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My son is 25 years old, owns his own car, it is titled solely in his name and he is on my Auto Insurance Policy. Back in late April, he was the at-fault driver in an auto accident. 2 weeks ago I get a call from the Claims Manager at my Auto Insurance Company. I was told that the medical/bodily injury claims are double what the limits of my policy were at the time of the accident. I was told that 2 people that were in the other car had retained an attorney and a demand letter had been sent. I was then told by my claims manager that I am just as much responsible (as if I were driving the car, myself) for the excess amount of the claim over my policy limits. I was told a personal injury lawsuit could be filed against me, just because I am the policy holder. I was told that even though my son owns his own car, has it titled in his own name and was the one driving the car when the accident happened, I am just as responsible as he was.
I've reached out to 2 Personal Injury lawyers and was told that I am NOT at fault and that I am zero percent liable for my son's wreck. My son, who owns his own car and has it titled in his own name is the one who is totally responsible for any and claims above the limits of my policy. I was told that the insurance follows the car and that the owner/driver is the one who is held totally responsible. He is a college student and currently does not work, so if a lawsuit were to be filed, they wouldn't get anything anyway unless his future earnings are garnished.
From anyone's experience/knowledge on this subject, can I be held liable for my sons wreck even if he owns his own car, has it titled in his own name?
Does it seem like my auto insurance company is giving me the run around and giving me bad information? Why would my auto insurance company tell me one thing and 2 separate injury lawyers tell me something else?
Any feedback, advice, etc, would be greatly appreciated.
Depends on the state - I think. I can only go from previous experience, which isn't quite the same as yours. My wife was driving my Jeep before we got married and got into an accident. Even though I wasn't driving the car, my insurance was responsible for the damages. I wasn't charged as a driver and my rates didn't go up, but my insurance paid out on the claim for both my vehicle and the other party. I think what your insurance company is telling you as that since it's your policy covering the car, you're responsible for the damages, not the person who was "actually" driving the car, as was in my case.
That said, I'd put more faith in the lawyer who knows the laws in your state and have them speak with your insurance company to sort it out. Might cost a bit of money, but definitely cheaper than paying out damages.
I'd also look into upping your liability. I carry one of the highest limits I can get from my insurance company for this very reason. It doesn't cost much more and keeps me covered in case something stupid happens.
Depends on the state - I think. I can only go from previous experience, which isn't quite the same as yours. My wife was driving my Jeep before we got married and got into an accident. Even though I wasn't driving the car, my insurance was responsible for the damages. I wasn't charged as a driver and my rates didn't go up, but my insurance paid out on the claim for both my vehicle and the other party. I think what your insurance company is telling you as that since it's your policy covering the car, you're responsible for the damages, not the person who was "actually" driving the car, as was in my case.
That said, I'd put more faith in the lawyer who knows the laws in your state and have them speak with your insurance company to sort it out. Might cost a bit of money, but definitely cheaper than paying out damages.
I'd also look into upping your liability. I carry one of the highest limits I can get from my insurance company for this very reason. It doesn't cost much more and keeps me covered in case something stupid happens.
Thanks for the feedback. I live in Kentucky and the last personal injury lawyer I spoke with has his practice in Kentucky and has done so for 27 years. He was pretty adamant about 100% of the liability being with the my son who was driving his own car that is titled in his name. And, through the research I've done what I have saw is that the best way to protect your assets as a policyholder is to have all vehicles under the policy be titled in the individual drivers names. From what I have read and been told, if my name were on the title, then I could be held liable.
My insurance company is telling me that we're both liable, him being the driver and me being the policy holder. I understand what they are trying to tell me, but from all the legal angles I have approached I have been told something totally different. I've had shady dealings with my auto insurance before and in my conversations with my claims manager in the past few weeks, I kind of feel like I am being lied to.
We've upped our policy limits since that accident.
