Hello,
I owned a motorcycle that I lent to a friend over the summer. He had no vehicle and I was doing it as a favor because I also have a car and it wasn't a necessity for me.
In June he was involved in a fairly serious crash that involved a vehicle. The front of the vehicle (small suv) struck the left side of the motorcycle. The motorcycle was totaled, the suv had extreme damage in the front. My friend was beat up pretty bad, needed over 100 stitches, but somehow escaped serious injury. The accident was ruled his fault because a witness said he ran a red light. My friend claims the other people ran the red light, but at this point there is no real way to prove otherwise and I just choose not to have an opinion on the matter because nothing can be done.
When I first gave him the bike at the start of the summer I instructed him to get insurance on it. However, he never followed through with that. Therefore, I was not compensated for my bike. As upsetting as it was I made peace with it and decided to chalk it up to an expensive (bike was worth about $3500) life lesson. I should have followed through better to make sure he was covered or better yet not let someone borrow something like that - hindsight is better than foresight.
It's several months later now and I've received what looked like a collections letter in the mail. According to this letter I owe about $9,000 dollars for the damages to the other vehicle. It sounds a bit excessive that hitting a motorcycle could cause that much damage to a car, but I did see the car and it did have pretty excessive damage.
I called the number on the letter to get more information. I found out that they are not a collection agency but that they are a branch of the drivers insurance company designated for collections.
Am I obligated to pay this?
They told me this could not affect my credit score, but that it could possibly result in a suspension of my license or a lawsuit.
Any further information or details on this would be much appreciated. I've heard from a few people that if a motorcycle is fully paid for (it was) you are not obligated to have it insured or responsible. This could be completely false, I know nothing of law and am just sharing what I've heard.
This accident took place in Florida.
I owned a motorcycle that I lent to a friend over the summer. He had no vehicle and I was doing it as a favor because I also have a car and it wasn't a necessity for me.
In June he was involved in a fairly serious crash that involved a vehicle. The front of the vehicle (small suv) struck the left side of the motorcycle. The motorcycle was totaled, the suv had extreme damage in the front. My friend was beat up pretty bad, needed over 100 stitches, but somehow escaped serious injury. The accident was ruled his fault because a witness said he ran a red light. My friend claims the other people ran the red light, but at this point there is no real way to prove otherwise and I just choose not to have an opinion on the matter because nothing can be done.
When I first gave him the bike at the start of the summer I instructed him to get insurance on it. However, he never followed through with that. Therefore, I was not compensated for my bike. As upsetting as it was I made peace with it and decided to chalk it up to an expensive (bike was worth about $3500) life lesson. I should have followed through better to make sure he was covered or better yet not let someone borrow something like that - hindsight is better than foresight.
It's several months later now and I've received what looked like a collections letter in the mail. According to this letter I owe about $9,000 dollars for the damages to the other vehicle. It sounds a bit excessive that hitting a motorcycle could cause that much damage to a car, but I did see the car and it did have pretty excessive damage.
I called the number on the letter to get more information. I found out that they are not a collection agency but that they are a branch of the drivers insurance company designated for collections.
Am I obligated to pay this?
They told me this could not affect my credit score, but that it could possibly result in a suspension of my license or a lawsuit.
Any further information or details on this would be much appreciated. I've heard from a few people that if a motorcycle is fully paid for (it was) you are not obligated to have it insured or responsible. This could be completely false, I know nothing of law and am just sharing what I've heard.
This accident took place in Florida.