driving another person’s car

Michigan auto accident attorneys are frequently called on to help drivers better understand how no fault insurance applies when someone is driving another person’s car and they become involved in a serious car accident.

If I borrow someone else’s car and have an accident while driving, how does that affect first-party (no fault) insurance coverage?

If you are involved in a motor vehicle accident while driving a car that is owned by another individual, you should file an application and pursue no-fault benefits with your own no-fault insurer. If you do not have no-fault insurance, you would look to the no-fault insurer of your spouse. If your spouse is uninsured, you would look to the insurer of a resident relative.

If you have no insured resident relatives, you would then look to the insurer of the owner or registrant of the vehicle involved in the collision. If the owner and registrant of the vehicle are uninsured, a claim must be filed with the Michigan Assigned Claim Facility (ACF).

To summarize, in a scenario where you borrow another person’s car and have an accident, the order of priority of no-fault insurers would be as follows:

First Priority – Insurer of a resident relative

Second Priority – Insurer of a spouse

Third Priority – Insurer of the owner or registrant of the vehicle occupied at the time of the collision

Fourth Priority – Insurer of the operator of the vehicle occupied at the time of the collision

Fifth Priority – Michigan Assigned Claims Facility (ACF)