement from your dad as well since he was the driver.

Best of luck

Gator5000e

Sorry but this just not accurate. I have been dealing with auto claims stuff like this for 35 years in florida. New Mexico law shouldn't be much different.

Make the claim against your dad's insurance. Have him report it asap. Let them handle everything. It will be fairly straightforward especially since no personal injuries are involved.

If you have any more questions feel free to instant message me and I can walk you through the process as best I can.

Mark

MadMax07SL

It's only going to work if the Dad has insurance, and his insurance will cover a borrowed car (for instance a rental). This would require at minimum collision coverage. I would image it's possible to have collision on his own car, but still the insurance won't cover a car he borrows. I think that would depend on the policy. In that not all policies are the same.

And MOST important in all of this, he has to report the claim to his insurance and accept responsibility. If he doesn't then it's on you and your own coverage.

My opinion, he F'ed it up, he needs to get this on his policy period. If not, he needs to front your deductible.

Gator5000e

MadMax07SL, you are right that it's viable only if the Dad has his own auto coverage. However the part about the collision is not accurate. If the Dad has property damage liability coverage on his insurance policy and admits fault to his own insurance company, the damages will be covered under his Property Damage liability coverage, not his own collision coverage. Collision coverage covers you or an insured under your policy damages your own car somehow.

outzider

Those two sentences confuse me. People carry auto insurance, and their insurance policy includes vehicles. A person's auto insurance can then be used when they drive another person's automobile, such as a rental car or another person's vehicle, as long as the covered vehicle is not also being driven at the same time.

The 'right thing to do' would be for Dad to call his insurance company and file a claim on a replacement vehicle he was driving, so he takes the ding to his insurance. It's possible that OP's insurance will also need to cover some damage, but it should be as an overflow from dad's coverage.

Gator5000e

Let me add that Dad's Property Damage Liability coverage will extend as far as the limits he purchased. So if he has $10,000 of PD coverage, his insurance company will pay up to $10,000. If he has $25K of PD coverage, they will pay up to $25K. So on and so forth.

blazinhassan

People only have auto insurance, and only the vehicle carrys it. Your auto insurance does not automatically transfers to the vehicle you drive, or rent. Hence when they give you a quote it's for you car, not for you as a person (your driving history dictates your premiums and other factors)

in ops case. His dads insurance won't cover his vehicles repairs. His own insurance will, and he will have to pay his deductible, and will be liable for the incident not his dad.

Gator5000e

I am sorry but you are so wrong here. If his Dad is liable for damaging the car, then his dad's insurance will pay for it assuming his dad has adequate limits. That's what liability insurance is for. The only exception to this would be if Dad lives with the owner of the car and is a family member. That would open a whole new set of concerns.

An example of this is if you rent a car from Hertz (it's their car and they own it) and you damage it, you are responsible for getting the car fixed, not Hertz. You are driving their car with their permission. That doesn't mean that Hertz will pay for damage you caused because they own the car (unless you "purchase" their collision damage wavier insurance). Your own personal auto insurance will cover the damage to the car owned by Hertz.

Your other statement is all semantics. You buy insurance to cover the cars you own or lease and protect you while in another vehicle under certain circumstances. You can have more than one car on a policy. Most companies will cover multiple vehicles under one policy. Only State Farm, to my knowledge, will write separate policies for separate cars.

And yes, your insurance WILL cover you if you drive or rent another car. There is no TRANSFER involved with insurance coverage. It's whether you will be covered by your insurance in another vehicle.

Anyway, the thread starter has not been back on this thread, so I am assuming he has gotten this handled. Hopefully it works out for him.

Mason Hatcher

Yeah, no. My daughter's boyfriend has a DL, but does not currently own a car. He bought a non-owner's policy to protect her on the rare occasion he drives her car. That policy covers HIM. Her car is not named on the policy.

blazinhassan

That is irrelevant to what happened with OP.

Mason Hatcher

Perhaps, but it has everything to do with your absurd statement that insurance only covers cars and not people.

blazinhassan

Insurance covers people only for accident benefits for the people who were inside a car when it was in an accident and if they were injured(insured's accident benefit would cover) if it runs out then your own kick in if necessary. Or bodily injury.

When you rent a vehicle, that is different since you are exchanging something for money and if you have a 27 on your policy it covers, depending on what you have on your policy. Irrelevant for this.

In this case, nothing was purchased, the insured is liable for his damages to his car legally even though his dad wrecked his car. You guys mean to tell me that anyone who has car insurance can go ahead drive someones car and wreck it, be that car even a Ferrari and your insurance would cover that? Your insurance will never cover anyone's car that you drive unless listed on your policy. The claim must be setup with OP's insurance company, his dad's company won't open a claim since this vehicle is not listed in their policy.

I guess we all have different views on this. I am saying from my experience, and some of you guys are saying from yours. We will leave it at that and Wait until OP's response.

Richard66

Your insurance on your car follows the car, not the driver. Your insurance will cover the cost for repair less your deductible. Your dad should come up with the money to pay the deductible, though he is not required to. I know my Dad would if he was still alive. Call your insurance company first and leave the dealership out of it. Have the car repaired by a reputable company that warranties their work. If you have leaking fluids there is probably more damage where you cant see it.
Good Luck