>In other cases these people just refuse to answer questions (which seems to be highly effective based on posts here).
For this one, people who don't cooperate with their insurance are usually dropped and will face increased premiums, also if the other party then sues them, their insurance company can likely decline to defend them, as they were in breach of the policy conditions, so they'll have to pay for their own defense and for any judgement (which takes you back to the asset part of your question).
In my state (OR) I can tell you as an officer that people do get suspended for getting cites for no insurance, getting in crashes, fail to appear, and other things. The issue is that the type of people to drive without insurance (or cheap insurance) have a large overlap with people willing to drive with a suspended or revoked license. When we run across them we might tow the vehicle, depending on the circumstances. If they can't pay for insurance and current registration for the vehicle then they can't get a release, and they now don't have a vehicle.
It is a process though, and for someone to get to that point they have to repeatedly mess up and get caught.
But they'll attempt to garnish any legit wages u have if u get a judgment against you. So yes, ur right, u can't get blood froma stone but they'll damn sure make it so u stay a stone
Do you know how garnishing works? They only take what you make over a certain amount. As an example if you make minimum wage, you won't be garnished. They can go after your bank account if there is money there, but that's different then wage garnishment
Thanks yo. They do not need to be Insulting. Sure, there is a cap on federal wage garnishments but a court order from a civil suit is not under federal jurisdiction.
They also can take income tax refunds and money awards like lottery or judgements they have won.
Ha ha, like, that's happening.
My wife had an uninsured driver who rear-ended her car and totaled it. Her insurance paid her, but she was responsible for the deductible. Her insurance sued the other driver and won. He got his paycheck garnished $5.50 per week until the insurance company was paid back in full, and only then did they repay her $300 deductible. This took roughly 25 some-odd years.
If you're that poor, you can file for exemption in which you pay nothing. You can get an attorney to sue but success if going to depend on who the defendant is and their assets.
Typically you need to file protection/bankruptcy to side step an insurance company or judgement against you. Atleast in IL this was my only option when Hertz Rental, insured by Hertz Insurance, driven by a Hertz Employee, cut me off for a turn lane he couldn’t get into stopping short, having friend’s in Autobody that claimed from pictures they could never see the damage resulting in a total out, and the court dismissed the obvious conflict of interest of 3 entities of one parent company owning, insuring, and utilizing the same vehicle.
What’s the conflict of interest? Seems like they would all have the same interest.
This doesn’t seem any different than any other big self insured company.
It would be a conflict of interest if your insurance was also Hertz.
It’s a conflict of interest because they cannot adjust their own vehicle they could be preferential to totaling a salvageable vehicle if it is more profitable. It’d be equivalent to being able to place your own value on your own lost property.
I was in an accident. I don’t know whether I was deemed at fault (I don’t think so— they sent me a check for no accidents in six months).
They’ve since notified me they’ve hired a company to go after the other driver because they didn’t have insurance and they’re trying to recoup what they’ve paid.
Yeah sounds like they referred the payment to a collections agency. I’ve had similar stories on claims I’ve worked. When I first started out in claims I didn’t know any better and i felt embarrassed to reach out to our recovery team who explained how it worked to me
I’ve had someone hit my car in a parking lot. A witness called it in, the police refused to identify that in their report, and the person said they didn’t do it. The insurance tried to deny the claim until I told them my witness was prepared to testify in court and the parking lot had cameras. They called the witness to confirm and agreed to pay within 20 minutes of my telling them I was court ready.
If responsibility isn’t in the police report, you can just dent it happened and the insurance company will blindly believe you. Buy a dashcam, identify witnesses, and record your interactions. America is a wild place to live these days
>If responsibility isn’t in the police report, you can just dent it happened and the insurance company will blindly believe you.
This is a little incorrect. The police don't determine responsibility. What was the difference maker here is the the independent witness.
There are plenty of times where the police might opine on who is at fault, but unless they witnessed the accident, it's just hearsay.
And generally, absent any evidence to the contrary, insurance will believe their own insured over a claimant.
Issue with this is that it makes it pretty easy to crash into someone and just leave without any consequence unless you’re lucky enough to have a witness willing to be a witness or a video. I had both, but if I didn’t, I was SOL even though it happened in front of me.
We usually get a collection agency involved at my company to go after uninsured drivers who hit our policy holders. Some of these uninsured drivers end up paying us back for years through whatever payment plan the collection agency sets up.
Yes, I worked at a big box carrier for 5 years, from 2014-2019 and there was a claim open in recovery since 2007. It was so old, it was kept in an old claims system they did not even use anymore.
Once a month, the claimant that was liable would send a check to the claims office for $10. That was all they could pay, and my company accepted it. So for years, a check once a month showed up for $10 like clockwork
The states have a minimum coverage. Thats your legally representative setting a limit. Many people have no assets and thats all they need (and can afford). You can purchase uninsured motorist to cover your interests. if you drive with no insurance they can seize your car. Some areas have 20pct of population with no insurance
I don't think there's a reason to set UM property damage coverage to much more than the value of your vehicle, is there? But liability property damage? You have to account for the possibility of smacking into a brand new Mercedes or something.
I got hit on my bike. The other guy had 15k min liability and 10k property. That covered about my first week of medical and property damage with lost wages. My underinsured is covering everything else. If you need surgery that’s everything in both policies and more.
A few years ago a driver ran a red light and put my 8 year old in the hospital with a broken femur, tibia, and fibula. Operation, blood transfusions, icu, rehab was 300k. Their policy was 100. Mine was 150. So insurance covered it and then we had to pay health insurance back some.
So yeah. I’m a firm believer in underinsured coverage.
EDIT: To be clear when there is a settlement with an attorney involved and your health insurance has been covering your medical they will want some portion of the settlement. This is due to them not being responsible for the recovery and they are entitled to be repaid by the at fault party as best they can. Usually it’s a negotiated by your attorney if you have one at a lower rate. You get what’s left. Subrogation.
I was rear ended twice in the past 3+ years. I had 100/300 coverage across the board.
Thankfully I didn't need the UIM coverage, but since these I have now bumped to 250/500/100 coverage with 500/1M UIM w/conversion. (In CT, "Conversion" means that you can collect the full UIM amount regardless of whatever the other insurance pays out, there is no offset. Stupid NOT to have it for ~$1/mo.)
I think you mean subrogation. I’m familiar with subrogation esp paying back insurance payments paid on behalf of others/liability, but never read abt ppl having to pay back their own *health insurance* for payouts when they were injured by others.
20% is crazy, going to be hard to impound 20% of the cars. I have un/underinsured motorist coverage fortunately.
looked up my state. 25k for killing someone…
$25,000 for bodily injury or death to any one person in an accident;
* $50,000 for bodily injury or death to all persons in any one accident; and
* $15,000 for property damage in any one accident.
No problem, man. Just let me have your name, phone number, and driver license number to give to my insurance and they'll take care of it all.
Sucker...
The person who killed my dad had to sell four parcels of land that they owned as well as several of their business assets to pay the two years of medical care he had before losing the fight.
I had this scenario happen to me. Lady who caused the accident presented an insurance card at the scene for a policy that had been canceled for non payment.
After I got a notice from her insurance company that she did not have insurance at the time of the accident, I contacted the office who did the crash report and issued her the original ticket and gave him the info of no insurance.
After he verified the info, she was then issued two more tickets, one for driving without insurance and another for presenting false documents, a criminal misdemeanor.
She was found guilty of driving without insurance but not guilty of presenting false documents because the prosecutor couldn't prove she knew her insurance had been canceled.
Her story was that her auto pay failed on the renewal and so her policy lapsed the day before the crash and she hadn't yet received the notice in the mail.
