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What does your parents insurance have to do with this? Are you insured under their auto insurance?
Unless your willing to fight city hall (a policeman saying many accidents is not proof of liability) and be able to bring in traffic accident recontruction people, engineers, and whatever else is needed, your talking something that will be finished years from now and the other people are looking for payment NOW.
Forget their attorney, get your own and have your attroney work with their attorney. Their attorney is looking out for Hertz, not you.
I'm still a dependent, so I don't know if that changes things. And, why wouldn't their (the other party) insurance cover what their damages/injuries have sustained? After all, like I explained initially, their damage/injuries seemed minor. That is, after all, what insurance is for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PacificFlights
What does your parents insurance have to do with this? Are you insured under their auto insurance?
Unless your willing to fight city hall (a policeman saying many accidents is not proof of liability) and be able to bring in traffic accident recontruction people, engineers, and whatever else is needed, your talking something that will be finished years from now and the other people are looking for payment NOW.
Forget their attorney, get your own and have your attroney work with their attorney. Their attorney is looking out for Hertz, not you.
But you rented a car and unless you are on your parents auto plan or covered by their plan, just being a depenedent means nothing. Call you parents insurance agent to find out if you are covered before going down that road.
Their insurance may cover and pay them but their insurance company can come after who ever is at fault to get their money back.
A basic lesson in insurance law is this Andy: If you are at fault in causing an accident (and most of us are saying that like it or not we think you are) its YOUR insurance that pays for the damage. If you injure someone else in an accident that is YOUR fault it is YOUR insurance company that pays compensation to the other party for their medical bills and possibly intangible damages like pain and suffering. This is the concept of LIABILITY insurance which is different than a first party form of insurance such as HEALTH insurance. States have financial responsibility laws that require that every motor vehicle be covered by a LIABILITY policy that pays third parties if you drive carelessly and cause a wreck.
California is not a no-fault insurance state. In no-fault insurance states, one often does look towards one's own insurance to pay medical bills up to a certain statutory limit. You mention these people had "slight injuries". Respectfully, I don't think you really know the extent of their injuries. They may indeed be "slight" and they may be worse than you anticipate. Even minor injuries can cost a bundle to treat in today's healthcare system.
I don't think you want hear this, but its the way it is.
Seriously, if your major point is here that I don't have a strong command of the English language because of the way I used the word "than" I couldn't care less.
I've never felt too bad about getting the useage of a single word wrong. What I would feel bad about is not understanding the law or the legal concepts my clients need to vindicate their rights in court.
Thanks for your advice so far. My parents and I are talking to a lawyer, and they're checking into their insurance to see if I'm covered. Let's see what happens. Wish me luck.
The best answers you've received are from Mark. Forget terms like 'no fault' and 'threshold' and forget blaming the road or shifting blame because the cop said similar accidents happen a lot. You're at fault - for failing to yield the right of way most likely.
Ditto on the injury claim made by the old folks - not much you can do about that, and an ambulance chaser will always shrug and say, "you take them as you find them"
If you live at home, are under 25, and you regularly drive your parents cars, chances are you're covered under virtually 100% of the major insurance companies. If you live somewhere else, don't own a car, or are specifically excluded from your folks' coverage, then things could get sticky.
Most likely, you just call up (or have a hearing person ... it's just easier on 'press 1 for claims, press 2 for policy service' automated systems) the insurance that your folks have, tell them you rented a car and were found at fault in an accident. They'll take care of it from there.
Decent idea getting the LDW/CDW - it's not always needed, but it can save you the hassle of dealing with an insurance company and deductibles/loss of use. Probably worth the 12 bucks a day in this case.
Don't sweat it; I'm sure you're covered.
ETA - just reread your first post. Now I see you're a college student, so I guarantee you're covered under your parents car insurance. Don't worry about having to go out and get your own lawyer out-of-pocket. If your parents' company can't reach a settlement with the other parties when it comes to 'pain/suffering, lost wages, loss of consortium.... specials' and a suit is filed, your carrier will cover the attorney aspect of the claim.
I'm sure you already found this out, but post up with what's new.
---" your carrier will cover the attorney aspect of the claim"--
good point !
I could not figure out why so many posters were suggesting the OP go out and hire an attorney.
Rest assured, if your car insurance company is the one getting sued ( and that is what it might boil down to ) they already have well paid lawyers
The purpose of having liability insurance is to pay for your liability and to have someone ( your insurance) to defend both you and the ins company to limit the $$$$$ settlement.
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