To SR-1 or Not SR-1?!

[xklaid]

Greetings,

I am in need of some facts (not opinion), so I hope I can get some help from you professionals.

Night out with the boys, and I let a friend drive my car. He hit a tree! I was told in CA. the claim will follow the vehicle and so I did.

The insurance company sent me the SR-1 Form, and I was told I don't need to send the form in. My questions are;
1-As the owner of the vehicle, Am I responsable to send the SR-1 Form? Or the person driving is responsable?
2-If the person driving did not send in the SR-1, will the accident be the register owner's fault? What about liabilities such as, premium increase, and other liabilites?

Thank you for your time,

 

[Guest]

What is an SR-1 form,

If its the form asking you if the driver had permission to drive your car, then yes, they need it........

 

[BlockO]

per the CA DMV:

Reporting A Collision to DMV
"When you have a collision, report it to the DMV using the SR 1 form. You or your insurance agent, broker, or legal representative must complete the SR 1 report and send it to the DMV within 10 days if someone is injured (no matter how minor the injury) or killed or property damage is over $750. The SR 1 report is required in addition to any other report made to the police, CHP, or your insurance company.
The SR 1 form is available at DMV field offices, at CHP offices, or online at www.dmv.ca.gov. The SR 1 form is required whether you caused the collision or not, and even if the collision occurred on private property."

 

[Guest]

WOW, Glad I dont have to deal with that!

 

[BlockO]

It's even worse than you think, RBA. check out the form itself (especially the other party's info section). Lots of detailed questions:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/sr/sr1.pdf

without having a police report handy, seems like getting all of the info on the other guy would be a major pain in the arse.

 

[shepnerd]

Wow. California sure does love its government intervention of everything.

OP, I know you didn't ask for opinion so hopefully a CA agent will come along with better knowledge, but here in GA if your friend wrecks your car, the insurance company will fix your car and it wont affect your rates and/or driving record. Had one drive mine into a fence in my driveway while I watched a couple of years ago...

 

[Guest]

That form is ridiculas!

Does the agent have to fill this out for EVERY accident over that $750 limit?

I would certainly HOPE, this is the claims handlers responsibility......

 

[xklaid]

Thank you Dan, I much appreciated your help. The damage exceedes $750, but no injuries or property damage other then my car.

 

[BlockO]

your welcome xklaid. according to what is posted, $750 worth of damage warrants the sr-1. like shepnerd, I am also curious for a CA agent to chime in about this.

DJS must be out surfing or pumping iron (isn't that what all you CA guys do?).

looks like the agent would have a lot of chasing after the other guy. I can't imagine one of my customers being in accident, and me having to call the other guy, asking for his vin#, policy #, and expiration date every time someone has a claim. geesh!!

 

[DawnPatrol]

OK, State Farm SoCal agent here.

The SR1 form is basically just notifying the DMV that YOUR car that was in the accident has insurance.

That's it. If you don't have any info about the other party you don't fill it out. Its the responsibility of the other driver to notify the DMV that his car had insurance.

The DMV doesn't care who was at fault, just that the vehicles had insurance. If no notification of that they will start a suspension of the vehicle registration.

We have a form letter that we include when we send it to our insured that makes it very easy to do. We at our office fill out the verification of the insurance part

BTW I think the new threshold is $1000