What do I do about an uninsured car accident?
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What do I do about an uninsured car accident?
I don’t have collision on my insurance. My girlfriend took my car out for an hour or two when apparently her gym shoe fell and got stuck under the break pedal. She didn’t know what to do and didn’t want to hit another car so she tried to pull off the road but ended up hitting a telephone pole. She is OK but my car is totaled and has been tow to a yard (it has been sitting there for a day now). I don’t know how to go about this or where to go from here. Neither of us have collision and the car is racking up a bill at the tow yard.
Asked on August 20, 2011 Massachusetts
Answers:
Stan Helinski / McKinley Law Group
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
if she still lives at home, check her parent's home insurance policy and your home insurance policy. Also, if she has car insurance, check with her insurance company as well for coverage.
good luck,
Stan
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If you have no collision for your vehicle and neither does your girl friend under her own automobile insurance policy, you have to pay to have the vehicle fixed yourself assuming it is worth repairing. If the vehicle's damage is so severe that the cost to repair it exceeds its fair market value in the condition it was just before the accident, then it makes no sense to have repairs done to it.
In such a situation, you then sell the car for scrap or to the automobile dismantling company and try to get the most for it.
You will also have to pay storage fees for the vehicle at the tow yard. You learned an important lesson about the need for appropriate automobile insurance. Thankfully your girlfriend was not injured too bad in the mishap.
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