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Not my fault but no insurance.

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bo6969

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I was involved in a really bad accident. A stolen car ran a light plowing into an SUV making a left turn, the suv went into Parallel traffic hitting three other cars then mine. My car was taken to the tow yard but it is possibly totaled. The down side is that my insurance just lapsed. And the driver had fled the scene but they may have found him. I can not contact anyone except for the traffic officer who took my info. I told him my situation and he said that they would not site me for uninsured motorist. However, I don't know what to do about my car. I was still making payments but now it may be totaled. Will anyones insurance pay, do I still continue paying on my car? Do I have any rights?
 


sandyclaus

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I was involved in a really bad accident. A stolen car ran a light plowing into an SUV making a left turn, the suv went into Parallel traffic hitting three other cars then mine. My car was taken to the tow yard but it is possibly totaled. The down side is that my insurance just lapsed. And the driver had fled the scene but they may have found him. I can not contact anyone except for the traffic officer who took my info. I told him my situation and he said that they would not site me for uninsured motorist. However, I don't know what to do about my car. I was still making payments but now it may be totaled. Will anyones insurance pay, do I still continue paying on my car? Do I have any rights?
Sounds to me like the driver of the stolen car is at fault here, but that doesn't help you at all. In such cases where the person at fault is either unidentified or uninsured, then one would usually look to their own uninsured motorist coverage on their own policy to take care of the damage. However... since you allowed your policy to lapse, then you have no way to force your insurance carrier to cover the damages, either.

The car isn't going to fix itself, nor does it appear you will be able to get anyone else's policy to cover you. You will have to get the repairs done on your own.

And yes, you will still have to pay for the vehicle. It's not the finance company's fault that you failed to maintain proper coverage to protect you from something like this. Now you get to continue paying for a car you no longer have.

If the police were able to find the driver at fault for the whole thing, and this driver actually has some kind of assets you could go after to satisfy a judgment, you could probably sue them to recover your losses. But chances are if they are a criminal, they probably don't have anything worth seizing.
 

Proseguru

Member
If the driver who fled is the insured owner you would have to deal with either the insurance company or go to court to recover.

Just because its gone does not mean you do not owe $$ to the bank.

Lucky you were not cited for no insurance.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
If the car was ACTUALLY stolen. Note that I did NOT say "if the car was REPORTED stolen". The police investigation (and the insurance investigation) will bear out whether the car was legitimately stolen or if the owner filed a false report. I was going by what OP originally said.
 

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