Crashed without insurance in California... how bad is this situation?

So here’s the deal: I (19) crashed into someone in California, and I don’t have insurance. They took a photo of my license and gave me two options: pay them $9,000 (which is what their insurance would pay) or have them go through their insurance. If they go with the second option, how badly would it affect my record? Will my license get suspended or revoked? Will the insurance make me pay exactly what they would pay? Any advice or insight would be really helpful.

I’m in a similar situation, but I’m the one whose car got hit by an uninsured driver. I don’t have collision coverage on my policy, so I’m dealing with the headache of going after the driver myself.

It’s illegal to drive in California without at least the minimum liability and property damage insurance. You’re lucky no one was hurt. If I were the other party, I would file a claim against you. You should’ve had coverage. Just because other people do it doesn’t make it right.

If you want to have any chance of getting insurance in the future, it’s best to pay them. If you don’t, your record will be ruined and you’ll face legal problems.

If you have the money, you should just pay them. If you don’t and they go through their insurance, their insurance will try to get the money from you. This will be reported to the California DMV, and you’ll face fines and have a really tough time getting insurance. Your license might get suspended too until you show proof of insurance. So yeah, it’s pretty bad. But at least you didn’t injure anyone.

Try to pay them what you owe and make sure you get insurance. Or figure out how to get by without driving.

@Ren
Yeah, if you don’t sort this out, this could mess up your entire 20s. You’re in for a rough ride if you don’t fix it.

@Ren
Shouldn’t they get some kind of formal agreement in writing? Couldn’t the other person take the money and still report it?

Dell said:
@Ren
Shouldn’t they get some kind of formal agreement in writing? Couldn’t the other person take the money and still report it?

Yeah, if you’re paying anything, make sure you get a contract. It’s worth the cost of lawyer fees. OP is already in a tough spot, and you definitely don’t want to pay them and still end up with nothing resolved.

In California, you need to file an SR1 after any accident. Both parties have to do it. That will be sent to the DMV and it will show whether you had insurance or not. Who is the vehicle you were driving registered to?

How bad is it? It’s really bad. Why would you even take that risk?

Driving without insurance is a huge deal, especially when the consequences come around.

Pay them as soon as possible, or the next few years will be really tough for you. Unless you’re rich, but I’m guessing you’re not because if you were, you would have had insurance in the first place.

I get that insurance is expensive, but if you think that’s tough, wait until you can’t drive at all. Don’t drive without insurance.

You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

Reese said:
You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

My options were either skip insurance or pay for rent and insurance but nothing else.

Baylen said:

Reese said:
You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

My options were either skip insurance or pay for rent and insurance but nothing else.

That’s the classic ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ mistake. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you’re going to pay a lot more in the long run, and it’ll haunt you for years.

Baylen said:

Reese said:
You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

My options were either skip insurance or pay for rent and insurance but nothing else.

Or you could’ve paid for both rent and insurance and picked up a second job to cover the rest. Or take a bus, carpool, or ride a bike. So many options.

Baylen said:

Reese said:
You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

My options were either skip insurance or pay for rent and insurance but nothing else.

Looks like you’ll be having ‘just enough money for nothing else’ now.

Baylen said:

Reese said:
You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

My options were either skip insurance or pay for rent and insurance but nothing else.

You’ll be on the hook for $9K+ in damages no matter what. If they go through their insurance, they’re coming after you anyway.

Baylen said:

Reese said:
You shouldn’t have been driving without insurance. It’s a serious mistake.

My options were either skip insurance or pay for rent and insurance but nothing else.

Get ready for a rough ride, my friend.

Paying them directly is the only way out. Consider yourself lucky if they don’t also sue you for personal injury or file a police report. That would mean even more fines and charges.

It all depends on how poor you are. If you have things worth losing, this is bad. If you’re really poor, well, what do you have left?