Who is liable in a car accident - the driver or owner?

[leadfoot4]

Originally Posted by 20Hope20

No car B, just a heavy gate. Gate is fine.

So, did the person you loaned the car to, and then damaged the car, offer to pay for the damage they caused, or are they stiffing you for the costs?

[20Hope20]

Originally Posted by leadfoot4

So, did the person you loaned the car to, and then damaged the car, offer to pay for the damage they caused, or are they stiffing you for the costs?

They are offering to go through their insurance and pay the deductible if their insurance agrees, otherwise we go through others and they pay our deductible.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by 20Hope20

They are offering to go through their insurance and pay the deductible if their insurance agrees, otherwise we go through others and they pay our deductible.

I'd be surprised if the driver's insurer will agree. They'll defer to the car owner's insurer because, as mentioned before, insurance tends to follow the car, not who's driving it. The driver's insured vehicle (assuming there is one) wasn't involved in any case.

There was another recent thread about a similar situation:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/car-...ied-claim.html