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QuestionInsurance Question  My daughter was driving my car and got into an accident, it was clearly her fault. I am the owner of the vehicle and had full coverage on the car. How will this affect me? Will this accident cause my insurance to go up? Since I was fully covered will I receive any money for my car whether it was her fault or not? Will I still have to pay off the car, it was determined to be a total loss.

AnswerAuto Insurance Answer

First you need to make a claim with your auto insurance provider for the accident. Whether it will be accepted will be determined by the insurance adjuster the claims department puts on case. Normally when you give permission to others to use your vehicle your car's insurance is extended to them and thus your car is covered just as if you were driving.

There are exceptions to this general rule though. For example if your daughter lives with you and failed to inform your insurance company and add her to the policy as a licensed household member than there may be issues with your claim. Most all insurance companies require that you place household members that have driver's licenses on your policy so that they can rate accordingly for the risks of all drivers that have access to the car on a regular basis.

If your daughter does not live with but was in visiting than likely she would be covered by your policy. Again there are certain exclusions to policies some exclude drivers under a certain age so you would need to check and make sure that was not an issue. Also if you had specifically excluded your daughter from the car insurance policy than your "full coverage" would not extend to her in any way.

Now if your insurance company has no problem with the fact that your daughter was driving and your coverages were extended to her than they should cover the accident. Liability coverages should take care of those that your daughter may have damaged in the accident and than your own Collision coverage should take care of your vehicle.

You noted that your vehicle was determined to be a total loss. In this case than your claims adjuster should advise you of the actual cash value (ACV) that your car is worth and settle with you for this amount (minus your deductible). Whether the ACV amount will pay off your car will depend upon if you own more than the car is worth or not.

If you are upside-down on a loan or lease and thus owe more than the worth of the car than you would be responsible for the monies owed after the ACV settlement check was given to the lien holder. If you have Gap insurance it should pay the difference between the ACV amount and the balance of your loan.

On the flip side if you owe less the worth of the car than the insurance settlement amount should pay off the car and if there is any money left over it would come to you.

Since the accident was in your vehicle it can affect your future insurance rates since the claims will go through your insurance policy. If your daughter was ticketed for breaking some law (such as running a red light) than that ticket would affect her insurance rates.

To find out if claims resulting from your daughter being in an accident in your car will be covered by your insurance policy, speak to your insurance agent and/or the insurance adjuster on the claim if you have already placed a claim for your vehicle with your insurer. Your agent should also be able to tell you how this accident by your daughter will affect your insurance rates.

If your rates go up too much with your current insurance carrier you can always shop around for discount auto insurance here with us.

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