Can I sue the driver for damnages to my car if the insurance company will not cover?
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Can I sue the driver for damnages to my car if the insurance company will not cover?
I was selling my car and the person test drove it crashed my car, another car and drove it into a house. I just registered the car to sell it and it did not have insurance. So I tried to claim under his insurance and they let me know he only has liability that they will not cover my car, but they will cover the car he hit and the house. Can I sue him for damages to my car? The officer cited him with a ticket stating he was at fault for the accident.
Asked on May 27, 2009 under Accident Law, Virginia
Answers:
L.M., Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
The short answer is YES! You can absolutely sue him for the damage he caused to your car. The dollar limit in Virginia is $5000 for small claims court, so if your damage is under that amount, you can do it yourself without the expense of an attorney. Even if it's a bit over that amount, you can just sue for the $5K. If it is well under that amount, you can also add on for any related expenses you have had or will have, such as renting a car while yours is in the shop being repaired. If your car was totaled, meaning it would cost more to repair it than to replace it, you would sue for the market value of your car--what it was worth. Since you were trying to sell it, probably a good amount to use would be the amount for which you were trying to sell it.
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