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car is finished... and what about the dog? is it ok? umm i would think if you have good insurance you will be ok

 

Your insurance should cover it. Most likely they will sue your insurance company. If they don't get enough money they can then turn around and sue you personally. Be prepared for you insurance rates to sky rocket.

 

Sorry about your car..... yeah they will total it. I would be extremely mad at your brother right now cause your gonna be really screwed insurance wise. I know it was the dogs fault but if the dog can't stand still long enough to safely drive a car then why let the dog ride? Your insurance should pay for your car but two people went to the hospital. I hope both of you have very good insurance cause your really gonna need it....... not for the car but the people who went to the hospital. If that persons neck injuries turn out to be more serious you can be sued and your insurance can drop you all together. Your only 22 and I don't know your previous driving record but you can expect your insurance rates to most likely double for the both of you. Just cause you where not driving doesn't mean that the car isn't your responsibility. That's why no one else drives my car but me..... cause if I wreck the car then I have no one else to blame or get mad at except me. Good luck with all of this and I hope it all works out for the better.

 

As said, the car is DEF toast. No question in my mind it is a goner.

With that being said Ometta nailed it on the head.

Good luck...

 

Your car is a loss. Accidents happen, but your brother should not of been driving your car, and why did you guys need to have the dog in the car? How old is your brother, he may be too inexperienced to be driving a car.

The only thing that matters is that you guys didnt kill someone. Atleast you have insurance, and thats what its used for. You will be paying for a long time with increased insurance rates, I am an Insurance Agent. If you have other tickets and stuff, you may even get dropped.

 

meh itll buff out

 

If u were paying on ur car, which u said u were, they wouldve offered u a dealer warranty that included an option that they pay off ur car if it is totalled beyond the price of the car. so if ur insurance company says ur car was worth 18,000 and the dealership says its payoff is 19,000, then the dealership will pay the difference. either way the car will be payed for and if the other drivers decide to sue, then ur insurance company will take care of all of that. and most likely settle for an amount less than the ppl were asking just to make them happy so they shut up. anyway, let it ride its course, and wait for ur check from the insurance company. then u can go get u another vehicle.
and yes, prepare for ur rates to sky rocket. especially since the ins. co now knows that you were allowing somebody to drive ur vehicle who wasnt on ur insurance. it will stay that way until ur 25 cuz thats the key maturity age for ins companies. and thats if u dont add anything else to ur record. btw, im glad everyone was alrite. thats nasty lookin. be sure u hang onto those pictures.

 

Insurance Increase not to mention bc it was ur brother driving the car they will automatically add him to the policy even if u dont want him added which will then raise ur insurance premiums even more.

 

wow man, that looks bad. i hope everything works out for everyone health wise and your brother and dog are ok.

check to see if this cant do under your brothers insurance - may feel like kicking while someone's down. but i know if i was driving my parents car and got into an accident it would be on me, not my parents. some insurance plans will cover outside drivers. different states/different plans may make my point moot, but ask your agent.

 

The option you get at the dealership is called G.A.P Insurance. In my opinion just a scam cause most people's insurance company will give you enough money to break even and put another down payment on a car. Plus with GAP it increases your payments by like 50 dollars a month. Definetly not worth it in my opinion.

 

looking at how you have airbag curtains and how f'd up your car is kinda makes me wish i would have those in the 05 tc if i ever got into an accident.

 

So did you beat your dog?

 

They are right, no matter who was driving it's your insurance that it goes on. I had this happen, not this bad, and learned that the hard way. The insurance goes with the vehicle, not the driver, so it is the car owner's responsibility. As I was told, I authorized that person to drive my car, I assumed the responsibility. So your brother gets and easy break here, and your rates will probably jump. That's the basic accident coverage. If it goes on to LAWSUIT, you'll probably be fingered but your brother could be dragged into the mix there as negligent operation. Let's hope it doesn't go that far and everyone is ok.

Also, you can add an additional driver under your policy. (I have since done this for my boyfriend.) It covers the person driving your car, and depending on their driving record, may not affect your rate at all.

 

no one including myself is mad at my brother, we're just happy that he's safe and that no one got seriously injured in this accident.

my brother had JUST picked up this dog too... it is a golden retriever and german shepperd mix and had been extremely quiet and shy for the longest time. it was completely random and unexpected that the dog suddenly jumped. from now on she will never be in the front seat again and will be in a seat belt in the back seat.

anyways i went to the inpound, insurance, police station today and found out a great deal of info... pretty much my car will be covered along with the car that hit mines, and perhaps the 3rd car (no one knows yet how this car got mixed in from all this). my insurance (mercury) will cover up to 25k for medical and 25k for car damages for the car that hit mine.'

the car that hit mines was like a 99 civic, in really beat down poor condition so im sure the 25k will cover it fine... what i am afraid of MOST is the medical for the lady. she's pregnant (i dont know how big) and due to being pregnant you can practically claim whatever you want and no one is going to deny you. if she decided to sue me directly for 50k or whatever (over the 25k limit) i will have to pay out of my own pocket, money in which i don't have.

for the time being i'm given a rental car for 30 days, and all i can do is just wait and worry... =[

