Can the car owner be held responsible when it was a friend that was driving the car and caused the accident

DISCLAIMER- THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE AND DOES NOT ESTABLISH AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. CONSULT QUALIFIED LEGAL COUNSEL IN YOUR CITY OR STATE FOR IMMEDIATE LEGAL ADVICE.
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You need to consult an attorney about several issues here.

1) Why will the insurance not cover the damage?
2) What kind of auto insurance policy do you hold, and what are its terms?

Bring your paperwork to a local attorney, and act as soon as possible so that you do not lose any of your legal rights.

Best,

Brian Pedigo, Esq.
http://www.PedigoLaw.com

The short answer is - yes, you can sue her for the damage. But the problem will be the amount of recovery. How much was the car worth? That is all you can get. If you owed more than the car was worth (which is likely on a six year loan, which is probably why you had gap insurance) then your recovery would probably be a net of zero anyhow. Try to get what you can but realize that your damages are minimal. I am surprised that there was no injury since your car was totalled. Another option is to try to get the insurance company to repair rather than total the car. At least then you will have a vehicle once it is repaired.

Good luck with this.

I am sorry to hear of your unfortunate situation. As you are learning first-hand, property damage claims can be extremely frustrating, but don't despair. I say this because you mentioned "GAP" insurance. I'll come back to this in a moment.

Many car owners do not have such coverage and when they find themselves in your predicament, end up being what we call "upside down" on their car loans. By that I mean they owe more on the loan than the vehicle is worth, even though they've paid all car payments as required. Once someone goes through a situation like yours, he/she quickly understands why cars are not good investments. As soon as you drive a car off the lot, it begins to depreciate, and if the depreciation is rapid and significant, it is easy for someone to owe more on a car loan than a car is worth, i.e., upside down on the loan. Where, however, one has GAP insurance, the difference between the fair market value of the vehicle -- this is all an insurance company is required to pay its policyholder -- and the amount owed on the loan is paid by the GAP insurer.

Thus, while you now need to get a new vehicle, at least you won't find yourself having to continue to pay for a car you no longer have. Provided you collect all available insurance coverage applicable to your loss, there is probably no reason for you to bring a claim against your friend. If, however, you find yourself in a position of having to sue your friend, you should know that you are not -- barring some unknown circumstances/facts -- responsible for having let your friend drive. There is no general prohibition against allowing someone to drive your car, and so long as you did not have notice of your friend being an incompetent driver, you are not legally liable for her negligence.

I hope this helps you better understand your rights and liabilities, but even if it does, would strongly encourage you to consult with a local lawyer who may know of certain nuances in your laws with which I am unfamiliar.

Regards,

Richard Kopelman

I am only licensed in Illinois and Georgia. The law may be different in Nevada. In the states in which I am licensed, you are only entitled to be paid the fair market value of your car at the time it was caused to be destroyed. You cannot make a profit from the loss of it. Of course, if you use your car to earn a living (a cab or a pizza deliveryman or something like that), you can recover for lost income. But absent that kind of thing, you get no more than the car was worth when it was destroyed.

If you had a deductible of $1,000 and your friend is willing to pay you $2,000, GRAB IT AND SAY THANKS. It's double what you are entitled to recover from her. Don't bother suing because you are wasting court costs and time. And you are going to lose a friend.

The law may be different in Nevada. You need to check with a local attorney. On the other hand, I would be surprised if you are entitled to make money on a property crash.

DISCLAIMER- THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE AND DOES NOT ESTABLISH AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. CONSULT QUALIFIED LEGAL COUNSEL IN YOUR CITY OR STATE FOR IMMEDIATE LEGAL ADVICE.
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That being said, I will try my best to answer this question under California law. This is a sad situation. I need to know if you had comprehensive and collision coverage, if you did you may have recourse, if you did not, you may be stuck suing your friend. Again, this is assuming that this happened in California, since I am only a

Your insurance policy should answer your question about liability caused by third party drivers. Some policies offer lower limits on coverage for third-party drivers, other exclude them altogether. Suing your friend may not be an ideal solution, since someone needs assets to make a suit worthwhile. It is unlikely your friend has an insurance policy to cover her for this accident, although you might want to check her homeowner's insurance policy, which sometimes covers general negligence (but this is unlikely, since car accidents are normally excluded).