Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 1/30/2010

Question
Hi,

My daughter was in a car accident on 1/18/2008.  The car was under my name. She failed to yield to oncoming traffic (it was her fault).  The other driver car was damaged and my insurance company covered $14,264.  Then 5 months, on 6/2008, later the other car owner sent me a letter demanding  a balance of $4,313 left for the car repair.  And now I just received a "Plaintiff's Claim and ORDER to Go to Small Claims Court".  It stated that his car was damaged and totaled, payment from my insurance is deficient.  BTW, my insurance coverage for property damaged liability is $50,000 for each occurence.

Now my questions: What do I need to do?  And why he's asking for a balance when my insurance paid or sent them a check for a damaged or totaled car? isn't he supposed to submit a claim to my insurance or his insurance for the balance left for his car damaged?   

Thank you,
Arnold

Answer
Hi Arnold,

You need to immediately contact your insurance company. They will instruct you to send the law suit papers to them. As a part of your policy your insurance company must provide you with a defense attorney to defend against the law suit. If there is a legitimate claim here, your insurance company will pay the claim long before this gets to court.

If the other car was totaled and your insurance company paid them the value of the car, that is all you are liable for. It sounds to me that the $4313.00 that they are suing for is the balance of there financed amount. If that is the case you are not responsible for since under the law you can only be responsible for the value of the property that you damaged. The finance amount is a seperate contract that has nothing to do with the value of the damaged property.

As I said just contact your insurance company. They will have an attorney handle things and he or she should be able to answer any other questions you may have.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh