Reader’s Question:
I was driving my father’s vehicle when I got into a minor accident with just a scratch on the side. I do not have car insurance so I am wondering if I could place a claim on my father’s car insurance carrier in Sioux City?
Tony
Sioux City, IA
If you do not live with your father in the same household and borrow his vehicle and are involved in an accident, your father’s auto insurance coverage will extend to you as a driver. If you reside in the same household and are not listed as a driver on the car insurance policy for some reason then the insurance carrier may not cover you for driving his car.
To make a car insurance claim on your father’s insurance company in Sioux City Iowa you need more tha just the liability coverage on the vehicle. Liability covers damages the driver, caused to another party’s vehicle or property, not damages to your own automobile. Your father would need physical damage coverages of collision and comprehensive to cover damages to his automobile.
Since you did have car insurance, your father’s car insurance would still be primary. Car insurance follows the vehicle first usually and driver second, so if you had car insurance it would have been secondary or excess if damages exceeded your father’s liability limits.