My parked vehicle was hit and destroyed by a minor just prior to me buying auto insurance

[replicationspork]

What is the name of your state? California

I recently purchased vehicle, completed the registration, and was in the process of shopping for insurance before starting to drive it. On New Year's Eve a minor hit and wrecked multiple parked vehicles on the street of my home address, including my vehicle. I was visiting family out of state when the incident happened, but the police caught the minor and eventually provided me the name, address, and license plate number of the registered owner of the vehicle the minor used to cause the damage. However, since I had not yet purchased insurance, I don't have an insurance company to which to give this information in order to seek compensation for my vehicle from the other party's liability insurance.

The Bluebook private party value of my vehicle was arout $1,600. Would any lawyer take my case here, or am I outta luck? Do I have any other options?

 

[FlyingRon]

You now realize that you should have obeyed the law and had insurance before you put the car on the road. An attorney would probably burn through $1600 in a heartbeat. Your best bet may be small claims court.

 

[adjusterjack]

However, since I had not yet purchased insurance, I don't have an insurance company to which to give this information in order to seek compensation for my vehicle from the other party's liability insurance.

Even if you had insurance your insurance company would have no obligation to seek compensation for you from the other party's liability insurance. You'd be on your own anyway, so contact the other party's insurance by yourself and get your claim started.

Your ability to collect for the damage to your car does not depend on whether or not you had your own insurance.

 

[replicationspork]

Thank you for your responses.

You now realize that you should have obeyed the law and had insurance before you put the car on the road. An attorney would probably burn through $1600 in a heartbeat. Your best bet may be small claims court.

Yeah, that was my feeling on a lawyer. Thank you for the small claims court suggestion.

Obviously I recognize my mistake now. I wasn't driving the vehicle, as I'm a student with work and school within easy walking and biking distance. I didn't realize I was legally supposed to have insurance to have the unoperated vehicle parked on a frontage road along of the house, where there was zero risk it would injure anyone (short of it being stolen, I suppose). It was a freak accident that a random someone would intentionally run a vehicle into multiple parked vehicles on our street in that short window of time between me getting a vehicle and me purchasing insurance to start driving it. Live and learn.

Even if you had insurance your insurance company would have no obligation to seek compensation for you from the other party's liability insurance. You'd be on your own anyway, so contact the other party's insurance by yourself and get your claim started.

Your ability to collect for the damage to your car does not depend on whether or not you had your own insurance.

Thank you, a major problem is that I currently do not have the other party's insurance. The incident happened while I was out of state visiting family, so I wasn't there to ask for it at the scene. The police provided me a form with the name, address, and license plate number of the vehicle the minor used to do the damage, but I don't believe I have a way to look up the owner's insurance from that. (My understanding is that an insurance company could look up the other party's insurance from this information with a valid reason like the incident being documented by police, but I may be mistaken.)

The police did not file a traffic report; they're considering it not a traffic incident because the minor was intentionally doing damage. The police did file a criminal report (which may contain the insurance information?), but because the incident involves a minor I'd have to go through a lengthy court process to get a judge to approve a release of the report.

Is my best bet to petition a judge to release the criminal report and then use that to make a claim with the other party's insurance (supposing the criminal report contains that information), or else take it to a small claims court?

Should I write a letter to the registered owner asking for their insurance?

Is it legal to ask neighbors whose vehicles were damaged in the same incident if they have the other party's insurance? Do I have other options?

 

[HighwayMan]

California allows uninsured vehicles to be registered?

 

[Zigner]

California allows uninsured vehicles to be registered?

Nope. But the OP had just purchased it. In CA, the license plates ("tags") stay with the car, so it could still have valid registration "left over" from the prior owner

 

[FlyingRon]

Which would not really be valid (especially not if the previous owner filed the appropriate release form).

 

[Zigner]

Which would not really be valid (especially not if the previous owner filed the appropriate release form).

That's a bit iffy. The registration is still valid, it just needs to be transferred to the new owner. Failure to transfer the vehicle is a different offense from expired or suspended registration. If there is enough time left on the registration period (I believe 3+ months), the OP doesn't even need to pay for the registration at the time of transfer, just a fee for the transfer.

Also, looking back at the insurance question...it's possible that the vehicle showed up in the system as still having insurance because the prior owner's insurance was still covering the car.

