At some point in our lives, most of us will be involved in a motor vehicle accident. Thankfully, most car accidents are minor. You’ll probably walk away from the crash with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises. The biggest bruise will probably be to your ego. The biggest bump will probably be to your wallet. However, there are other times when the accident you’re involved in is a lot more serious than that. You do all the things you were told to do. You call the police right away to make sure they come out and investigate the crash scene. You went by ambulance to the emergency room so a doctor can check you out. And you called a Carrollton accident lawyer as soon as possible after the accident.
Just when you think you have things figured out, things get a bit more complicated. You find out that the person who hit you was driving somebody else’s car at the time of the collision.
What to Do If Negligent Drivers Didn’t Own the Vehicles Involved in Car Accidents
While it doesn’t happen all that often, we do meet with a half a dozen people every year who find themselves in this situation. They assume that because the other driver didn’t own the vehicle, that they weren’t insured. Some of them file a claim under their own uninsured motorist’s policy thinking it’s their only option.
This is why we always suggest that you come in and meet with one of our Georgia injury lawyers before you file your insurance claim. Not only can we help you take care of filing the claim, but we’ll also make sure you have enough information to prove the other driver was at fault. Even in situations where the person who hit you doesn’t own the car, you still have a right to demand damages after car accidents. Quite frankly, you shouldn’t care where the money comes from as long as you get paid.
Here, we will discuss exactly what to do if you get into car accidents with someone who’s driving a borrowed or stolen vehicle. If you still have questions about your own car accident suit, feel free to contact our office directly. We offer all potential clients a free, initial consultation so that they can make an educated decision as to whether they want to retain our firm.
First, Your Carrollton Accident Lawyer Must Prove Fault in Car Accidents
It doesn’t matter who was driving the other vehicle if your Carrollton accident lawyer can’t prove fault. By the same token, it could be the President of the United States in the other vehicle-if they caused the crash, then they need to be held accountable. Our Georgia injury lawyers will help you file a claim against whoever’s insurance policy you need to file claim against. If you need to name multiple parties in your car accident lawsuit, then your Carrollton accident lawyer will do that as well.
In order to prove fault, your attorney is going to have to prove that the other driver was negligent. In a case like this, the other option would be to prove that the vehicle’s owner had reason to believe that the person driving their car was likely to get into car accidents.
The Good News is that Insurance Follows the Car, Not the Driver
If you’ve been worried since the day of the accident about who will cover your medical bills, you can relax. Under Georgia law, insurance coverage follows the vehicle, not the driver. This means that it doesn’t matter who is driving the other vehicle at the time of the crash. If the vehicle was insured, then your Carrollton accident lawyer can file an insurance claim against their policy.
One minor exception is if the person who hit you had stolen the vehicle. When this is the case, it will be very difficult to convince any judge to hold the vehicle’s owner accountable for your injuries.
In most other situations, the court will hold the vehicle’s owner vicariously liable for the actions of anybody they give permission to use their car. It’s not your fault that the vehicle’s owner loaned their car out to somebody who was a negligent driver, prone to causing car accidents. You certainly shouldn’t be left holding the bag for your medical bills and any other out of pocket expenses related to the crash. Our Carrollton accident lawyers will do their best to help prove fault and get you the compensation you deserve.
If You Are Still Worried, Contact One of Our Carrollton Accident Lawyers
If you haven’t already figured this out, the point of our writing this article was to give you a little reassurance in case you find yourself in this situation discussed here. When you come into meet with one of our Carrollton accident lawyers, they’re going to tell you the same thing we’re telling you here.
Auto insurance follows the vehicle, not the owner. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect someone to lend their car to a friend or family member. Maybe their spouse’s car broke down that morning and needed to borrow their truck for work. Or maybe they had a buddy who was moving and needed to borrow their pickup trucks to haul furniture back and forth. We don’t really care why somebody else was driving the vehicle. We just want to make sure that we do whatever possible to get you the compensation you deserve.
Get a Fair Compensation after Car Accidents – No Matter Who Was the Driver!
We recommend that you contact our office and speak to one of our Georgia injury lawyers as soon as possible after your crash. If you can call us the same day as the accident, that would be best. Insurance carriers tend to believe whichever driver files their car accidents claim first. This is why you don’t want to wait too long before you reach out to one of our Carrollton accident lawyers.
Your hope should be that the insurance company gets to hear your side of the story first. Even if this doesn’t happen, however, your attorney will gather whatever evidence is necessary to prove that the owner of the other car should be liable for damages after car accidents. Worst case, you can always file a personal injury lawsuit against either the driver or the vehicle’s owner.
Since we charge nothing for your initial consultation and you don’t have to pay our firm anything upfront, you have nothing to lose. Call today and speak with one of our helpful staff so they can pick a date and time for you to come in and meet with one of our associates. If you are unavailable to physically come into the office, we can always arrange to conduct your national consultation by phone or through Zoom or Skype.