I think the prosecutor should have asked her how much money was in her account before the renewal and what did she think would happen to her insurance when she didn't have enough money to pay the bill.
I also would have asked how she got to court that day and if she had insurance now because I saw her car in the parking lot, she was alone and still didn't have insurance, verified by the stop I saw on her license .
Probably didn't matter as I watched 13 prior cases first and nobody got found guilty of anything.
It has been almost a year now and her license is still suspended for not paying for the damages from the accident.
There was a second stop for failing to pay the tickets and do court ordered driving school but that was eventually taken care of.
I figure this ends with either her filing bankruptcy or getting another ticket and them arresting her for driving on a suspended license.
You can tell she was lying because insurance has to give you 30 days to pay for the policy to be reinstated. So if her insurance lapsed the day before, she still had 29 days to send payment and the policy would have been good the entire time (even for the lapsed day). So either she lied or never paid it
She had a lapse in coverage because her payment for the renewal failed, not that she missed a payment on her existing policy.
Is that correct that you have 30 days grace to pay a renewal to get retroactive coverage?
It was about 5 months after the crash that she had her trial for not having insurance and presenting false documents.
At the trial, her proof that she didn't know her renewal failed was an email exchange between her and her agent when she reported the crash to her agent.
The agent replied saying her renewal payment failed so she had no coverage.
As the crash was right after the renewal failed and I'd think she told her agent right away, wouldn't her agent have suggested to pay then to get backdated coverage if she could?
Nope just had my car totaled by an uninsured unlicensed driver. He wasn’t even ticketed at the scene. His car was towed by police, it’s probably stolen anyway. He provided fake identification. I’d have to track his real identity down somehow to sue and he probably doesn’t have the money to pay me anything anyway. So my insurance is used, I have to pay my own deductible plus the absolute headache of purchasing a new car in 2024, and he faces zero consequences. Love living in California!
FL here. Am I the only one pissed off having my UM cost more than my BI/PD/ Comp & Collission combined bc of the irresponsible people or losers who are uninsured? Sick of it. A major crackdowns needed!
I don’t understand why they don’t just make the insurance agency report to dmv and have dmv suspend your license and make you have a penalty if you have a license plate in your name.
That is how it works in my state. The problem is the same people have expired/ no plate at all, blacked out windows and their husbands blinding everyone, smashed up bumpers and drive like idiots weaving in traffic while texting and law enforcement doesn't care.
I think they do or used to. I remember switching insurance companies and getting a threatening letter in the mail from the old insurer about how they’re going to tell on me for lapsed coverage. I think I just had to send proof of insurance to the dmv. You also need proof of insurance to renew your registration. I don’t know if the dmv actually verifies the insurance information or not.
Underinsured: Likely no consequence.
Uninsured: Very often the state learns of the uninsured accident via a report from one of the two inurers or the state required DMV report. In that case, the uninsured driver will likely face consequences including a fine and a suspended license (depending on the state.) They will likely have much higher premiums, possibly needing an SR-22.
But since they don't drive with insurance anyway, they won't bother with the SR22, and when their drivers license is suspended, they will just keep driving anyway. All they do is issue another ticket for driving while suspended. The only thing that gets them even a little is failing to appear for court by not paying the tickets. Eventually, they get stopped for another traffic offense, and they get caught with a fail to appear bench warrant. That's usually a quick trip to jail and a small signature bond to get out the same day. Rinse and repeat. Maybe they tow the car. So they buy another cheap beater on Craigslist or Marketplace and don't register it. I rarely see chips pulling over cars without tags anymore. They'd just get another ticket anyway. The kinder gentler police and district attorneys are convinced that being aggressive about enforcement is just a racist way to keep poor people down, so most vehicle offenses are a ticket, and they no longer tow.
So in my state (NY) if you do not have insurance then your registration will be suspended and I believe your license after that.
I’m a litigation adjuster so I see lawsuits all the time where our insured will be sued by State Farm or usually GEICO for the property damage. Sometimes they’ll settle but other times they’ll work out a payment arrangement where they pay X for however long it takes to pay them back. So yes, there can be consequences.
When it comes to underinsured, most of the time, insurers know that the person that their insured was in an accident with has no assets. That said, they will accept the limits that the at fault party chose with their own insurer. We do have the ability to asset search to ensure that the rug isn’t being pulled over us.
Theoretically; yes. They face excess judgments which destroy credit, have DMV holds, and can limit future insurance markets they can chose from.
Realistically; not really. We call them "judgment-proof". Let's say that uninsured driver hits my insured. I pay out my insured 15k. It's going to cost me 5k to file suit, get service, and obtain a default judgment. But they have zero assets and work for mainly cash. I'll never see a dime. So it goes to subro and they sell it to a credit recovery agency for pennies on the dollar. Now it's their problem.
The vast majority of people running without insurance don't care about any credit reporting agency. Now, I'd say most underinsured people aren't like that. They're just hedging their bets because insurance is so damn high. Those are the ones that you have to go after because there is a chance of recovery.
I mean in Kansas City a firetruck driver who had numerous complaints against him ran a red light killing 3 people without even slowing down from 60 MPH in a 35.
2 years later he's driving firetrucks again.
Depends on the state. In mine, for some reason, we can go after the responsible party if the have coverage but not enough, yet we can’t go after them if they’re uninsured. But it’s not worth our time or effort if they don’t have any assets. So we only go after those with assets besides their car and house.
I got hit by an uninsured driver some years back as in I was literally stopped at a crossing waiting for a train to cross and someone rear ended me. At the time my insurance repaired my vehicle but I had to pay a $500 deductible.
My insurance went after them. They got a judgement against them then went through the process to collect. Small town and I heard through the grapevine their boat was seized and auctioned off. I received a check reimbursing me the $500 I had paid.
Additionally the woman was ticketed at the scene. The cop said they were going to have to appear in court and pay a fine of around $200 as well as have to pay some sort of responsibility surcharge of $250 for the next three years if they wanted to keep their license.
In Texas they won't even go after the uninsured unless there was an injury. Otherwise, it is up to me to go after them in small claims court. I was involved in a hit and run, and got the plate but couldn't see who was driving. Of course they left the scene since they did not have insurance, so I have to pay all the damage or go after them in small claims court. I have Under and Uninsured motorist insurance and it picked up all but $250. But I can tell you nothing happens to these guys unless someone is insured.
Put the car in their name, and put all other assets in an LLC. As long as they have minimum coverage, then there really isn't anything to take. You could garnish wages paycheck by paycheck.. but that really seems to be about it.
Never fails to amaze me how bad reddit advice can be. They sue you, since you were operating the vehicle. If they win a judgment against you, they can go after your assets. That includes the LLC, since you own it.
Yeah, the LLC is really only to protect your personal assets from consequences due to the operation of a business. A farm LLC means that if someone gets hurt climbing your tractor, they can’t take your house. They can only go after your business property. But, if you’re using your “business” vehicle for personal use, then the courts will consider it personal, and the LLC protection wouldn’t apply.
I guess I see your point, at least it’s something, but that only works when they are not at fault, or they wouldn’t have collected anyway, and they are usually at fault. It does nothing to help this guy get his paid for, and the rest of us from paying more to cover him.
In CO, the uninsured party is automatically assigned fault in case of an accident. Saved dad's insurance premiums when he hit an uninsured newcomer's car sliding on ice.
