Under California law, you may be liable for damages if someone else drives your car and gets into an accident. Insurance doesn’t follow the driver but the car. Your car insurance carrier will be involved if anyone in your vehicle gets into an accident. You may be held responsible but not entirely. Don’t assume anything – there is a process for circumstances such as this.

Approximately, in California 15.2% drivers are uninsured. You may have to pay dearly if you collide with a driver that is uninsured – or not – they are driving illegally.

Car Insurance Coverage for Another Driver

Car insurance carrier may cover another driver driving your car depending on the type of insurance you and the other driver have. This is the minimum mandatory coverage for car insurance under California law:

• Property damage liability coverage is minimum $5,000
• Bodily injury liability is $30,000 per accident and $15,000 per person
• Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage is $30,000 per accident and $15,000 per person
• Uninsured motorist property injury coverage is minimum $35,000

Collision and comprehensive coverage are not mandatory in California. Collision coverage refers to property damage coverage which helps in covering the cost of vehicle until its cash value. Comprehensive damages cover a broad range of damages which may affect your vehicle. These cover damages that are not strictly related to a car accident.

Car Insurance Coverage for Other Drivers in California

There are several California insurance laws that can come in helpful if someone else is driving your vehicle. You need to understand that car insurance follows the vehicle and not the driver under California law. You will have the following insurance coverage regardless of who the car driver is:

• Property damage liability
• Bodily injury liability
• Personal injury liability
• Collision insurance
• Comprehensive insurance

The liability insurance of the other driver whom you loaned the vehicle to will cover that part of the damages that surpass your insurance coverage. However, this is when your coverage is maxed out. You should know that California is an at-fault state. This means the damages will first be recovered from the insurance carrier of the responsible party.

It is highly possible that you are not found liable at all. The other driver needs to pay if someone driving your car meets with an accident and is not responsible for it. California is also a “pure comparative negligence” state, which means that victims will be compensated based on the damages for their negligence.

This means that in case of minor collisions you would not notice changes made to your insurance costs. However, liability may become more complex in significant car crashes.

Consult with Injury Attorneys in California

Car accidents can result in a lot of stress and confusion. Things can be even more complicated if you loaned the vehicle to someone. However, this doesn’t always have to be case. California is an at-fault state and a knowledgeable California car accident lawyer can help.

The situation can be immediately less stressful if the accident was caused by someone you don’t know. In several cases, you can recover compensation from the at-fault party. Schedule a free consultation with Calabasas car accident lawyers at Walch Law by calling at (844) 999-5342