My friend was driving my car and got in an accident without insurance

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My friend was driving my car and got in an accident without insurance

My friend got into an accident in a car in my name when he was not supposed to be driving it. without insurance that he insisted putting in his name – he let it lapse without telling me He promised to pay for the damages and took it to the body shop to be repaired. He told me he was making payments on the car to get it fixed. The shop is now coming after me because he never paid them as promised and somehow they claim it is 95 fixed. He has not been paying the car payments to me as usual and I have to turn the car in since it is a lease. He will not return either one of our calls or respond to texts. I want to take him to court for the money he will owe me since he gave me his word and he was the one that crashed my car. I’m not sure what to do about this. Should I report the accident and take him to court?

Asked on September 13, 2017 under Accident Law, California

Answers:

S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

As the registered owner of the vehicle, you are liable for the accident.  You can sue your friend for negligence for the property damage (cost of repairs to the car). If your friend was at fault in the accident and anyone was injured, you are liable for the medical bills, pain and suffering (an amount in addition to the medical bills) and wage loss.  Your damages (monetary compensation you are seeking from your friend should include those items and the amount of any court judgment against you, as the registered owner of the vehicle. In CA, you are required to report the accident if it amounted to more than one thousand dollars in property damage or anyone was injured or killed in the accident.  You report the accident on form SR1 which you can obtain from the DMV or download. 


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