I dropped my car off at the shop yesterday to be worked on. I parked it legally on the street. Got a call from my mechanic this morning that the car was hit last night. I called the police who explained it was hit around 3am at a high rate of spit. (25mph zone) and the vehicle is destroyed. They also intimated (but wouldn’t confirm) that the driver was drunk. It seems like I’ll have to wait to receive the accident report for that information.
I’ve had totaled vehicles before and will get 70-80% of the value of the vehicle reimbursed and my insurance rate will go up. I’ll also have to find and purchase a new vehicle, talk to the police, my insurance company, spend time at the DMV etc. These things irk me as a new parent and small business owner. Not to mention the actual cost to me.
Do I have any recourse against the drunk driver? Or do I just suck it up and deal with it?
Location: New York (not NYC).
Comments
You’re entitled to fair market value for your vehicle. Whether paid by your insurance or his. You can try to recover your deductible from the other driver if his insurance doesn’t pay.
Being drunk or not does not change the persons liability. You are entitled to the actual market value of your vehicle plus a return of your deductible. That’s it. Your insurance going up and your spending time to source a new vehicle and register it is not covered.
Hopefully the police will charge the person that hit your car with DUI (if he was drunk) and that will give you some satisfaction.
You can go after the other driver for your real, actual, tangible damages. You’ll get the repair or replacement value of your car(whichever is lower) plus you can ask for any other real damages you can name. Charging for time is possible, but usually not a thing insurance companies will reimburse for unless the time is very significant.
If the insurance company’s settlement offer is lower than you want, you can negotiate or try to sue the other driver. In most cases a lawsuit is prohbitively expensive for the presumed gain.