What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
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 July 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 begun receiving collection letters and calls from the other parties insurance collection department. According to this letter I owe about $7,000 dollars for the damages to the other vehicle.
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.
1. Am I obligated to pay this?
2. I am a college student and do not have that kind of money. I’ve explained this to them several times and they’ve recently mentioned that they would probably agree to settle for a lesser amount. If I am obligated to pay this, what is the best guess for how low I can negotiate to settle this for?
3. Is it true that they can suspend my license?
4. How long would it take before they took action to get my license suspended or filed a lawsuit?
Any additional help would be greatly appreciated
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 July 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 begun receiving collection letters and calls from the other parties insurance collection department. According to this letter I owe about $7,000 dollars for the damages to the other vehicle.
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.
1. Am I obligated to pay this?
2. I am a college student and do not have that kind of money. I’ve explained this to them several times and they’ve recently mentioned that they would probably agree to settle for a lesser amount. If I am obligated to pay this, what is the best guess for how low I can negotiate to settle this for?
3. Is it true that they can suspend my license?
4. How long would it take before they took action to get my license suspended or filed a lawsuit?
Any additional help would be greatly appreciated