 

[adjusterjack]

the minor was intentionally doing damage.

Who said that? You wrote that this happened New Year's Eve. If it was alcohol related, it wouldn't have necessarily been intentional. In fact, you'd better hope it wasn't because intentional acts are not covered by auto liability insurance.

Should I write a letter to the registered owner asking for their insurance?

Why waste your time on just that? It's better to get an estimate, deliver it to the owner, demand payment and include a demand for their insurance information.

Is it legal to ask neighbors whose vehicles were damaged in the same incident if they have the other party's insurance?

Yes, it's legal.

Is my best bet to petition a judge to release the criminal report and then use that to make a claim with the other party's insurance (supposing the criminal report contains that information),

Again, don't waste your time. You know it happened. You know who did it. You know who owns the car. The fastest way to get moving on this is to get a repair estimate and deliver it to the owner. If the owner is smart enough to turn this over to his insurance, you'll get a response. If not, you sue in small claims court.

Don't make this more complicated than it has to be.

 

[replicationspork]

That's a bit iffy. The registration is still valid, it just needs to be transferred to the new owner. Failure to transfer the vehicle is a different offense from expired or suspended registration. If there is enough time left on the registration period (I believe 3+ months), the OP doesn't even need to pay for the registration at the time of transfer, just a fee for the transfer.

Also, looking back at the insurance question...it's possible that the vehicle showed up in the system as still having insurance because the prior owner's insurance was still covering the car.

To my knowledge, I fully completed the transfer of title, registration, proof of passed smog check via the California DMV without a hitch. At no point did they ask for proof of insurance. They might have run a check in the background and seen the previous owner's insurance; I'm not sure. After this incident the police traced me as the registered owner to issue me a release form just fine, no questions asked (the police had my car towed because the suspect hit it into the middle of the road). What I do know the California DMV does is give you like 3-4 weeks after the date of registration and if they find the vehicle is still not insured, they'll "suspend" the registration until you send them proof of insurance and pay a small reinstatement fee.

Who said that? You wrote that this happened New Year's Eve. If it was alcohol related, it wouldn't have necessarily been intentional. In fact, you'd better hope it wasn't because intentional acts are not covered by auto liability insurance.

A police cadet working in the traffic bureau told me this a few days ago. All along I suspected it was alcohol-related because it happened on New Years Eve. But the police cadet, trying to explain to me why only a criminal report (just finished last week--the traffic bureau's 45 days behind they tell me) was filed but not a traffic incident report, said that the situation is "funky...she was intentionally doing stuff." That's close to verbatim what the cadet told me over the phone.

So, I don't know what is the suspect/minor's relationship to the registered owner of the vehicle. Was the vehicle stolen? Was the suspect/minor the registered owner's daughter? Or son's girlfriend? And I don't know what "intentional" exactly means here. What would possess someone to "intentionally" ram into a bunch of parked vehicles, especially strangers' vehicles? Were they drunk? Off their meds? Trying to get revenge against a parent or ex? Trying to commit suicide? The information is likely in the criminal report, but the police records office told me I'd have to petition a judge to approve the release of the report because it involves a minor. That's its own 11-12 week process.

I thought that maybe the registered owner's insurance might come into play, since the minor "intentionally" doing damage was not the registered owner of the vehicle and I don't know how the police are defining "intentionally" here. But if not, then realistically it looks like a small claims court might be my only shot at compensation.

Again, don't waste your time. You know it happened. You know who did it. You know who owns the car. The fastest way to get moving on this is to get a repair estimate and deliver it to the owner. If the owner is smart enough to turn this over to his insurance, you'll get a response. If not, you sue in small claims court.

Don't make this more complicated than it has to be.

I definitely appreciate the advice. Thanks for your time.

 

[adjusterjack]

At no point did they ask for proof of insurance.

They didn't have to. The law mandates that you have liability insurance to operate a motor vehicle. You drove it home when you got it. Had you been pulled over and been unable to provide evidence of insurance you would have been cited.

What I do know the California DMV does is give you like 3-4 weeks after the date of registration and if they find the vehicle is still not insured, they'll "suspend" the registration until you send them proof of insurance and pay a small reinstatement fee.

Right. But that doesn't count if you are caught driving without insurance.

A police cadet working in the traffic bureau told me this a few days ago.

