question

[surferbaby13]

Okay my best friend and I went to red deer and my boss lent me the company van to move all my belongings from red deer to calgary. He too knew that my friend would be coming along. Because he asked for both of our abtracts before we left so he could add us to the insurance. We were just leaving my grandparents to go to calgary when I had this harsh migraine and wasn't able to drive so I asked my friend if she could and she said yes.
if anyone knows red deer on gaetz going south you know that hill where you can see z99. Anyways we were coming down that hill. Keep in my there is 3 lanes and at the bottom near the lights there's a fourth but its for turning right only.
So we were aproaching the red light and I told anna to get into the 3rd lane since the traffic has stopped that way its easier to leave red deer without having to merge whille the trafiic is moving. The thing is I noticed a blue gmc truck far away enough time for them to slow down. But just as my friend merged into the third lane the light turned green and the blue truck went into the fourth lane without realizing that it was just a turning lane so he a attempted to merge back cutting us off and hitting the front end of the van. We pull over and I swear the other family pulled the whole jerry springer fight the mom wanted to kill us and some stupid daughter was lipping us off it was kaos. So anyways we took pics off both vehicles. We told our boss and never said we had to pay for all the damage.
Now its been almost 3 months and he is asking us to sign a contract saying we will pay. We ended up getiing 50- 50 with the other vehicle and now my boss doesn't want to go thru insurance cause he'll lose his 5 star rating so my friend and I are suppose to pay out of our pocket which in the end turns out to be 1200 each.
Is this ligit?
what should we do are we legally expected to pay?

[wanna-be]

because you signed the insurance papers, you do not have to pay out of your pocket. thats why people buy insurance...so they don't have to pay out of their pockets.

however, because he is your boss, and (well maybe) you want to keep friendly relations with him, you CAN CHOOSE to pay out of your pocket. that is completely up to you.

you are not legally expected to pay.

but i'm a little confused....shouldn't your insurance go higher and not your boss

[Gondi Stylez]

i dont think ull have to .. but just cuz ur boss "said" u wont have to pay before and that is a verbal agreement meaning that wont stand up in court... whereas you should have gotten him to make u 2 sign a paper sayin u wont have to pay... plus its been 3 months.. long fuckin time so maybe a scam... umm but if i was u id take it to court... although it would be ur word against his!:dunno:

[surferbaby13]

thing is it won't go on my insurance since it wasn't me driving we never signed any papers we just gave him our abstracts and he wants us to sign a paper saying we will pay no matter what.....but i don't want to sign anything i shouldn't have to and he keeps saying if we don't sign it he will take us to court.
as for the insurance thing that is why i thought you get insurance here is the challenge tho. for work related issues the company vehicle is only insured in calgary. And he lied saying we did work related things for my dad and we feel that since he lied and is chosing to go without the insurance that he should contribute a portion. But he thinks that since he lent me the van and gave the keys to anna that I am at fault and should have to pay. He denies knowing that anna was coming but they day we were going to take the van why did he ask for both of our abstracts and on top of things we had a meeting earlier that day and asked him infront 5 other people if it would be ok for her and I to tak ethe van. And he said yes just as long as you get your abstracts into me today.
Like you said its our word against his.
I have never been in this situation so I never thought the worst to come out of it

[Weapon_R]

You don't have to pay, since it was a company van, and as an employee you were covered under his insurance. Even if he didn't ask for your abstracts, he is still responsible for your mistakes as he took the risk of providing the vehicle to you. Your friends insurance may increase, however, if it goes through insurance.

It isn't much different from your mom lending you her car and having you hit it - her insurance would be responsible for the damage, and would probably refuse to pay themselves if they found out you weren't insured. It's his fault for not insuring you guys, and if you already were placed on the insurance policy, then tell him to use the insurance for what it was designed for.

[surferbaby13]

so he can't win a court if he takes us to one

[Weapon_R]

If the case is exactly as you have told us, then it seems unlikely that he would be able to successfully take this issue to court to receive damages.