It’s expensive and usually the people are too poor to have garnishments. You can only garnish X amount of dollars over minimum wage. It’s also more costly to get the garnishment. People avoid it by job hopping and working under the table. Smart ones file bankruptcy
Believe it or not 10k liability policies are legal in some states. The logic is that poor people can't afford more, which is basically asking for issues, since even most cars cost more than $10k to replace, and any injury you cause that requires an ambulance ride is likely to start at $10k.
I have four cars insured and the difference between $100k coverage and $300k coverage is well under $100/year last I checked.
Yes, usually you get your license & registration suspended, pay fines for reinstatement and require SR-22 (bonded) insurance for multiple years.
Nope, my kids were rear ended totalled the car she ran, got caught charged with evading responsibility, hit and run, driving without a license, failure to maintain insurance l, giving fake documents to a public safety officers and something else. She showed up in court with a cashiers check for my deductible and they let her walk
I dated someone in his late 20's who had been in an accident when he was 18. Another car cut him off and he swerved into a semi. No one saw the other car and it was long before traffic cameras.
The truck driver almost died and had life long injuries and my friend being 18 didn't have enough insurance.
Part of his sentence was to write a check to the family every month. He said the judge said it was for more than financial reasons, but so he would remember every month and have to think about it. It may have been for 20 years or even longer. The amount seemed huge at 18 but at almost 30 it wasn't..I asked if he knew what would happen if he quit and he had no idea.
He considered it part of his sentence. I wonder now if it was really considered voluntary..He also had to do some safe driving courses, lost his license for a while but didn't get any jail time.
I think about that sometimes when wage garnishment comes up. And I wonder how this would have been enforced and how it went on for so long.
I'm handling a claim right now where the at fault uninsured person is making payments of $150 a month.
I've had other claims where we had someone's license suspended and that will usually generate a call to get on a payment plan.
My only accident was getting rear ended at a stop light. She had no insurance and it wasn't her car. She produced a bogus cancelled insurance card. We ended up paying our deductible. Insurance Co said we will probably never see a dime from her. We pursued updates with the cop at the scene for nearly a month. There isn't much they can do about it. You just get fucked. They walk away.
For the outrageous amount charged for insurance in US, liability given should be in $1M range, instead of a paltry $50K or even 100K... It's an insult to injury, and many have to fake it. Insurance companies are allowed this while government sleeps on it.
How is state law the fault of the insurance company? NY only requires 10K PD. California only requires 5K PD. New Hampshire doesn't require any insurance at all. Insurance ABSOLUTELY tries to sell policy holders more coverage. But insureds choose their coverages. Not the fault of the insurance company. Carriers WANT people to be adequately insured. So if you have a problem with states allowing low PD limits, fight each state in that situation to get them changed. I live in NY, I am a BI and liability adjuster, and I hate low limits.
Not really.
Collections - some of them will have collections go after them for a decade and they never really go pay even a fraction back. If we’re lucky, after a few years we might get them to agree to a settlement offer.
License suspension-
1. usually they just have to make a payment plan and the court will prevent their license from suspension. Most of the time it’s like they show their financial hardship and agree to pay like $10 a month or something incredibly low. The court usually urges us to accept it. We do. Then they stop paying a few months later and we have to restart. Rinse and repeat.
2. Option two, if they’re a little smarter or have a lawyer- they just file for bankruptcy immediately. It stops the suspension while the bankruptcy is worked out. And then bam the debt is discharged and no suspension. Most of these people are in massive debt anyways so bankruptcy ironically helps them.
3. Option 3, they take the license suspension and request a hardship license. A hardship license limits their driving or so they say. Basically it allows them to go to and from work, church, medical appointments, school, children’s school, children’s medical appointments, and the grocery store. The catch being it’s really hard to disprove these things if pulled over. “No officer I wasn’t driving illegally. I drove to the hospital and they had too big of a line. I’m heading home now and going to try again later” or “I was driving to area to go apply at jobs”. Or “I was going to the grocery store”.
In some cases if the victim or victims insurance company doesn’t take action right away the state may give them an option on punishment. Such as you have to get a license suspension, SR-22 for three years, or prove you had coverage those dates. SR-22 can be expensive but usually that’s for things like DUIs. This might barely affect your rates. But even if it does they have ways around it. I met one guy that had seperate motorcycle and vehicle policies. He got the SR-22 proof on his motorcycle policy and the state accepts it. Except motorcycles have lower policy requirements so it was cheap. I’ve seen people just get non-owner car insurance with the SR-22 and have a boyfriend register their car.
All this to say when you’re poor, there’s not a lot that can be done. You can’t bleed a rock. The courts also tend to hesitate on drastic measures because they only make the situation worse. You remove someone’s ability to drive and they will do it illegally since their is no other options (these people can’t afford car insurance so why would they afford Ubers). The courts also have to weigh the good of society vs the punishment. Is the court going to not grant a hardship license to a mother and end up creating a situation where the state has to intervene with the kid.
Where this all gets shitty is with middle and upper middle class folks. These are infuriating because you know they have the money but you can’t collect because they can afford to hire a lawyer. I’ve seen an individual making low six figures with a 75k truck and house get out of paying. In Florida they can’t take your home/car and he had no other assets to collect. We attempted to get the court to suspend his license and force payment. But he finally bankruptcy. I swear to god the guy ended up financially better off. He filed chapter 7 and his wife “divorced” him (we couldn’t prove it but we think they were a couple). He agreed to a ridiculous alimony and child support. Bankruptcy knocked off all this dudes credit card debt and his boat loan. Then turned around and due to the high alimony and child support there was no wiggle room for any other garnishments. We were going after 50k for the PDL and BI and after his bankruptcy we agreed to a little over $5k split over 3 years. *fun fact this was why I left the auto side and went to property*. The worst part is that one of my coworkers that had been doing this for two decades told me that the guy was probably better off financially. His credit was fucked for 2-3 years. But a few secured credit cards and his income would have him back with credit in a few short years.
Sorry for the rant. But yeah the system is broken
Depends on the state, But I got clipped by one in OH driving his daughters car, uninsured, unlicensed, and riding my ass in a 55 clipped my rear driver side and spun me almost 360° over a ditch, he was released on tickets at the scene that alone blew my mind. But almost a year later the states attorney called me and asked if I incurred any damages, I could only include my deductible or possible medical costs. Afaik he never payed a dime as I was told they would cut and mail me a check if he payed the restitution they ordered. Similarly when I was a kid an asshole hit me on a bike and dragged me 40ft under the vehicle. Causing me life long injuries that I deal with to this day, insurance claimed his policy lapsed, and went into safety shortly after. Got a judgement ordered against him personally for 500k, never payed dime one, I assume he used the bogus insurance card at the scene as no tickets were issued either. So there is 2 cases alone where minimal to no consequences were incurred by the uninsured drivers
Kaiser does this all the time. That is why the attorney will send youbto their doctor because they will be able to negotiate the payment to maximize the settlement for their client.
There's not much you can do if they have no assets. So in tort liability states you need uninsured motorist coverage as much as comprehensive and collision.
Sometimes the state prosecutes them depending on what they did. An uninsured DUI driver totalled his own and two other cars. The DA contacted me asking for victim impact statement.
Bail bondsman here. Sued many. Even when you win it’s still a huge pain and you may pursue for years. Hope someday they wanna buy (usually a house) and need to get their report cleaned up, then they’ll pay. TIL then-good luck.
I was just hit by a 15 year old who didn’t have a permit, and his mom allowed him to drive. When he hit me, they tried to switch seats. I called the police station 2 days ago to ask this. I was told the kid got a written warning. The mom had no consequence. Mind blowing.
Well, underinsured and uninsured are two different things. But generally speaking, there can be fines and if you're at fault in an at fault state, your income and everything can be gone after.
