by Guest » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:51 pm
I live in Traverse City Michigan and recently bought a 2004 Ford Expedition from a private seller in Dearborn (Detroit) Michigan we bought it at 9pm and stayed with a relative until Saturday morning, we took off home myself tailing my girlfriend in the new truck, I was driving the mini-van, when we reached traverse city I went home and my girlfriend stopped at her Moms house to show her the new ride (2 blocks from our home) Her mom lives on an Alley and her dads friend was parked in the alley as she attempted to clear it on the left side the rear end of the truck (rear wheel drive on ice) slid into the drivers side door of his truck. She told him we would pay the deductible and everything was fine, 2 days later he calls me screaming at me I asked him for a copy of his insurance policy (its a 1986 GMC Sierra that I KNOW he doesn't drive regularly) he seem to have felt threatened and started ranting about me driving without insurance said he was calling the police and taking me to court.. NOW.. for the question, I WAS carrying insurance, the seller left insurance on the truck for me to drive it home, it was his Daily driver and he told me that if anything at all happened to just contact him. The "victim" said to his friend my (girlfriends father) that he wasn't planning on fixing the truck that he was just going to make $500 off me which I would care less but supposedly it doesn't matter because he is taking me to court .. What do I do?! I didn't even have anything to do with the accident so Im baffled about what I should do next, any help is appreciated.
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:26 pm Post Subject:
(its a 1986 GMC Sierra that I KNOW he doesn't drive regularly)
What does that matter?
he seem to have felt threatened and started ranting about me driving without insurance said he was calling the police
Threatened? For what? You were not driving.......right? He should have called the police the day your girlfriend damaged his vehicle.
but supposedly it doesn't matter because he is taking me to court
For what? You weren't driving the vehicle, so tell him good luck with that.
What do I do?!
Since your girlfriend was driving the truck, thats between her and the owner of the property she damaged. Does she have insurance? Have you spoken about this to the seller who has a policy on this vehicle, is there a bill of sale stating when you purchaed the vehicle? I believe this maybe a permissive use claim, so the seller's insurance maybe involved, as you don't have coverage for it. Do you have the title to this vehicle yet, or registered in your name. Who can prove ownership?
I WAS carrying insurance
Again, you were not driving, so your insurance company would not be involved, unless this vehicle was covered under your policy or you and your girlfriend have the same policy.
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:48 am Post Subject: reply
I stated that he didn't drive the truck regularly because Im about 95% sure he wasn't carrying insurance and when I asked for a copy of his policy he became irate and said he was calling the cops.
I have not received the title yet, I just registered the vehicle in my name on Monday (2 days after the incident) I do have a bill of sale stating when I purchased the vehicle and I have spoken to the seller and he told me that if it came back to him he would deal with it accordingly not 100% what he means by that but he was a nice upstanding guy I feel like he wouldn't want to screw me over. I suppose I really shouldn't even worry myself over it anymore because like you said I didn't have anything to do with it, although my girlfriend and I have 2 children together and 2 each from Ex's so a family of 8 (the need for 8 passenger expedition) could suffer a large financial burden if the guy decides to be a prick, I don't know if it matters but I have call logs stating that the first time he called me the entire conversation was 30 seconds before he hung up on me after I asked for a copy of his policy and several calls from myself over the last week trying to take care of the incident outside of court, anyway I thank you for your fast reply and anymore useful information would be much appreciated.
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 01:58 am Post Subject:
First, the accident happened in MI... so any sense of normalcy is out the window. I have no idea why a prior owner would want to leave insurance on a vehicle that they did not own but... whatever.
MI is a no-fault state when it comes to property damage. The right of someone to collect from someone else depends on what version of no-fault insurance they take. The other of the vehicle that was damaged... needs to report their loss to their insurance company. Their own insurance company will need to address the insured's loss. I don't know who owner your truck at the time but the driver should report the loss to their carrier, the owner should report it to their carrier and the person you bought it from should report it to their carrier. Anyone of those people can feel free to ask their carrier who's insurance would address this loss.
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