01-11-2023, 09:54 AM
Cormanus, this goes back to the '90s, when I hung up my insurance hat, so it's possible that things have changed, and Empty, correct me if I'm wrong... in California, insurance follows a vehicle, not the person operating it. So, if a vehicle caused an accident, resulting in damages and injuries to other parties, and inflicting damage to the vehicle itself, the vehicle's policy would be liable for the cost.
So, let's say I let someone borrow my car, and they cause an accident. My policy is still the primary coverage. Where the specific operator of the vehicle comes into play is if the policy is written as "Named Driver Only", stating that as the owner of the car, coverage only extends if I am driving at the time of the accident. I very rarely came across these policies, as it is assumed that in a multi-person household, anyone in the household has potential access to all of the vehicles. I can tell my wife "Only I can ride the motorcyles", but there is nothing physically stopping her from riding one of them.
I did have the unfortunate task of telling a few insureds that their totalled cars were not covered becuase they had a named-driver-only policy, and let someone borrow the car, who wrecked it.
So, let's say I let someone borrow my car, and they cause an accident. My policy is still the primary coverage. Where the specific operator of the vehicle comes into play is if the policy is written as "Named Driver Only", stating that as the owner of the car, coverage only extends if I am driving at the time of the accident. I very rarely came across these policies, as it is assumed that in a multi-person household, anyone in the household has potential access to all of the vehicles. I can tell my wife "Only I can ride the motorcyles", but there is nothing physically stopping her from riding one of them.
I did have the unfortunate task of telling a few insureds that their totalled cars were not covered becuase they had a named-driver-only policy, and let someone borrow the car, who wrecked it.