I wouldn't put much stock in what a police cadet tells you. A DUI or drug related incident could generate a criminal investigation instead of a traffic investigation.

said that the situation is "funky...she was intentionally doing stuff."

Doing what stuff?

I thought that maybe the registered owner's insurance might come into play, since the minor "intentionally" doing damage was not the registered owner of the vehicle

That's not how the insurance works. Using the car with the permission of the owner makes her an insured on the owner's policy. The following is quoted directly from the standard auto insurance policy:

EXCLUSIONS
A. We do not provide Liability Coverage for any "insured":
1. Who intentionally causes "bodily injury" or "property damage".

I don't know how the police are defining "intentionally" here.

Neither do I. She could have been intentionally drinking or taking drugs, either of which could have impaired her, resulting in unintentional collisions. I also find it hard to imagine that anybody would purposely drive down the street and crash into cars.

But if not, then realistically it looks like a small claims court might be my only shot at compensation.

Don't get ahead of yourself. Get a repair estimate and get it to the registered owner with a written demand for payment. You don't need the police report or the insurance information for that. Once you've done that, come back to this thread if you need further discussion.

 

[CdwJava]

The police did not file a traffic report; they're considering it not a traffic incident because the minor was intentionally doing damage. The police did file a criminal report (which may contain the insurance information?), but because the incident involves a minor I'd have to go through a lengthy court process to get a judge to approve a release of the report.

The only way that there would not be a collision report with this investigation would be if the impacts were all intentional acts and the kid was being charged with vandalism or ADW or something similar. Absent intentionally ramming the parked vehicles, it would be both a crime for the bad driving (or DUI) AND a collision. The agency may be withholding all reports under the theory that the juvenile crime makes it all confidential. Though, they should be able to release any insurance info if they have it. A typical crime report will not have the insurance info.

Is it legal to ask neighbors whose vehicles were damaged in the same incident if they have the other party's insurance? Do I have other options?

You can ASK anyone anything.

 

[replicationspork]

They didn't have to. The law mandates that you have liability insurance to operate a motor vehicle. You drove it home when you got it. Had you been pulled over and been unable to provide evidence of insurance you would have been cited.

The previous owner drove the vehicle to my home location, where it stayed parked. (The vehicle was a manual transmission and I was just about to purchase insurance for the vehicle and learn manual on it with help from a friend.) I'm just explaining that my transfer of title and registration was complete.

What I didn't realize until later is that you're legally obligated to have insurance to have your vehicle parked on a public street (mine was in front of the house, on a max 15 mph frontage road typically lined with parked cars).

Right. But that doesn't count if you are caught driving without insurance.

Of course.

I wouldn't put much stock in what a police cadet tells you. A DUI or drug related incident could generate a criminal investigation instead of a traffic investigation.

Yeah, the reason why I put some stock in it is simply because of what CdwJava said about why the police wouldn't file a traffic incident report (two different cadets told me that none was or would be filed when I asked for it), and only filed a criminal report. But I get the point. Brass tacks is to write the registered owner to demand payment.

Don't get ahead of yourself. Get a repair estimate and get it to the registered owner with a written demand for payment. You don't need the police report or the insurance information for that. Once you've done that, come back to this thread if you need further discussion.

Got it. Thanks.

 

[adjusterjack]

The previous owner drove the vehicle to my home location, where it stayed parked.

Oh, OK. I do that, too. But I do the money and paperwork when it gets to my house. Otherwise the liability is mine from the minute I pay for it and get handed the title.

What I didn't realize until later is that you're legally obligated to have insurance to have your vehicle parked on a public street

Well, that's not exactly right, but it's a moot point now.

Did you not have another vehicle before you got this one? One that already had liability insurance on it? If you did, you would have been covered for a newly acquired vehicle, subject to reporting the purchase to your insurance company within a short period of time.

 

[CdwJava]

I'm simply befuddled as to why there would be no collision report with this. I find it hard to believe that some teenager INTENTIONALLY rammed a bunch of cars in the commission of multiple cases of felony vandalism. This is peculiar.

@replicationspork, how long ago did this occur? Keep in mind that any collision report may take a couple of weeks to prepare - longer if it is complex. By law, the initial collision report should be submitted within 10 days, but the follow-up and further investigation might take much longer depending on the facts. You may have been misinformed by the cadet because they may not quite understand the reporting process.