[hjr]

it sounds as though the dude is trying to scare you into paying, but there is NO way you should be scared enough to fork over 2400 buck between the 2 of you.
Simply tell him you dont have the money and there is nothing that can be done about it. He probably wont want you to stay working at his company, but shit, you guys fucked up his van, id fire you too.
BUT you are not required to pay out cash. He's gonna be fucking pissed at you 2 but either you take it and walk away, or pay out. its a shitty situatioin.

[Khyron]

He loaned you the van as a personal favor so you could move your stuff. You then got in an accident. You should fix his van. He shouldn't have to pay increased premiums just because he loaned it to you.

Now if it was work related, the whole fault gets dumped on him. But since he was just helping you move, thats like you borrowing my car and crashing it then saying "Oh sorry, charge it to your insurance".

Maybe find out how much his rates will go up with the 1 claim, and agree to help pay the increase for him. I can't imagine the increase for 1 claim is 2400 dollars.

The bigger question is if the big blue truck merged back out of a turn lane and hit you, why was that considered a 50/50 fault?

Khyron

[surferbaby13]

because that is what the insurance company agreed on

[hjr]

so the insurance companies already agreed on a settlement? i think its too late to play the cash card anyhow isnt it?

[surferbaby13]

thats not what he said (my boss)

[Khyron]

No, but your boss is saying you need to pay for the damage so it doesn't act as a claim - yet your boss is also saying the insurance company was a 50/50 which implies he's already had an adjuster out. I don't know if that means it's an official claim but his insurance company definately already knows about the accident.

Khyron

[illeagle]

1) start looking for a new job
2) don't pay

[JennyLee]

legally you dont have to pay. If anything you are held reliable for paying the deductible.

If he tries taking you to court he has as much evidence as you do and it wouldnt hold. Going to small claims court all you have to do is make the judge favor you...it's a likely cause not probable cause in small claims court.

First off I would tell your boss where to go and find a new job. Because either way I cant see him being kind to you or your friend any further. Accidents happen. He has to understand that

[Khyron]

Yah but he loaned her the car as a personal favor to move her personal stuff. It wasn't work related.

Funny how you guys are all noble and honest till there's money involved, then the knives come out...

If Ben came on and said "That Peter guy, he borrowed my car and smashed up the bumper. He's refusing to pay" - you'd all be like "Let's meet up and kick his ass if he doesn't pay for the damage". As IF you'd say, "Well Ben, your insurance should cover it - accidents happen. I guess you'll have to just pay the increased premiums you sucker."

:thumbsdow :thumbsdow

Khyron

[link785]

No. You do NOT have to pay, and he can't make you pay.

Excuse me everyone, but does NO ONE here see that this is her boss's fault?!?! Her boss LIED to the insurance company, saying they were on business when they weren't. In fact Elise, your boss could get charged with fraud for lying to his insurance like that.

So techincally, he's doing something illegal. Tell him to fuck off or you'll call his insurance and let them know what your boss is ripping them off on. Then, attempt to make a deal of some sorts with him. Or tell him to fuck off. Either way really.

[surferbaby13]

you totally rock. I love hearing what i want to hear

[GTS Jeff]

bla bla. he said you were on a business, therefor it was insured under his business. its not like your personally screwing him. its the company...

[surferbaby13]

thanx jeff

[DUBBED]

since this happened 3 months ago is the van fixed already?

who picked up the tab?

or is the body shop still waiting for their money?

[surferbaby13]

the van hasn't been fixed

[thich]

there's gotta be some negligence on the boss' part for this too tho since he lent her his work vehicle...

and i doubt he'd take her out to court - my reasoning? it's a company vehicle and unless he was a sole proprietor, the van is listed as company assets.... the company would have to go after her - not him.
thus a whole court procedure would ensue which as a result would cost his company downtime AND capital to pursue something that -altho unfortunately occured- would end up costing more then what it's worth.

$0.02