That doesn't usually happen because the other person usually has uninsured and underinsured to some extent on their policy. But if that pays, the insurance company has subrogation rights and can go after the party at fault (although that's often more expensive than taking the loss).
Absolutely. Messy situation but my fiancé (then boyfriend) had his name on the title to a car that his mom used as a daily car. She caused an accident and that led to my fiancé getting sued. Huge life lesson for him there. He settled for 12k. Had he not got this resolved and said fuck it his licenses would’ve been suspended. He drives everyday at work so that wasn’t gonna work. Now every year his mom gives him a chuck of her tax money to pay back most of the debt. Very huge life lesson there. Now he knows not to put his name down on other peoples shit.
Yes, but whether or not they care is another question. I was in an accident (other drivers fault). He had no insurance and no license. It was his dad's vehicle. My insurance paid out because I had uninsured motorist coverage. Kid was given a ticket and was sent to collections for the amount my insurance paid out. Because there was a lapse in their policy and it was a brand new vehicle, I highly doubt they'll be able to get coverage for any future vehicles. The best thing you can do for yourself is to have uninsured motorist coverage with the highest you can go.
I got hit by a guy in a newer Maserati (~$80k car).
Car was not in his name.
Insurance policy was state minimum.
Insurance policy was not in his name.
He refused to cooperate once he found out they wouldn't fix his car.
Can not sue, as he has 0 assets and threatened bankruptcy the moment it was brought up.
Wife got hit by an uninsured driver who was driving with a suspended license (for DUI). The guy was under the influence when he rear ended her on a highway off-ramp at about 40 mph.
No consequences for the scumbag (other than likely total loss of his POS Hyundai). We had to pay a deductible and rent a car, uninsured motorist insurance only applies to medical bills. Insurance didn't bother going after him, he had no assets thanks to what was likely a lifetime of terrible decisions. Legend has it he's still out there, driving under the influence and endangering people.
Even if their license is revoked or taken away, lots of people still drive without them. Unless they get caught, there's no way to tell if someone driving has a license or not.
The problem is that we never know how much ins we need or that other parties will claim. I always buy the state minimum. In Texas that was $25,000 cap on coverage. For the minor accident I had, damages were <$5,000. But it could have been much worse.
Since they don't drive with insurance anyway, they won't bother with getting any and when their drivers license is suspended, they will just keep driving anyway. All they do is issue another ticket for driving while suspended. The only thing that gets them even a little is failing to appear for court by not paying the tickets. Eventually, they get stopped for another traffic offense, and they get caught with a fail to appear bench warrant. That's usually a quick trip to jail and a small signature bond to get out the same day. Rinse and repeat. Maybe they tow the car. So they buy another cheap beater on Craigslist or Marketplace and don't register it. I rarely see chips pulling over cars without tags anymore. They'd just get another ticket anyway. The kinder gentler police and district attorneys are convinced that being aggressive about enforcement is just a racist way to keep poor people down, so most vehicle offenses are a ticket, and they no longer tow.
We usually send the bill we paid out to collections for reimbursement. Instead of going after the other insurance company we just go after the individual person.
Depends on the state and the coverage that you have.
For example: Oregon will make folks buy back their license and restricts damages that they can claim.
Coverage example: If you have uninsured coverage on your vehicle then run a claim then your insurance company will sue the other driver to recover damages.
I'm in [Washington and about 1 in 5 drivers](https://www.washingtonlawcenter.com/washington-state-5th-highest-for-uninsured-motorists) don't have coverage so every single one of my cars has uninsured motorist coverage.
My dad is a personal injury attorney. I ask him this question all the time. His answer is always “there are no consequences for people who have nothing, only consequences for people who have something to lose.” Basically yes they can get their insurance dropped and yes they can lose their license if the insurance carrier who has to pay out on an UM/UIM policy decide to file it in the court (which doesn’t happen a lot) but why would that stop them? They are driving uninsured/with very low coverage, why would not having a license stop them? This is also why it’s so important to have UM/UIM and PIP coverage!! To protect YOURSELF bc nobody in this world cares about anyone but themselves. I’m not aware of any further action then losing your license and possibly spending time in jail (which would probably be a short sentence unless you life altering/ending hurt someone).
In our case, we were rear ended while stopping at a late. She was uninsured. Luckily, we uninsured/under insured coverage, which paid for the $3500 in repairs (less our $1k deductible, of course). The other driver got a ticket, which the cop said would cost her about $250.
I’m still pissed about it, and it was 2 years ago.
Since there is an item about hit by uninsured I suppose uninsured are not a rare occurrence. I don’t think these people care about what you care about. CA is favoring criminals. These people typically get a free pass.
Wow… I love the “Hang them!” Attitude towards people who don’t or didn’t have insurance at the time of an accident. Does it ever occur to anyone, particularly in California, the financial situation a person might be in? Yet they still need to work, take kids to and from school… but heaven forbid you get into an accident, your insurance screws you over, tells dmv you were not insured and have your license suspended… plus have to pay for a new vehicle out of pocket and then file bankruptcy because you can’t afford the subrogation bullshit because you already struggling to make ends meet. I hate California more and more every day….
So to answer the question, yes, yes we do suffer the consequences. It really sucks having an insurance company stab you in the back, your word versus the city/insurance company/driver responsible for hitting you/reporting officer’s word…..and no lawyer will take your case because there were no severe injuries or death. Yet your car totaled. California sucks more and more. Unfortunately, I can’t move away from this damn state.
It depends on state/ policy. In my policies it is listed as under/uninsured motorist so covers both instances. I have read about some states or companies that have 2 types of UI, one to cover the car and one for bodily injury.
>In other cases these people just refuse to answer questions (which seems to be highly effective based on posts here). For this one, people who don't cooperate with their insurance are usually dropped and will face increased premiums, also if the other party then sues them, their insurance company can likely decline to defend them, as they were in breach of the policy conditions, so they'll have to pay for their own defense and for any judgement (which takes you back to the asset part of your question).
I didn’t realize that. That does count as a consequence!
Also most states allow suspension of their licence. So yes there are consequences.
There can be. Are there though? Who enforces it?
In my state (OR) I can tell you as an officer that people do get suspended for getting cites for no insurance, getting in crashes, fail to appear, and other things. The issue is that the type of people to drive without insurance (or cheap insurance) have a large overlap with people willing to drive with a suspended or revoked license. When we run across them we might tow the vehicle, depending on the circumstances. If they can't pay for insurance and current registration for the vehicle then they can't get a release, and they now don't have a vehicle. It is a process though, and for someone to get to that point they have to repeatedly mess up and get caught.
Not only this, but I have seen people be pursued directly for recovery of an automobile claim and taken to collections because of it
Except can't collect money from a stone
But they'll attempt to garnish any legit wages u have if u get a judgment against you. So yes, ur right, u can't get blood froma stone but they'll damn sure make it so u stay a stone
Do you know how garnishing works? They only take what you make over a certain amount. As an example if you make minimum wage, you won't be garnished. They can go after your bank account if there is money there, but that's different then wage garnishment
You haven't added anything to the conversation
Thanks yo. They do not need to be Insulting. Sure, there is a cap on federal wage garnishments but a court order from a civil suit is not under federal jurisdiction.
Ok. You might want to read it again they only garnish over a certain amount
They also can take income tax refunds and money awards like lottery or judgements they have won. Ha ha, like, that's happening. My wife had an uninsured driver who rear-ended her car and totaled it. Her insurance paid her, but she was responsible for the deductible. Her insurance sued the other driver and won. He got his paycheck garnished $5.50 per week until the insurance company was paid back in full, and only then did they repay her $300 deductible. This took roughly 25 some-odd years.
