Ownership Change, Could Claim Be Denied?

[bewildered]

Hi, first post here, thanks for any replies.

I owned a car that I recently gifted to my partner after she got over her fear of driving and finally got a full license. The car is currently registered in her name. She was on our policy when she just had the learner license and continues to be on our auto insurance policy.

We were involved in an auto accident 4 weeks ago when my partner (the current owner of the car) was driving. I fear we could be found to be more at fault.

I failed to inform our insurance about the ownership change, and remain listed in our claim as the owner.

Could our claim be denied? I am not sure if they already know about the change and don't care. I don't want to call them about this before I can find out one way or the other.

Thanks

 

[djs]

Hi, first post here, thanks for any replies.

I owned a car that I recently gifted to my partner after she got over her fear of driving and finally got a full license. The car is currently registered in her name. She was on our policy when she just had the learner license and continues to be on our auto insurance policy.

We were involved in an auto accident 4 weeks ago when my partner (the current owner of the car) was driving. I fear we could be found to be more at fault.

I failed to inform our insurance about the ownership change, and remain listed in our claim as the owner.

Could our claim be denied? I am not sure if they already know about the change and don't care. I don't want to call them about this before I can find out one way or the other.

Thanks

I'm confused with who is who, since you say 'partner' but you also say 'our' policy, so I'm not sure if the other person in 'our' is the same as 'partner' or if there are more people involved.

As long as the car is listed on the policy and the driver is listed on the policy and in this case the owner is listed on the policy, then there is an insurable interest and the claim should be processed.

This situation can get complex rapidly and specific clarity is required to make sure there isn't a situation where someone outside of the policy owned the car but I'm not reading that into it.

Bottom line though is you need to file the claim, sooner rather than later, if you haven't already. If you have, then its not a big deal. If your partner was the owner and listed on the policy as a driver, then the paperwork needs to be corrected, but its not an issue with claims, you just have to update the policy paperwork.

Dan

 

[bewildered]

I'm confused with who is who, since you say 'partner' but you also say 'our' policy, so I'm not sure if the other person in 'our' is the same as 'partner' or if there are more people involved.

As long as the car is listed on the policy and the driver is listed on the policy and in this case the owner is listed on the policy, then there is an insurable interest and the claim should be processed.

This situation can get complex rapidly and specific clarity is required to make sure there isn't a situation where someone outside of the policy owned the car but I'm not reading that into it.

Bottom line though is you need to file the claim, sooner rather than later, if you haven't already. If you have, then its not a big deal. If your partner was the owner and listed on the policy as a driver, then the paperwork needs to be corrected, but its not an issue with claims, you just have to update the policy paperwork.

Dan

Thanks Dan. Only the two of us are involved here, to be more clear. My partner currently owns the car and is on the insurance with me. She was driving with me in that car when the accident happened. I have already filed the claim, but was not sure if Progressive would use the technicality to refuse my claim.

I have another worry now and hope people in this forum can help clarify things. The police report mentions that the accident was due to failure to yield on my partner's part based on a witness statement. Our insurance says that a police report does not assign fault, and wants to handle talks with his attorney (just learnt this morning that he has hired one) and the witness.

The other driver was taken to the same ED as us, and was discharged within 30 min. I know this because we were there longer, and saw him leave. I am a recently graduated emergency physician, and based on my knowledge of treating accident victims in the last 3 years, his injuries were unlikely to have been severe. Definitely nothing that would require surgery.

I am unsure what to do. I have never been involved with the law before and do not want the aftermath from this event to disrupt our life. We are worried that my partner could be sued for damages higher than our policy limits (25k/50k), and we both still have student debts that we are paying off. We have no assets other than little more than 20k in savings.

Should I try talking with the other driver and his attorney to see what they expect out of this and expedite insurance proceedings? I would be willing to offer the 20k in our savings in addition to whatever our insurance will pay him if he will drop the whole thing. Would that sound reasonable to the attorney and the injured other driver?

Thanks

 

[djs]

Let the insurance company handle it.

Insurance companies are experts at dealing with this type of thing. They also won't offer $20K out of your pocket, since they know that comes after money out of their pocket. Their attorney will be unlikely to accept this settlement anyway, especially if offered up front.

Now, to the details....

Police reports are a factor in the assignment of fault, but only part of it. Don't accept fault till the insurance company does. Once they accept fault, the bill, up to the policy limits, is theirs to pay, not yours. Your premium is yours to pay.

Odds are, the other driver got a bit sore after the accident and thought there might be more to it. This is very typical, but that soreness usually goes away after a few days. Chiropractors will get a few visits, but not normally a big issue if they were discharged from the ER in 30 minutes.

I would let the insurance company handle it. Work (and talk) only with your insurance company. I know you want to put it behind you, but the only way to do that is to way overpay for damages and taking fault for things you don't need to.

Take a breath. In a month or so, this will be resolved.

Dan

 

[bewildered]

@Dan, I have been stressed out by all this, but you helped restore sanity. I am truly grateful for your advice! I will keep this thread updated so anyone else in a similar position will know how it ended for me at least!