auto accident liability ?

I can tell you this as fact.
The scenario you mention is impossible.
In the above scenario, the owner's papers are all in order, but he/she has no liability insurance.
It is against the law to not have liability, thus the owner's papers are NOT all in order.

Im assuming that insurance is run the same way in most cases, and do not know first hand how it is in the DR, but being on the end of your exact scenario, here in Canada, I was responsible, as the cars owner and owner of the insurance policy. Tell the owner of the car to tell any athorities it was stolen!!!!!!!

In the Dominican Republic, the owner of the car is responsible. This even if the car had been legally sold to another person. The person on the car registration will be held responsible, even if they were not driving. Of course, your insurance company is your best ally in this case and should be asked immediately.

There is insurance known as the "seguro de ley." This is the cheapest form of insurance but covers third party injuries. All vehicles, by law, must have at least this type of insurance.
If the vehicle is thusly insured and there is an accident, then the vehicle owner is covered up to the amount of this type of insurance, which is not much. If the case goes south and a court decides greater third party damages, the OWNER is liable for the amount of damages not covered by the Seguro de Ley.

This is how I see it...

HB

You will only know for sure if you ask the insurance company regarding the type of insurance on the car.

laurapasinifan said:

I didnt know liability insurance was MANDATORY

...

Liability passes the driver who caused the accident right by??
and ends up in ther lap of the owner who didnt cause the accident?

true , mostly true, hardly true, totally false?

so if a dominican lets another person drive his car and the guy kills a motoconcho driver on the road....

the owner of the car sitting back in his house caring for his sickly old aged mother...is LIABLE?

I know in america both the driver and the owner of the car are probably on the hook...but i dont care about america..

I only have a question about the issue in the DR!!!!!

is there a guess out there , the percentage of vehicles on the road wioth liability insurance in place????????

if the owner is laible in the above scenario

how then is an american who rents a car liable for an accident, and not the rental company??

bob

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There are two types of liabilities.
1. Civil: Damages.
2. Penal: Wrongful death, criminal (non-accident = intentional) and so forth.

Mandatory liability insurance should be designed to cover the cost of repairing damage, weather it's material or health related no mater who or what drove the insured vhicle.
As the vehicle could in theory cause damage even without a driver inside, the insurance is logically bound to the vehicle (this seems not to be the case in some States of the US... but is the general concept in many countries in EU).
The idea is, that the victim is the priority.

In the DR, the owner must present prove of basic liability insurance to register a car... but then, if the owner does not keep up with his premium payments... the coverage will be lost. This is the case for MANY vehicles being recklessly driven around here. Basic liability insurance (just like in many US States) is ridiculously low (I think it is or was around 150'000.oo PESOS per incident.... NADA). To give you an example, mine is maxed out to 1.5 Million Pesos... sitll NADA in my opinion but close to what many have in the US (in Europe it's 1 Million Euro or unlimited in most countries).
Then there is the deductible, which I don't know how much it is on basic coverages like offered by Pepin and similar companies... but many drivers will likely not be able to come up with that sum either.


This is not a legal opinion and much less legal advice and merely based on what I understand from prior experience.

... J-D.

I agree with JD on his post...it has been my experience, too....And yes, Robert, that could happen. It is the VEHICLE that is insured...and if it is not enough, they come after the owner...

HB

So, choose your friends carefuly & check their bank balance before you lend them your car!!!!

Although J-Ds post above is absolutely correct (from my understanding AND experience) it COULD be possible that your friend's insurance company from his HOME country (if he is a visitor here that is) will cover any accident he has whilst on holiday - it is worth checking out if he has insurance 'back home' to cover this. It will in NO WAY reduce the liability of the owner of the car, just make it a bit easier to reclaim anything he has to pay out to avoid kneebashing &/or incarceration!! ~ Grahame.

laurapasinifan said:

well the real reason I asked was because if i buy my GF a car. do I keep it in my name , in case we break up and I dont loose $10,000. Or do i keep it in her name and reduce my liability if something happens...ie her or her brother or a friend drives the care and kills someone.....

I didnt mention it earlier, because i dont want to hear all the hecklers who usually love to post their trivial remarks about buying things for the GF.

I just wanted responsed based on general thoughts.

thanks

bob

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Hi Bob,

Reading the thread as it has built up - I sort of guessed where it was heading. IMO I would buy it for her and think positive re the break up scenario. I think at least it is a "contained" risk rather than if anything did happen that left you with a multi-million peso liability.
If anything was to happen and you were out of the country I suspect you run the risk of never getting the full story - nothing personal is meant by that remark, just that strange things happen in the DR!

:ermm:

Rio

laurapasinifan said:

well the real reason I asked was because if i buy my GF a car. do I keep it in my name , in case we break up and I dont loose $10,000. Or do i keep it in her name and reduce my liability if something happens...ie her or her brother or a friend drives the care and kills someone.....