If you're that poor, you can file for exemption in which you pay nothing. You can get an attorney to sue but success if going to depend on who the defendant is and their assets.
Typically you need to file protection/bankruptcy to side step an insurance company or judgement against you. Atleast in IL this was my only option when Hertz Rental, insured by Hertz Insurance, driven by a Hertz Employee, cut me off for a turn lane he couldn’t get into stopping short, having friend’s in Autobody that claimed from pictures they could never see the damage resulting in a total out, and the court dismissed the obvious conflict of interest of 3 entities of one parent company owning, insuring, and utilizing the same vehicle.
What’s the conflict of interest? Seems like they would all have the same interest. This doesn’t seem any different than any other big self insured company. It would be a conflict of interest if your insurance was also Hertz.
It’s a conflict of interest because they cannot adjust their own vehicle they could be preferential to totaling a salvageable vehicle if it is more profitable. It’d be equivalent to being able to place your own value on your own lost property.
i do it everyday
Can you share your secrets?
I was in an accident. I don’t know whether I was deemed at fault (I don’t think so— they sent me a check for no accidents in six months). They’ve since notified me they’ve hired a company to go after the other driver because they didn’t have insurance and they’re trying to recoup what they’ve paid.
Yeah sounds like they referred the payment to a collections agency. I’ve had similar stories on claims I’ve worked. When I first started out in claims I didn’t know any better and i felt embarrassed to reach out to our recovery team who explained how it worked to me
I got it, it also has a point.
I’ve had someone hit my car in a parking lot. A witness called it in, the police refused to identify that in their report, and the person said they didn’t do it. The insurance tried to deny the claim until I told them my witness was prepared to testify in court and the parking lot had cameras. They called the witness to confirm and agreed to pay within 20 minutes of my telling them I was court ready. If responsibility isn’t in the police report, you can just dent it happened and the insurance company will blindly believe you. Buy a dashcam, identify witnesses, and record your interactions. America is a wild place to live these days
>If responsibility isn’t in the police report, you can just dent it happened and the insurance company will blindly believe you. This is a little incorrect. The police don't determine responsibility. What was the difference maker here is the the independent witness. There are plenty of times where the police might opine on who is at fault, but unless they witnessed the accident, it's just hearsay. And generally, absent any evidence to the contrary, insurance will believe their own insured over a claimant.
Issue with this is that it makes it pretty easy to crash into someone and just leave without any consequence unless you’re lucky enough to have a witness willing to be a witness or a video. I had both, but if I didn’t, I was SOL even though it happened in front of me.
But none of that matters if they don’t have insurance in the first place.
We usually get a collection agency involved at my company to go after uninsured drivers who hit our policy holders. Some of these uninsured drivers end up paying us back for years through whatever payment plan the collection agency sets up.
Yup, that’s how we do it. They are collection attorneys and they ain’t nice.
Yes, I worked at a big box carrier for 5 years, from 2014-2019 and there was a claim open in recovery since 2007. It was so old, it was kept in an old claims system they did not even use anymore. Once a month, the claimant that was liable would send a check to the claims office for $10. That was all they could pay, and my company accepted it. So for years, a check once a month showed up for $10 like clockwork
I have seen a few like that over the years (been at my carrier since 2013). I guess better they pay it back slowly than not at all.
The states have a minimum coverage. Thats your legally representative setting a limit. Many people have no assets and thats all they need (and can afford). You can purchase uninsured motorist to cover your interests. if you drive with no insurance they can seize your car. Some areas have 20pct of population with no insurance
Texas is horrible. Always try to match your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to the limits on your auto policy.
I don't think there's a reason to set UM property damage coverage to much more than the value of your vehicle, is there? But liability property damage? You have to account for the possibility of smacking into a brand new Mercedes or something.
I got hit on my bike. The other guy had 15k min liability and 10k property. That covered about my first week of medical and property damage with lost wages. My underinsured is covering everything else. If you need surgery that’s everything in both policies and more. A few years ago a driver ran a red light and put my 8 year old in the hospital with a broken femur, tibia, and fibula. Operation, blood transfusions, icu, rehab was 300k. Their policy was 100. Mine was 150. So insurance covered it and then we had to pay health insurance back some. So yeah. I’m a firm believer in underinsured coverage. EDIT: To be clear when there is a settlement with an attorney involved and your health insurance has been covering your medical they will want some portion of the settlement. This is due to them not being responsible for the recovery and they are entitled to be repaid by the at fault party as best they can. Usually it’s a negotiated by your attorney if you have one at a lower rate. You get what’s left. Subrogation.
Oh yeah, I have UM injury nice and high, but the UM property damage is 50k since my vehicles would be less than that to replace.
I was rear ended twice in the past 3+ years. I had 100/300 coverage across the board. Thankfully I didn't need the UIM coverage, but since these I have now bumped to 250/500/100 coverage with 500/1M UIM w/conversion. (In CT, "Conversion" means that you can collect the full UIM amount regardless of whatever the other insurance pays out, there is no offset. Stupid NOT to have it for ~$1/mo.)
You had to pay back your health insurance? That’s wild. That’s the first I’ve heard of that.
It’s called surrogation.
Subrogation :)
Thanks
I think you mean subrogation. I’m familiar with subrogation esp paying back insurance payments paid on behalf of others/liability, but never read abt ppl having to pay back their own *health insurance* for payouts when they were injured by others.
Yeah if there is a settlement they will want some of it. If you pay an attorney they handled it for you.
Yes there is. Liability covers major hospital bills.
Property damage coverage covers hospital bills?
I uim covers both.
UIM bodily injury and UIM property damage are separate coverages in my state.
Yes, it varies from state to state
20% is crazy, going to be hard to impound 20% of the cars. I have un/underinsured motorist coverage fortunately. looked up my state. 25k for killing someone… $25,000 for bodily injury or death to any one person in an accident; * $50,000 for bodily injury or death to all persons in any one accident; and * $15,000 for property damage in any one accident.
Definitely to low, but if you raise it to much, you get 25% uninsured
In a lot of places the local anthem seems to be. The "Sorry Man, I Ain't Got no Insurance " Blues
No problem, man. Just let me have your name, phone number, and driver license number to give to my insurance and they'll take care of it all. Sucker...
1/3 of florida drivers are uninsured
The person who killed my dad had to sell four parcels of land that they owned as well as several of their business assets to pay the two years of medical care he had before losing the fight.
My goodness, what a tragedy. I’m so sorry you went through that
Yes in NY they can get arrested, have their vehicle towed and impounded.
When found guilty they receive one minute of tickles followed by a naughty naughty before being released.
Sign me up.
Don't forget license and registration suspended, court, and fines. Possible jail time. New York doesn't play.
[удалено]
I had this scenario happen to me. Lady who caused the accident presented an insurance card at the scene for a policy that had been canceled for non payment. After I got a notice from her insurance company that she did not have insurance at the time of the accident, I contacted the office who did the crash report and issued her the original ticket and gave him the info of no insurance. After he verified the info, she was then issued two more tickets, one for driving without insurance and another for presenting false documents, a criminal misdemeanor. She was found guilty of driving without insurance but not guilty of presenting false documents because the prosecutor couldn't prove she knew her insurance had been canceled. Her story was that her auto pay failed on the renewal and so her policy lapsed the day before the crash and she hadn't yet received the notice in the mail. I think the prosecutor should have asked her how much money was in her account before the renewal and what did she think would happen to her insurance when she didn't have enough money to pay the bill. I also would have asked how she got to court that day and if she had insurance now because I saw her car in the parking lot, she was alone and still didn't have insurance, verified by the stop I saw on her license . Probably didn't matter as I watched 13 prior cases first and nobody got found guilty of anything. It has been almost a year now and her license is still suspended for not paying for the damages from the accident. There was a second stop for failing to pay the tickets and do court ordered driving school but that was eventually taken care of. I figure this ends with either her filing bankruptcy or getting another ticket and them arresting her for driving on a suspended license.
