Insurance

So I was picking my girlfriend up to go to this party right? Well her driveway is really slim, and I was driving her moms FJ and apparently while I was trying to turn around I backed into a bush which cracked one of the taillights. I'm not a genius on cars or anything, but shouldn't her insurance pay for that taillight? She is telling me that she needs 175 dollars to fix the taillight, and that I'm going to pay it.

I ask once more. Shouldn't her insurance pay for the cracked taillight?

Not necessarily. First, her policy may not cover any drivers other than she has listen on her policy, which means if you are not listed, then it won't cover anything that happens if you are the driver.

Second, if she may only have a policy that covers property damage and liabilities (read minimum coverage), which would not pay for any damages to her own vehicle.

Finally, she might have a comprehensive policy, but the deductable may be more than the expense of the damage done, which means she has to pay for that out of her own pocket before the insurance will kick in any money.

But, remember on thing. Insurance is really only a partial protection for monetary damages. Everyone has the right to demand and even sue someone for damages that insurance will not pay. So, if her insurance will not and does not pay for the replacement of the tail lite, she can file a lawsuit in small claims court for the cost of $175 if she shows that you are liable and that it isn't covered by her insurance.

My advice would be to either make out some form of payment plan or be forever scorned by her mother as being irresponsible, which might have some sway with your girlfriend.

ben91069
My advice would be to either make out some form of payment plan or be forever scorned by her mother as being irresponsible, which might have some sway with your girlfriend.

I agree here. I mean if you like your girl at all, you may not want to have this type of conflict here.

Not to mentioned it was your fault. You were driving the car therefore take the responsibility and do the right thing here.

No, we broke up and she's avoiding me. See after we went to this party and woke up in the morning, I drove us home. I looked at the tail lights before I went around to the drivers seat, they were fine. Now 5 days later after she had been using her car in town she suddenly tells me that me backing into a bush (which really was only scraping a few hanging branches that were no where near the tail light) is what caused this cracked tail light.

I'm guessing that something happened while she was in town and she decided that since she already broke up with me, why not just milk me for money? I called her bluff and she got extremely offended and said I didn't have to pay the debt at all. Then after I apologized, she again wants me to pay the bill.

I mean I know she's bluffing, but I still want to pay the bill to make her happy. (even though I want nothing to do with her anymore) There is indeed way too much conflict in this, yet I think I should find out who her insurance is and what their policy is.

Sher, in 24 years I've learned that I can take responsibility for my actions any time of the day and hour, I have no problem with that. If I did however, know that it was in fact me who did cause the damage, I would have payed it already.

Can anyone give me a list of insurance companies that "do not" cover damages such as these?

IANAL IANAIU (I am not an insurance underwriter) etc... etc...

I think that there are two different questions here.

Will insurance cover this TYPE of thing?

and

Will the insurance of the mother cover this event?


Yes, there is insurance that will cover this type of thing.
As mentioned earlier, this is collision insurance. If there is a loan/lease on the car, the finance operation will require collision insurance. Collision insurance, from any insurance company, will cover an occasional driver. If you do not live at the address registered with the insurance company, you should fall into this category. FWIW, a car thief would also fall into this category. ANY collision policy WILL cover this type of thing.

Will the mother's policy cover this event. I do not think so.
I am willing to bet that, working with the theory that this car is covered by collision insurance, the deductible is at least $250. In this case the insurance company will not cover the first $250 worth of damage. So if 'you' had torn the bumper off, as you pulled away from the bush, and the total charge to repair the car was $1,170. In this example the insurance company would pay for the damage over $250. A total of $920. You can then divide up the money however you want to view it. If you then say to yourself; " I will take $750 from the insurance company, put it together with $250 from my pocket, to cover the deductible, and use that $1,000 to fix the bumper. That will leave $170, from the insurance company, and that money will pay for the taillight." Using this view, the insurance company will pay for the taillight.
Personally, I have a $500 deductible on my collision policy. It would cost me ~$325 more a year to have a $250 deductible, last time I checked. And I would not even begin to think about using insurance for