Northbrook, IL asked in Car Accidents, Civil Litigation and Personal Injury for Illinois

Q: Can a vehicle lienholder be held liable when the borrower is uninsured and causes a crash?

The uninsured driver hit a bicyclist. Uninsured driver is completely at fault.

2 Lawyer Answers

A: It is highly unlikely, if not impossible that you would be able to hold a lien holder liable. Any institutional lien holder like a bank, a credit union, Ford Motor credit, etc. requires both liability and collision coverage as a condition of the loan. Therefore if such a driver was uninsured, it was not with the lien holder's knowledge or consent. Such a lien holder could not be held liable.

Tim Akpinar agrees with this answer

A: It's unlikely. Lienholders are not treated as insureds or registrants. However, if the car is declared a total loss, the salvage end of the claim can involve the lienholder. Good luck

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