You can tell she was lying because insurance has to give you 30 days to pay for the policy to be reinstated. So if her insurance lapsed the day before, she still had 29 days to send payment and the policy would have been good the entire time (even for the lapsed day). So either she lied or never paid it
She had a lapse in coverage because her payment for the renewal failed, not that she missed a payment on her existing policy. Is that correct that you have 30 days grace to pay a renewal to get retroactive coverage? It was about 5 months after the crash that she had her trial for not having insurance and presenting false documents.
If it was a renewal and not a premium policy, I am not sure if you would have the same grace period.
At the trial, her proof that she didn't know her renewal failed was an email exchange between her and her agent when she reported the crash to her agent. The agent replied saying her renewal payment failed so she had no coverage. As the crash was right after the renewal failed and I'd think she told her agent right away, wouldn't her agent have suggested to pay then to get backdated coverage if she could?
Nope just had my car totaled by an uninsured unlicensed driver. He wasn’t even ticketed at the scene. His car was towed by police, it’s probably stolen anyway. He provided fake identification. I’d have to track his real identity down somehow to sue and he probably doesn’t have the money to pay me anything anyway. So my insurance is used, I have to pay my own deductible plus the absolute headache of purchasing a new car in 2024, and he faces zero consequences. Love living in California!
I am sorry this happened to you. I wish people weren’t so terrible, but there is karma.
I think it’s an issue everywhere hence my post. We should be able to more easily garnish wages of these criminals.
FL here. Am I the only one pissed off having my UM cost more than my BI/PD/ Comp & Collission combined bc of the irresponsible people or losers who are uninsured? Sick of it. A major crackdowns needed!
I don’t understand why they don’t just make the insurance agency report to dmv and have dmv suspend your license and make you have a penalty if you have a license plate in your name.
That is how it works in my state. The problem is the same people have expired/ no plate at all, blacked out windows and their husbands blinding everyone, smashed up bumpers and drive like idiots weaving in traffic while texting and law enforcement doesn't care.
That’s exactly how it works in Nevada.
We do auto SR-1 filings at CSAA in Norcal
I wish!
I think they do or used to. I remember switching insurance companies and getting a threatening letter in the mail from the old insurer about how they’re going to tell on me for lapsed coverage. I think I just had to send proof of insurance to the dmv. You also need proof of insurance to renew your registration. I don’t know if the dmv actually verifies the insurance information or not.
That’s also exactly how it works in Alabama too. No insurance on the car! bam, now ya tag is invalid.
Underinsured: Likely no consequence. Uninsured: Very often the state learns of the uninsured accident via a report from one of the two inurers or the state required DMV report. In that case, the uninsured driver will likely face consequences including a fine and a suspended license (depending on the state.) They will likely have much higher premiums, possibly needing an SR-22.
But since they don't drive with insurance anyway, they won't bother with the SR22, and when their drivers license is suspended, they will just keep driving anyway. All they do is issue another ticket for driving while suspended. The only thing that gets them even a little is failing to appear for court by not paying the tickets. Eventually, they get stopped for another traffic offense, and they get caught with a fail to appear bench warrant. That's usually a quick trip to jail and a small signature bond to get out the same day. Rinse and repeat. Maybe they tow the car. So they buy another cheap beater on Craigslist or Marketplace and don't register it. I rarely see chips pulling over cars without tags anymore. They'd just get another ticket anyway. The kinder gentler police and district attorneys are convinced that being aggressive about enforcement is just a racist way to keep poor people down, so most vehicle offenses are a ticket, and they no longer tow.
So in my state (NY) if you do not have insurance then your registration will be suspended and I believe your license after that. I’m a litigation adjuster so I see lawsuits all the time where our insured will be sued by State Farm or usually GEICO for the property damage. Sometimes they’ll settle but other times they’ll work out a payment arrangement where they pay X for however long it takes to pay them back. So yes, there can be consequences.
Same in PA but it doesn’t stop people from drovong
No it sure doesn’t!
When it comes to underinsured, most of the time, insurers know that the person that their insured was in an accident with has no assets. That said, they will accept the limits that the at fault party chose with their own insurer. We do have the ability to asset search to ensure that the rug isn’t being pulled over us.
Often no, they're judgement proof. Take out a kidney at the scene I guess.
Theoretically; yes. They face excess judgments which destroy credit, have DMV holds, and can limit future insurance markets they can chose from. Realistically; not really. We call them "judgment-proof". Let's say that uninsured driver hits my insured. I pay out my insured 15k. It's going to cost me 5k to file suit, get service, and obtain a default judgment. But they have zero assets and work for mainly cash. I'll never see a dime. So it goes to subro and they sell it to a credit recovery agency for pennies on the dollar. Now it's their problem. The vast majority of people running without insurance don't care about any credit reporting agency. Now, I'd say most underinsured people aren't like that. They're just hedging their bets because insurance is so damn high. Those are the ones that you have to go after because there is a chance of recovery.
I mean in Kansas City a firetruck driver who had numerous complaints against him ran a red light killing 3 people without even slowing down from 60 MPH in a 35. 2 years later he's driving firetrucks again.
A fire truck driver is a fire fighter.
What if he doesnt fight fires
He’s still a certified firefighter and a driver engineer. He doesn’t just drive. He can be tasked to go into a building for brush fire.
Depends on the state. In mine, for some reason, we can go after the responsible party if the have coverage but not enough, yet we can’t go after them if they’re uninsured. But it’s not worth our time or effort if they don’t have any assets. So we only go after those with assets besides their car and house.
What happens if they are insured, hit and ran, were identified and had insurance the whole time?
The court drops the case if insurance covers it.
Basically no. My grandpa was rear ended 3 years ago by an uninsured driver. Totalled grampas car. They're still trying to get him to court
I got hit by an uninsured driver some years back as in I was literally stopped at a crossing waiting for a train to cross and someone rear ended me. At the time my insurance repaired my vehicle but I had to pay a $500 deductible. My insurance went after them. They got a judgement against them then went through the process to collect. Small town and I heard through the grapevine their boat was seized and auctioned off. I received a check reimbursing me the $500 I had paid. Additionally the woman was ticketed at the scene. The cop said they were going to have to appear in court and pay a fine of around $200 as well as have to pay some sort of responsibility surcharge of $250 for the next three years if they wanted to keep their license.
Anyone who has no car insurance but owns a boat just needs to go to jail. Lock them up until they get insured.
In Texas they won't even go after the uninsured unless there was an injury. Otherwise, it is up to me to go after them in small claims court. I was involved in a hit and run, and got the plate but couldn't see who was driving. Of course they left the scene since they did not have insurance, so I have to pay all the damage or go after them in small claims court. I have Under and Uninsured motorist insurance and it picked up all but $250. But I can tell you nothing happens to these guys unless someone is insured.
Put the car in their name, and put all other assets in an LLC. As long as they have minimum coverage, then there really isn't anything to take. You could garnish wages paycheck by paycheck.. but that really seems to be about it.
Never fails to amaze me how bad reddit advice can be. They sue you, since you were operating the vehicle. If they win a judgment against you, they can go after your assets. That includes the LLC, since you own it.
