What are my rights?

With all respect to lawyers licensed in other states, I will answer you as an Illinois lawyer. And I'm going to do it in a frank way. You may not like my answer, but it's the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

It does not matter that your insurance lapsed at all if you were not at fault, but you are only entitled to be paid the fair market value of your vehicle at the time it was damged. If the amount you may have owed on the vehicle was more than the value of the vehicle, that's just too bad for you. You are not going to be entitled to the difference under Illinois law - period.

The advice I give people who have financing on a vehicle in a situation in which damage exceeds fair market value is to roll the note into a new one at a slightly higher rate if it can be done. Of course, in today's market that may be tough to do. Any kind of auto financing is tough to get. But the reality you are going to have to face is that you cannot recover more than what your car is worth. You can do it from the driver or from his employer, but that is going to be the limit of your recovery.

Many people feign injury in situations like this just so they can break even. I strongly discourage this because it's fraudulent, but I sure do understand it. A decent lawyer who spots this kind of situation won't touch that sort of claim. I sure won't. But there are 83,000 lawyers in Illinois. There are all kinds.

Even if you had collision insurance on your vehicle, you would only have been entitled to have it fixed or be paid the fair market value of it, whichever would be less. Unless you had an insurance policy for "stated value" which usually costs a fortune and is designed for antique cars that have been restored, you would be out of luck.

Donald Nathan
www.donaldnathanlaw.com