My son is 25 years old, owns his own car, it is titled solely in his name and he is on my Auto Insurance Policy. Back in late April, he was the at-fault driver in an auto accident. 2 weeks ago I get a call from the Claims Manager at my Auto Insurance Company. I was told that the medical/bodily injury claims are double what the limits of my policy were at the time of the accident. I was told that 2 people that were in the other car had retained an attorney and a demand letter had been sent. I was then told by my claims manager that I am just as much responsible (as if I were driving the car, myself) for the excess amount of the claim over my policy limits. I was told a personal injury lawsuit could be filed against me, just because I am the policy holder. I was told that even though my son owns his own car, has it titled in his own name and was the one driving the car when the accident happened, I am just as responsible as he was.
I've reached out to 2 Personal Injury lawyers and was told that I am NOT at fault and that I am zero percent liable for my son's wreck. My son, who owns his own car and has it titled in his own name is the one who is totally responsible for any and claims above the limits of my policy. I was told that the insurance follows the car and that the owner/driver is the one who is held totally responsible. He is a college student and currently does not work, so if a lawsuit were to be filed, they wouldn't get anything anyway unless his future earnings are garnished.
From anyone's experience/knowledge on this subject, can I be held liable for my sons wreck even if he owns his own car, has it titled in his own name?
Does it seem like my auto insurance company is giving me the run around and giving me bad information? Why would my auto insurance company tell me one thing and 2 separate injury lawyers tell me something else?
Any feedback, advice, etc, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
I'm skeptical that you personally could be on the hook in this case. Your son is not a minor. He is 25 years old. Sometimes, states have laws making parents responsible for a minor child's accident. I am not aware of any that do this when a child reaches their age of majority.
One can also be liable in a situation where one negligently entrusts a car to someone. For example, if someone was drunk (and I knew that) and I gave them the keys to my car and they became involved in an accident, I could be held responsible for that. However, you aren't describing a situation like that.
I suspect the claims manager is either wrong or that you are misunderstanding him.
I'm skeptical that you personally could be on the hook in this case. Your son is not a minor. He is 25 years old. Sometimes, states have laws making parents responsible for a minor child's accident. I am not aware of any that do this when a child reaches their age of majority.
One can also be liable in a situation where one negligently entrusts a car to someone. For example, if someone was drunk (and I knew that) and I gave them the keys to my car and they became involved in an accident, I could be held responsible for that. However, you aren't describing a situation like that.
I suspect the claims manager is either wrong or that you are misunderstanding him.
Thanks for the feedback. Correct, my son isn't a minor and I am not responsible for him, especially in his own car that he purchased and has title solely in his name.
I had another local injury attorney call me today and tell me that the claims manager is completely wrong. There wasn't any misunderstanding from my claims rep when he told me I was just as liable as my son. He basically told me that it was no different than if I was driving the car myself. He told me that 'as the owner of policy, you hold all the responsibility for all your drivers, no matter if they own/title their own car or not.'
The only caveat about this is the Resident-Relative law in Kentucky. Since my son still technically lives at home (he's a college student at a school 3 hours away, but is home now doing virtual classes until Jan 2021) a claim could be filed on my insurance policy that I have on my other insured cars. From what I was told, it would kick in and my auto insurance would have to pay that anyway.
My insurance company was very quick to offer the policy limits to try to get a quick release. I don't think they even scrutinized the medical bills submitted. Funny thing about that is that my wife found a social media post that one of the people in the other car posted back in July...2 months after the wreck. He was drinking and dancing on a boat. Be mindful that a demand letter wasn't sent to my auto insurance until 2 weeks ago. Both my wife and myself notified the insurance company of the video, and were basically just blown off....
Do not let them scare you. Until some legal action is filed, make nice to them but admit nothing. If they push you, refer them to your attorney.
That is where I am torn a little. I know my insurance company is jerking me around. I've talked to 2 personal injury lawyers in the last 3 days and both have told me that my auto insurance company is completely wrong in trying to inform me that as the policyholder I am 100% liable for a driver on my policy who owns his own car and has it titled only his name. I've also been told that by the course of events, my auto insurance has either dropped the ball completely or are just blowing us off to make us wait and worry.
Are you sure that only his name is on the title? You didn't co-sign for a loan on it?
100% Positive. He financed it himself through Navy Fed.
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