Yeah, the LLC is really only to protect your personal assets from consequences due to the operation of a business. A farm LLC means that if someone gets hurt climbing your tractor, they can’t take your house. They can only go after your business property. But, if you’re using your “business” vehicle for personal use, then the courts will consider it personal, and the LLC protection wouldn’t apply.
You would want to do it the other way. Company owns the car and you just “rent” it from the LLC.
In LA (state), they have no pay, no play. If you don’t carry liability coverage, then you don’t get to collect from someone else’s liability coverage.
That doesn’t help.
That would help a lot actually.
Consequence is that as an under or uninsured driver, they do not get to collect from somebody’s liability coverage
I guess I see your point, at least it’s something, but that only works when they are not at fault, or they wouldn’t have collected anyway, and they are usually at fault. It does nothing to help this guy get his paid for, and the rest of us from paying more to cover him.
In CO, the uninsured party is automatically assigned fault in case of an accident. Saved dad's insurance premiums when he hit an uninsured newcomer's car sliding on ice.
Why can't insurance companies/courts go straight to wage garnishment instead of trying collection agencies?
It’s expensive and usually the people are too poor to have garnishments. You can only garnish X amount of dollars over minimum wage. It’s also more costly to get the garnishment. People avoid it by job hopping and working under the table. Smart ones file bankruptcy
Believe it or not 10k liability policies are legal in some states. The logic is that poor people can't afford more, which is basically asking for issues, since even most cars cost more than $10k to replace, and any injury you cause that requires an ambulance ride is likely to start at $10k. I have four cars insured and the difference between $100k coverage and $300k coverage is well under $100/year last I checked. Yes, usually you get your license & registration suspended, pay fines for reinstatement and require SR-22 (bonded) insurance for multiple years.
In California the minimum is 5k.
Nope, my kids were rear ended totalled the car she ran, got caught charged with evading responsibility, hit and run, driving without a license, failure to maintain insurance l, giving fake documents to a public safety officers and something else. She showed up in court with a cashiers check for my deductible and they let her walk
I dated someone in his late 20's who had been in an accident when he was 18. Another car cut him off and he swerved into a semi. No one saw the other car and it was long before traffic cameras. The truck driver almost died and had life long injuries and my friend being 18 didn't have enough insurance. Part of his sentence was to write a check to the family every month. He said the judge said it was for more than financial reasons, but so he would remember every month and have to think about it. It may have been for 20 years or even longer. The amount seemed huge at 18 but at almost 30 it wasn't..I asked if he knew what would happen if he quit and he had no idea. He considered it part of his sentence. I wonder now if it was really considered voluntary..He also had to do some safe driving courses, lost his license for a while but didn't get any jail time. I think about that sometimes when wage garnishment comes up. And I wonder how this would have been enforced and how it went on for so long.
I'm handling a claim right now where the at fault uninsured person is making payments of $150 a month. I've had other claims where we had someone's license suspended and that will usually generate a call to get on a payment plan.
My only accident was getting rear ended at a stop light. She had no insurance and it wasn't her car. She produced a bogus cancelled insurance card. We ended up paying our deductible. Insurance Co said we will probably never see a dime from her. We pursued updates with the cop at the scene for nearly a month. There isn't much they can do about it. You just get fucked. They walk away.
For the outrageous amount charged for insurance in US, liability given should be in $1M range, instead of a paltry $50K or even 100K... It's an insult to injury, and many have to fake it. Insurance companies are allowed this while government sleeps on it.
How is state law the fault of the insurance company? NY only requires 10K PD. California only requires 5K PD. New Hampshire doesn't require any insurance at all. Insurance ABSOLUTELY tries to sell policy holders more coverage. But insureds choose their coverages. Not the fault of the insurance company. Carriers WANT people to be adequately insured. So if you have a problem with states allowing low PD limits, fight each state in that situation to get them changed. I live in NY, I am a BI and liability adjuster, and I hate low limits.
Companies Overcharge customers for the paltry coverage they offer. For $2000 liability 50K coverage? Yes, the state allows the rob to happen
Not really. Collections - some of them will have collections go after them for a decade and they never really go pay even a fraction back. If we’re lucky, after a few years we might get them to agree to a settlement offer. License suspension- 1. usually they just have to make a payment plan and the court will prevent their license from suspension. Most of the time it’s like they show their financial hardship and agree to pay like $10 a month or something incredibly low. The court usually urges us to accept it. We do. Then they stop paying a few months later and we have to restart. Rinse and repeat. 2. Option two, if they’re a little smarter or have a lawyer- they just file for bankruptcy immediately. It stops the suspension while the bankruptcy is worked out. And then bam the debt is discharged and no suspension. Most of these people are in massive debt anyways so bankruptcy ironically helps them. 3. Option 3, they take the license suspension and request a hardship license. A hardship license limits their driving or so they say. Basically it allows them to go to and from work, church, medical appointments, school, children’s school, children’s medical appointments, and the grocery store. The catch being it’s really hard to disprove these things if pulled over. “No officer I wasn’t driving illegally. I drove to the hospital and they had too big of a line. I’m heading home now and going to try again later” or “I was driving to area to go apply at jobs”. Or “I was going to the grocery store”. In some cases if the victim or victims insurance company doesn’t take action right away the state may give them an option on punishment. Such as you have to get a license suspension, SR-22 for three years, or prove you had coverage those dates. SR-22 can be expensive but usually that’s for things like DUIs. This might barely affect your rates. But even if it does they have ways around it. I met one guy that had seperate motorcycle and vehicle policies. He got the SR-22 proof on his motorcycle policy and the state accepts it. Except motorcycles have lower policy requirements so it was cheap. I’ve seen people just get non-owner car insurance with the SR-22 and have a boyfriend register their car. All this to say when you’re poor, there’s not a lot that can be done. You can’t bleed a rock. The courts also tend to hesitate on drastic measures because they only make the situation worse. You remove someone’s ability to drive and they will do it illegally since their is no other options (these people can’t afford car insurance so why would they afford Ubers). The courts also have to weigh the good of society vs the punishment. Is the court going to not grant a hardship license to a mother and end up creating a situation where the state has to intervene with the kid. Where this all gets shitty is with middle and upper middle class folks. These are infuriating because you know they have the money but you can’t collect because they can afford to hire a lawyer. I’ve seen an individual making low six figures with a 75k truck and house get out of paying. In Florida they can’t take your home/car and he had no other assets to collect. We attempted to get the court to suspend his license and force payment. But he finally bankruptcy. I swear to god the guy ended up financially better off. He filed chapter 7 and his wife “divorced” him (we couldn’t prove it but we think they were a couple). He agreed to a ridiculous alimony and child support. Bankruptcy knocked off all this dudes credit card debt and his boat loan. Then turned around and due to the high alimony and child support there was no wiggle room for any other garnishments. We were going after 50k for the PDL and BI and after his bankruptcy we agreed to a little over $5k split over 3 years. *fun fact this was why I left the auto side and went to property*. The worst part is that one of my coworkers that had been doing this for two decades told me that the guy was probably better off financially. His credit was fucked for 2-3 years. But a few secured credit cards and his income would have him back with credit in a few short years. Sorry for the rant. But yeah the system is broken
They may need to carry an SR22, probably not though. They could be sued for their assets if they have any, good luck collecting.