I didnt mention it earlier, because i dont want to hear all the hecklers who usually love to post their trivial remarks about buying things for the GF.

I just wanted responsed based on general thoughts.

thanks

bob

Click to expand...

IF YOU do that, YOU get the best (liability) insurance coverage possible (1 Million Pesos or more per incident (material) and equal amount per person on both sides. That will propel your and your GF's protection well beyond what most have. YOU also keep on top of the premium payments DIRECTLY to the insurance company so you can be confident coverage IS up at all times. For a vehicle worth over 5-6 grand you would also be well advised to get comprehensive insurance (insuring your car against theft, self accident and damage caused by uninsured drivers). That will not only protect your little investment but also make any of her cousins and other "friends" think twice about concocting funny little stories about the vehicles faith.
Keep in mind that such coverages usually have a deductible between USD 300.oo-500.oo per incident.
Also insurance companies are not yet very business minded when it would have been the time to renew a particular policy... in other words, YOU need to be on top of it and seek renewal in time.

If you want to alienate aliability from your person even further without loosing control over your investment, you might want to set up a SA company an have IT own and register the vehicle? (Check with a lawyer).

Besides that, GF or not, I would never buy somebody who does not have the means to buy a vehicle a car... the reason being that they don't appreciate (gift vehicles are more prone to accidents, studies say) and the fact that somebody who has not been able to save the money for a vehicle may never develop the forward looking mindset to have the monies budgeted and saved for maintenance and repairs either. Most here seem to think driving expenses are limited to filling up gas and fixing shoe soles worn off dancing on the accelerator.
In other words either you will have to budget for that too or will inevitably soon find your GF driving a vehicle which we would all consider less than street worthy, endangering her and others.

Manejar es un privilegio, no un derecho.

But I understand that wasn't your question.

... J-D.

"You are a good man Charlie Brown", lol!!!!!:bunny::bunny:

Why don't you do what every Dominican lawyer (who has any net worth) does, and form a DR corporation to act as the vehicle's owner. If something bad happens, and the damages exceed your insurance, you just hand the carkeys to the damaged party, and walk.

When the corporation is formed, you and six others are the shareholders. As part of the formation, you (as the owner with $$) also receive undated letters of resignation from the other 6 shareholders. If your sweetheart decides to do something silly, like leave, date her letter and reclaim your vehicle. In the meantime you have CYA.

Compared to a stupid, costly liability for an accident, using a corporation for this is cheap. If you later decide to marry, in the absence of a prenup, the car is also protected against any future divorce, as it isn't "your property".

(and now I see JD's post above too)

Both the driver and the owner of the car are liable in case of an accident. The driver personally for his own negligent or imprudent actions; the owner based on the doctrine of "comitencia": the driver of the car is reputed to act on his behalf.

Mandatory insurance has very low coverage in the D.R.. Awards for accidents now run into the millions of pesos. If the insurance does not cover the award, the victim will go after the assets of the driver and the owner of the car. I recommend a minimum coverage of five million pesos for liability insurance.

Fabio J. Guzman said:

Both the driver and the owner of the car are liable in case of an accident. The driver personally for his own negligent or imprudent actions; the owner based on the doctrine of "comitencia": the driver of the car is reputed to act on his behalf.

Mandatory insurance has very low coverage in the D.R.. Awards for accidents now run into the millions of pesos. If the insurance does not cover the award, the victim will go after the assets of the driver and the owner of the car. I recommend a minimum coverage of five million pesos for liability insurance.

Click to expand...

Very true recommendation, maitre. Do you know of ANY DR car insurance offering such coverage?

... J-D.

laurapasinifan said:

well the real reason I asked was because if i buy my GF a car. do I keep it in my name , in case we break up and I dont loose $10,000. Or do i keep it in her name and reduce my liability if something happens...ie her or her brother or a friend drives the care and kills someone.....

I didnt mention it earlier, because i dont want to hear all the hecklers who usually love to post their trivial remarks about buying things for the GF.

I just wanted responsed based on general thoughts.

thanks

bob

Click to expand...

Buy her the car and have it registered/insured under her name only!!!!

It took a big chunk of money (Ay, ay, ay... Still hurts) for me to put an end to a claim in court against me for having a vehicle registered under my name, driven by GF and one dead... Dominican courts are very, very, veryyyyyyy sympathetic to the victims and will almost always set a crazy a*s amount to pay for...

I had the best insurance you can buy for a brand new car... Served me for s*it...

Once the insurance finds out that there'll be court litigation, they pay to the max and bail out on you...

Buy the car registered under her name and hope for the best and most amicable breakup that could happen in the future just in case...