Friend test drove a project car - crashed - now he is being threated with a lawyer?

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Tell your friend to stay calm and get his own lawyer. The neighbor is a spineless opportunist, as many people today are.
 
Well up here in da north, No fault state, so If your neighbor (the owner) gave permission for the other guy to drive the car, then its unfortunatly no obligation for the driver to pay anything, of course if they are friends now they won't be after this, the owner could file it under his insurance, of course then his insurance would go up, this whole thing sucks for your neighbor, but he should have been driving his own car IMO. I dont let anyone drive my cars, not even my kids, or especially my kids hehe. good luck the whole situation sucks.
 
Seems to me it's a little early to be "lawyering up" on either side, but on the other hand, "if you break it, you buy it."

Didn't the owner have INSURANCE?
 
The neighbor is a backstabber and liar. He was driving the car and his actions should be accountable....................Hang em'.
 
goldfish65 said:
Tell your friend to stay calm and get his own lawyer. The neighbor is a spineless opportunist, as many people today are.
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Agreed 1000%. Hiding behind his lawyer aint gonna make him a man.

Have to argue with 412 stroker,it could be argued that the neighbour had a responsibilty to drive in a safe and legal manner according to the laws,so I dont think any judge is gonna buy the im not responsible defence. HE IS RESPONSIBLE,in the eyes of the law ignorance of the law is no excuse so temporarily ignoring it wont work either.
 
Something here doesn't make sense. The driver of the vehicle is responsible for his actions behind the wheel. Case Closed! It doesn't matter if he has the owner's consent or not.
 
I think they both need their nuts snapped with a paper clip from a rubber band.

Should have talked before hand about exactly how they were going to approach the test drive since none of the bugs were worked out (on the road) yet which includes not stomping on the gas pedal while going around a bend.

Crap happens but you can also limit the load factor of said crap by having your head screwed on tighter.

In my opinion, to make it right, they should split it equally but the neighbor sounds like he got a taste of reality because when he got home his Wife probably put the fear of God in him 1. for being a dumb ***, 2. because they probably don't have the money to pay for the damages, and 3. it's probably easier to take advantage of the car's owner and lose a friend than it is to live with his Wife.
 
I'm with needsaresto. The driver is responsible - plain and simple. The owner is simply guilty of poor judgement in letting someone else drive his car.
 
In my opinion, to make it right, they should split it equally but the neighbor sounds like he got a taste of reality because when he got home his Wife probably put the fear of God in him 1. for being a dumb ***, 2. because they probably don't have the money to pay for the damages, and 3. it's probably easier to take advantage of the car's owner than it is to live with his Wife.[/QUOTE]

This is all irrelevant. When you get behind the wheel you are responsible for what happens while you are behind the wheel.
If someone had been killed, who would have been at fault, the driver or the owner?
 
"Have to argue with 412 stroker,it could be argued that the neighbour had a responsibilty to drive in a safe and legal manner according to the laws,so I dont think any judge is gonna buy the im not responsible defence. HE IS RESPONSIBLE,in the eyes of the law ignorance of the law is no excuse so temporarily ignoring it wont work either. "


In my opening remarks I stated that up here meaning WI that the owner of the car gave permission to the neighbor to drive the car makes the OWNER liable for damages caused by the neighbor,(unless it is stolen) it sucks, it's not right but that's the way it is up here, in WI the CAR is insured NOT the driver, so any damages caused by ANY accident goes on the OWNERS insurance. (CALLED NO FAULT) my comments are for WI I don't know about how the laws are in your state, In any case like I said why did the owner let the other guy drive anyway?? especially on a shakedown cruise.....
 
I agree with cudaspaz 100%. When I let someone drive my car I know that I am partially responsible if something happens. I think that they should split the damages.
 
How much in legal fees??? How much to fix the car?? How much is aggravation worth??
 
I don't disagree with the driver being responsible.
I am saying "to make it right" and keep their friendship, they should split the difference.

That's what I would do if I were the owner, but I'm just too nice of a guy I guess.

If I was driving, I would man up and accept full responsibility.
Very unfortunate incident.
 
Here in California the driver is responsible. This is why I never let anyone drive my cars. It sounds like the damage is less than 5k and that would make it a small claims court issue. No lawyers allowed unless your neighbor wants to pay his lawyer out of his own pocket. I would sue his *** for being too stupid to shut and pay for the repairs, kinda typical of the world we live in. No accountability for your actions. No judge is going to let this jerkwad off.
 
neighbor's insurance would ahve to cover injury if there was any. owner's insurance would have to cover the car. Good luck with that, I hope the car is still street legal and all the work they did was ammended to the policy.
 
If your friend were to go after him legally, what is the chance of ending up with a more or less worthless judgement???
 
This would be why no one drives my Dart but me. I think the driver needs to man up and pay for his mistake.
 
inkjunkie said:
If your friend were to go after him legally, what is the chance of ending up with a more or less worthless judgement???
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Thats what probably would happen, but hey at least you can put a lein on his house or something. Not that you would get paid but would be a big problem when he goes to sell his house or refi. Then you would have him over a barrel.
 
Someone else driving my car, any one of them, sucks. I don't like it one bit...

This situation sucks and the driver is an asshole.
 
It makes no difference that the accident took place with the driver being the engine builder unless of course the car was used for a demo ride out of the engines builders shop in which case, his insurance would take care of the damages, but that wasn't the case.

Your friend has insurance and that is what insurance is for. If your friend does not want to take responsibility then he shouldn't have let his engine builder drive the car as it doesn't sound like the engine builder twisted his arm to drive it. If on the other hand he hasn't insurance then a lawyer may be needed and outside of that, he gave the engine builder permission to drive as your friend sat in the passenger seat, so your friend may be **** outta luck trying to collect for damages.

Some learn the easy way by education and some learn the hard way by accident and some never learn, which are you and which are your friends?
 
Driver should be responsible. How much was the damage? Was the driver going to run it through his insurance? If so, let your friends insurance company fight it out with the drivers insurance company?
 
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