Damage Over Liability Limits

[DPainter]

In June, 2004 I was driving my friend's car when I had an accident and was determined to be at-fault. There was no bodily injury to either myself or the driver of the vehicle - we were the only two people involved in the accident. My friend's car was registered in another state (Tennessee) and he did not have automobile insurance. I am a resident of Florida and had automobile insurance - 10k Property Damage, 25/50 Bodily, and 10k PIP - plus UIM and Comp/Coll. My insurance paid for my friend's vehicle plus the damage to the person I hit - up to my limit of $10,000.

The damage to the other party's vehicle exceeded this limit in the amount of $2100. His insurance company is now suing and their lawyers have made at least one claim that they might be able to have my driver's license suspended. However, my understanding is that they can only do this if I was uninsured.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[aaron]

The Florida Bureau of Financial Responsibility says:

No. A crash involving no bodily injuries are subject to the Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law. The law requires that an owner whose vehicle is involved in a crash and the operator was charged with a moving traffic violation, must have in effect a policy with limits of $10,000 personal injury protection per person/per crash and $10,000 property damage liability per crash (compulsory coverage).

Complete insurance information should be given to the investigating officer and you should be sure that the information is properly and accurately recorded on the crash report. Proper recording of the information will eliminate the need for the department to contact you personally in the future for more accurate information and eliminate the possibility of unnecessary suspensions of your driver license, tags and registrations.