Insurance coverage for year old claim

by Diane

About a year ago, my daughter (now 22 years old) was driving her friend's vehicle (with her permission) and damaged the door (no other vehicle was involved).

There was no report to any insurance company, no photos taken, and no estimate. Now the two are no longer friends and the friend's mother wants my daughter to pay for the damage to the door.

They only have liability on their insurance for that car, so they want my daughter to get our insurance company to pay for the damage. Is our insurance company liable? We live in California.


Answer:

Hi Diane,

Most likely yes, you daughter was given permission to drive the car and therefore she chose to "assume the risk of driving it." Any damage resulting from this would be your daughters liability. Since that vehicle only has liability coverage, they would not cover this type of damage. Her policy (yours I am assuming), will probably cover the damage to the door.

Now, this could be a cheap fix or it could be a lot. Depending on what the claim is or how much, you may want to consider paying out of pocket. If the other party is being not reasonable (because they are mad), you can argue that you are not sure if the damage was caused by you or by someone else some other time after.

The 1 year period is still within the statute of limitations, but the fact that they have waited so long it is significant. It is hard to relate the damage to that specific instance.

A coverage investigation will be done, and it is possible that your insurance company declines payment if the damages are being elevated or not represented correctly.

Good Luck,


http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com