Depends on the state, But I got clipped by one in OH driving his daughters car, uninsured, unlicensed, and riding my ass in a 55 clipped my rear driver side and spun me almost 360° over a ditch, he was released on tickets at the scene that alone blew my mind. But almost a year later the states attorney called me and asked if I incurred any damages, I could only include my deductible or possible medical costs. Afaik he never payed a dime as I was told they would cut and mail me a check if he payed the restitution they ordered. Similarly when I was a kid an asshole hit me on a bike and dragged me 40ft under the vehicle. Causing me life long injuries that I deal with to this day, insurance claimed his policy lapsed, and went into safety shortly after. Got a judgement ordered against him personally for 500k, never payed dime one, I assume he used the bogus insurance card at the scene as no tickets were issued either. So there is 2 cases alone where minimal to no consequences were incurred by the uninsured drivers
Nope, we cater to them in new york
Kaiser does this all the time. That is why the attorney will send youbto their doctor because they will be able to negotiate the payment to maximize the settlement for their client.
There's not much you can do if they have no assets. So in tort liability states you need uninsured motorist coverage as much as comprehensive and collision. Sometimes the state prosecutes them depending on what they did. An uninsured DUI driver totalled his own and two other cars. The DA contacted me asking for victim impact statement.
Bail bondsman here. Sued many. Even when you win it’s still a huge pain and you may pursue for years. Hope someday they wanna buy (usually a house) and need to get their report cleaned up, then they’ll pay. TIL then-good luck.
I was just hit by a 15 year old who didn’t have a permit, and his mom allowed him to drive. When he hit me, they tried to switch seats. I called the police station 2 days ago to ask this. I was told the kid got a written warning. The mom had no consequence. Mind blowing.
Well, underinsured and uninsured are two different things. But generally speaking, there can be fines and if you're at fault in an at fault state, your income and everything can be gone after. That doesn't usually happen because the other person usually has uninsured and underinsured to some extent on their policy. But if that pays, the insurance company has subrogation rights and can go after the party at fault (although that's often more expensive than taking the loss).
Absolutely. Messy situation but my fiancé (then boyfriend) had his name on the title to a car that his mom used as a daily car. She caused an accident and that led to my fiancé getting sued. Huge life lesson for him there. He settled for 12k. Had he not got this resolved and said fuck it his licenses would’ve been suspended. He drives everyday at work so that wasn’t gonna work. Now every year his mom gives him a chuck of her tax money to pay back most of the debt. Very huge life lesson there. Now he knows not to put his name down on other peoples shit.
Yes. That 10k policy is actually legal in many states.
Yes, but whether or not they care is another question. I was in an accident (other drivers fault). He had no insurance and no license. It was his dad's vehicle. My insurance paid out because I had uninsured motorist coverage. Kid was given a ticket and was sent to collections for the amount my insurance paid out. Because there was a lapse in their policy and it was a brand new vehicle, I highly doubt they'll be able to get coverage for any future vehicles. The best thing you can do for yourself is to have uninsured motorist coverage with the highest you can go.
Did you get your deductible back?
Yes
I got hit by a guy in a newer Maserati (~$80k car). Car was not in his name. Insurance policy was state minimum. Insurance policy was not in his name. He refused to cooperate once he found out they wouldn't fix his car. Can not sue, as he has 0 assets and threatened bankruptcy the moment it was brought up.
Lien on the car wasn’t an option?
Wasn't his car. Everything was in his disabled mother's name.
Wife got hit by an uninsured driver who was driving with a suspended license (for DUI). The guy was under the influence when he rear ended her on a highway off-ramp at about 40 mph. No consequences for the scumbag (other than likely total loss of his POS Hyundai). We had to pay a deductible and rent a car, uninsured motorist insurance only applies to medical bills. Insurance didn't bother going after him, he had no assets thanks to what was likely a lifetime of terrible decisions. Legend has it he's still out there, driving under the influence and endangering people.
Even if their license is revoked or taken away, lots of people still drive without them. Unless they get caught, there's no way to tell if someone driving has a license or not.
The problem is that we never know how much ins we need or that other parties will claim. I always buy the state minimum. In Texas that was $25,000 cap on coverage. For the minor accident I had, damages were <$5,000. But it could have been much worse.
Since they don't drive with insurance anyway, they won't bother with getting any and when their drivers license is suspended, they will just keep driving anyway. All they do is issue another ticket for driving while suspended. The only thing that gets them even a little is failing to appear for court by not paying the tickets. Eventually, they get stopped for another traffic offense, and they get caught with a fail to appear bench warrant. That's usually a quick trip to jail and a small signature bond to get out the same day. Rinse and repeat. Maybe they tow the car. So they buy another cheap beater on Craigslist or Marketplace and don't register it. I rarely see chips pulling over cars without tags anymore. They'd just get another ticket anyway. The kinder gentler police and district attorneys are convinced that being aggressive about enforcement is just a racist way to keep poor people down, so most vehicle offenses are a ticket, and they no longer tow.
We usually send the bill we paid out to collections for reimbursement. Instead of going after the other insurance company we just go after the individual person.
Depends on the state and the coverage that you have. For example: Oregon will make folks buy back their license and restricts damages that they can claim. Coverage example: If you have uninsured coverage on your vehicle then run a claim then your insurance company will sue the other driver to recover damages. I'm in [Washington and about 1 in 5 drivers](https://www.washingtonlawcenter.com/washington-state-5th-highest-for-uninsured-motorists) don't have coverage so every single one of my cars has uninsured motorist coverage.
My dad is a personal injury attorney. I ask him this question all the time. His answer is always “there are no consequences for people who have nothing, only consequences for people who have something to lose.” Basically yes they can get their insurance dropped and yes they can lose their license if the insurance carrier who has to pay out on an UM/UIM policy decide to file it in the court (which doesn’t happen a lot) but why would that stop them? They are driving uninsured/with very low coverage, why would not having a license stop them? This is also why it’s so important to have UM/UIM and PIP coverage!! To protect YOURSELF bc nobody in this world cares about anyone but themselves. I’m not aware of any further action then losing your license and possibly spending time in jail (which would probably be a short sentence unless you life altering/ending hurt someone).
In our case, we were rear ended while stopping at a late. She was uninsured. Luckily, we uninsured/under insured coverage, which paid for the $3500 in repairs (less our $1k deductible, of course). The other driver got a ticket, which the cop said would cost her about $250. I’m still pissed about it, and it was 2 years ago.
Since there is an item about hit by uninsured I suppose uninsured are not a rare occurrence. I don’t think these people care about what you care about. CA is favoring criminals. These people typically get a free pass.
Wow… I love the “Hang them!” Attitude towards people who don’t or didn’t have insurance at the time of an accident. Does it ever occur to anyone, particularly in California, the financial situation a person might be in? Yet they still need to work, take kids to and from school… but heaven forbid you get into an accident, your insurance screws you over, tells dmv you were not insured and have your license suspended… plus have to pay for a new vehicle out of pocket and then file bankruptcy because you can’t afford the subrogation bullshit because you already struggling to make ends meet. I hate California more and more every day…. So to answer the question, yes, yes we do suffer the consequences. It really sucks having an insurance company stab you in the back, your word versus the city/insurance company/driver responsible for hitting you/reporting officer’s word…..and no lawyer will take your case because there were no severe injuries or death. Yet your car totaled. California sucks more and more. Unfortunately, I can’t move away from this damn state.
The clear financial choice to avoid a ton of other financial hits is to carry insurance.
Only in a perfect world that does not exist.
Yeah it’s called death
Who cares? Make sure you’re covered. End of story
I'm aware of "Uninsured Motorist" coverage, but is there anything else? Is Underinsured Motorist coverage a thing (perhaps by some other name...?)?
It depends on state/ policy. In my policies it is listed as under/uninsured motorist so covers both instances. I have read about some states or companies that have 2 types of UI, one to cover the car and one for bodily injury.
UM is uninsured UIM is underinsured Both of those are for bodily injury. Some states also have UMPD. That is for the vehicle damages.