Dealing with a car accident is hard enough. But what do you do if it happens when someone else is driving your car? News 12’s Walt Kane is In Your Corner with the answer.

A News 12 viewer, Jeff, wrote: “Hey Walt, my sister’s car was recently in an accident…she wasn’t driving. It was the dealership that offers a pick-up service. Whose insurance should be required to cover it?”

Anyone who has your permission to drive your car is covered by your insurance. In legal terms, they call this “permissive use.” This means if you let someone else drive your car and they cause an accident, your insurance pays for any damage. This also means that if there’s a lawsuit, you will typically be the one who gets sued.

Many people don’t know this and assume the driver’s insurance is what counts, but generally their insurance only kicks in after your coverage is completely exhausted. But you want to be careful with this and check to see what your policy says, because there are some exceptions.

For example, some insurance companies will let you exclude a driver from your policy by name. If you do that, then it goes without saying that you don’t want to forget and let them drive your car. If you do, you may be on the hook personally.

Do you have a consumer question or know something Walt Kane needs to investigate, call 732-738-KANE or email KaneInYourCorner@news12.com.