 

alright, let me take a crack at this. first off, the owner of the car is the one legally liable for any damages the car is responsible for unless the car is stolen or something else causes it to cause an accident that is beyond the responsibility of the owner (like if the car is being towed, and the driver of the tow truck gets into an accident with your car, or say it comes loose from the tow truck due to an improper hook-up etc. but lets not get into that. you gave your brother permission to use your vehicle, and he was the proximate cause of an accident because the dog caused him to run a red light.

now the other parties have soft tissue injuries, as in there is nothing objectively wrong with them, just general soreness and discomfort. NBD really. they go the e/r, get some x-rays, some perscription muscle relaxants and anti-inflamatories, and maybe a little physical therapy or chiropractor visits. etc. assuming they don't get a trashy lawyer that pushes them to get unnecessary treatment, 25k limits should be fine. but seriously, your policy limits are low, get a 100/300 policy and sleep better at night for future losses. for instance, say your brother totaled a brand new expensive car worth 50 grand, your insurance will only pay 25 grand, and you'll be in collections to the other person's insurance company.

also, california is a pure comparative negligence state. that being said, your insurance company can negotiate a % value of how much you're at fault for an accident. they might say your brother was only say 90% at fault for the accident and that means you only owe 90% of the other peoples damages (property and bodily injury). that being said, perhaps however that 3rd vehicle was involved in the accident, maybe he was not paying full time and attention forward.

as for your insurance premiums. yeah, it is going to be bad because your driver/brother was at fault for a major insurable loss. this will cost 10's of the thousands of dollars, you will definitely get hit with a premium surcharge when your policy renews. there are ways you can try to control it. one would be buying a beater car and not having collision coverage on it. just comprehensive, uninsured motorist and liability. that might help, also, depending on your state, ask your agent if you can exclude your brother from your policy. what that means is because he was the driver in the loss, if you sign an agreement swearing that he will NEVER EVER DRIVE YOUR CARS during a covered policy period again, your premiums can go down. but that means he absolutely positively can NEVER drive your car, if he does, he is literally an uninsured motorist, and if he is at fault for another accident, your insurance company WILL NOT PAY A CENT and you will owe for any damages he caused directly out of pocket.

next up. gap insurance, this is a very important coverage to have. insurance companies can evaluate vehicles very harshly, and if you are upside down on your loan when it gets totaled. you're screwed. so if you made a small down payment and have a 5 year payment plan, and you total that vehicle in probably say 3 years, you will probably still owe more than the car is worth.

best of luck.

 

First off, Im glad no one was killed, and that you and your brother are ok. However you need to learn from this.

Distracted driving is the #1 cause of car accidents in the US hands down. When you're driving a vehicle you should be concentrating on the road and nothing else. Take this as a lesson learned and try to avoid having a pet in the car if at all possible, and if you do, keep them in the back seat, away from the driver.

Also, I try to preach this to people but 25/50/25 is NEVER enough for liability. I was recently involved in a wreck where a driver ran a red light and hit my truck which fractured my thumb and wrist along with other ligament damage. In the grand scheme of things, it was a relatively minor injury which luckilly didnt require surgery, just a cast for about 8 weeks and 8 weeks of physical therapy. When all was said and done, my attorney maxed out their 25k liability policy. If I had to have had surgery, we would've been suing the driver - guaranteed. The cost of healthcare these days is extremely high. I had to have an MRI which was almost $4000 by itself. Specialists such as the Ortho Surgeon I saw can cost up to $1000 just for an office visit. In the future Id recommend 50/100/50 at bare minimum - I personally carry 100/300/100 - and it only changes my rate by $5 a month. Hopefully you and your brother come out ok on this.

 

wow here i thought that my insurance was pretty good and covered a lot, thanks for the comments they really helped a lot.

and about the 25k for medical i'm very glad to hear that it should be enough. at the time of the accident the two that were taken to the hospital seemed okay, like nothing too serious (but i haven't talked to or heard anything from or about them) so i hope nothing too serious happened afterwards.

i will also update some new pics i took when it was in the in-pound if anyone's curious

 

I completely agree that you need to up your insurance policy. Speaking from experience from my previous crash, if the people aren't happy with what is offered from your insurance they will turn around and sue you (your insurance).

What happened to me was when I got in the crash, the people seemed to be fine and understanding, they did not go directly to the hospital from an ambulance but later that day (maybe?). Thinking insurance covered everything, I go on living life, but two years later I get a subpoena that they are suing me (my insurance). This is when I figured out accident cases don't close for three years, so anytime now and then they can sue you err your insurance. Ended up settling (3 months ago) for 24,000 combined for two people that had light injuries. Being sued is a long process and may take up to a year to finish the entire ordeal.

I'm sorry if I'm being a negative nancy, but I'm trying to hit all bases for you and not suger coat anything, so there aren't surprises in the future. I honestly do hope that your insurance covers everything, and if sued as much as possible try not to stress about it, let your insurance deal with it because they aren't really suing you for money but suing your insurance, I mean they could of really given them a crappy offer. Hope everything works out and good luck.

P.S. I don't know if its a foreshadowing, but if your insurance is calling you once a month if you have received a subpoena then most chances are they did not take the offer that was given to them.

 

You have no idea how fast 25k adds up in a hospital with just ONE person.