by Guest » Tue Mar 22, 2011 05:28 pm
My 23yr old Son was visting a 23yr old friend and the friend has a 14yr old little sister. My son has a nice stereo system in his Audi and the 14yr old kept begging for the keys to go out and listen to the radio. The 14yr old had another 14yr old friend over visiting. The parents were away from home. Finally my son gave the girl his keys and the girls went to the car. My son checked on them once and everything was fine. The next time they were gone. The home has a 1/2 mile drive before entering the state highway. They had driven out on the main road and another mile and wrecked the vehicle in a ditch. $2000 front end damage. Questions: Would collision pay and then go back to the girls parents or their insurance for reimbursement? Would it even be considered non permissive use since he gave her the keys. Not to drive but to listen to the radio. Looking for some advice?
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:49 pm Post Subject:
You hit on the key part... it's permissive use (well, for the most part) and the driver would (most likely) be considered an insured under your son's policy. If so, she's an insured under the policy so the policy could not seek recovery against her (as, as an insured, she's also get liability coverage so the same policy would then pay for it's own loss... in other words... no recovery).
With that said, an adjuster could see the driver as a non-permissive driver... in that your son gave her the keys with the intent that she was only to use them to listen to the radio. Also, she's 14 so she knows she cannot drive the vehicle. So an adjuster _might_ not consider her a permissive user, pay the claim under the collision coverage for the vehicle and then seek recovery against the girls parents but that is a stretch. If your son filed a police report for theft or theft by conversion then yes... it would be non-permissive use.
There are also some polices that may exclude coverage to any driver not listed on the policy (but these are few and far between). If this were the case, the claim is still payable under your son's collision coverage but then his carrier could seek recovery against the girls parents as the girl is not an "insured" under your son's policy.
Advice? Someone needs to ground that girl for a bazillion years and give her hard labor. At 14 she needs to (start?) the hard lesson that adults are held accountable for their actions. You son will be subject to his deductible. The girls parents should make their daughter pay this deductible.
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