As most insurance claims adjusters—and more than a few parents—will tell you, teenagers are in a special risk category all their own when it comes to driving.
- Drivers in the 16-to-19 age group represent the highest risk for causing car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- When a teen driver ends up causing a car accident, car insurance usually plays a crucial role in covering the injuries and vehicle damage of other drivers and passengers.
- Parents and guardians can also face legal responsibility alongside (or separate from) their teen drivers after a car accident, but state laws might limit (or "cap") the extent of parents'/guardians' financial obligations.
Teen Drivers Are Held to the Same Standards as All Motorists
From a sixteen-year-old with a newly minted license, to a lead-footed octogenarian, motorists of all ages are held to the same legal standard when it comes to obeying the rules of the road and exercising reasonable caution under shifting circumstances.
Any licensed driver who gets behind the wheel of a vehicle owes a “duty of care” to all other drivers, passengers, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians. If this duty is “breached' through negligent or reckless driving, and someone is injured as a result, civil liability follows, meaning the driver (usually through his or her car insurance company) will be liable for medical bills, lost income, and other losses stemming from the crash.
But that's not all parents and legal guardians need to worry about when it comes to drivers who are under 18.
Are Parents Liable for Their Children's Car Accidents?
There are a number of ways a parent or guardian can be deemed legally and financially responsible when a teen driver causes a car accident. The specifics will primarily depend on the law in the state where the accident took place and the circumstances of the accident. In some states, a parent or guardian's liability is automatic. Elsewhere, the parent/guardian's liability will hinge on whether they acted reasonably in allowing the teen to drive, all things considered.
State Laws and “Vicarious Liability” of Parents and Guardians
Many states in the U.S. have passed some version of a law that essentially holds a parent or guardian responsible for certain actions of their children (shoplifting, vandalism, assault, and many other kinds of misconduct), under a legal concept known as "vicarious liability." In the dozen or so states that have this kind of law on the books in the context of harm resulting from a car accident, the parent/guardian's responsibility arises either:
- at the point when the teen driver is licensed, through something akin to a “co-signing” requirement where the parent or guardian agrees to be held financially responsible if their teen driver causes a car accident (more on this later)
- at the point when the teen causes a car accident, or
- both at the time of licensing and at the time of a car accident.
In these "statutory liability" cases, a driver or passenger injured in the crash caused by the teen driver can hold the parent liable (as well as the teen driver), but the plaintiff is not claiming that the parent/guardian was negligent in any way. The parent/guardian is statutorily ("by law") liable for the teen’s negligence.
For example, in California, a parent can be held civilly liable for all foreseeable "damages" (that includes other drivers' and passengers' injuries and property losses) if they give permission for a minor to drive their vehicle (whether the minor is licensed or not) and the minor causes a crash.
It's important to note that if the parent or guardian does not have contact with or custody of the teen driver at the time of the accident—meaning the parent or guardian is not in a position to supervise or control the teen's driving—then it might be tougher to use a “vicarious liability” law to hold a parent or guardian liable for any car accident caused by the teen.
Learn more about car accident liability when you loan your car to someone else.
Negligent Entrustment and Negligent Oversight
A parent or legal guardian can face some share of liability if they knew (or should have known in the eyes of the law) that their teen driver represented a danger to others. Giving the teen the keys to the family car in this situation could amount to "negligent entrustment" on the part of the parent or guardian, opening the door to a civil lawsuit filed against the parent/guardian by anyone injured in the resulting crash.
Negligent oversight is based more on a parent's failure to properly supervise a child. If the parent knows or reasonably should know that the child has a propensity for taking the keys and going off in the car without permission, the parent would likely have a heightened duty of care when it comes to securing the keys and keeping them away from the child. Negligent oversight differs from negligent entrustment because a negligent entrustment case involves the parent giving the child permission to drive the car; in a negligent oversight case, the issue is more making sure the teen doesn't have access to the car.
Both of these theories of liability are different from the "vicarious liability" we discussed above. When a state law makes a parent or guardian vicariously liable for a teen driver's driving-related mistakes, it doesn't matter what the parent did or didn't do under the specific circumstances. If the teen driver caused a car accident, the parent/guardian is also considered liable. It's automatic. In contrast, under "negligent entrustment" and "negligent oversight," the focus is on the reasonableness of what the parent did (or failed to do) in connection with the teen driver's accident.
Driving Privilege Liability
This is something of an offshoot of the "vicarious liability" we discussed above. In a number of states (including California, Florida, Ohio) when a teen (usually one who is under 18) applies for a driver's license, a parent or legal guardian must also sign documentation in which they assume responsibility for the teen's driving, including liability for any accident they cause.
For example, in California, a parent or legal guardian must sign the driver’s license application of any minor (under 18) in their care, and parents or guardians are essentially jointly liable if the minor causes a car accident.
In Florida, a parent or guardian of a minor must sign and verify the minor's application for a driver's license. Along with each application, the parent or guardian must submit a certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate, a valid U.S. passport, an alien registration receipt card (green card), an employment authorization card issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or proof of nonimmigrant classification.
So far we've discussed the legal side of things when a teen driver causes a car accident. But from a practical standpoint, as with any kind of car accident, car insurance will almost always play a crucial role. And financial responsibility could start and end with available car insurance coverage.
Does My Car Insurance Cover My Teen Driver?
The answer here is almost always yes. When it comes to car insurance, it's usually more accurate to say that it covers a vehicle—and anyone who has permission to drive that vehicle—as opposed to covering an individual policyholder. So as long as your teen driver was using your car with your permission (and wasn't specifically listed as excluded from coverage in your policy details), your car insurance coverage, and all the protections it provides, will extend to your teen driver when they cause an accident. Learn more about permissive use of your vehicle and car insurance.
Liability car insurance would come into play here, when a teen driver causes a car accident and other drivers and passengers suffer losses (injuries, vehicle damage, and so on). So, in a situation where you have an ample amount of liability car insurance ($150,000 per accident, for example, double the required minimums in your state), that insurance will almost certainly cover any accident caused by your teen driver.
Let's say the other driver's medical bills and other car accident losses can't reasonably be valued at more than $100,000. In that case, the liability car insurance policy would cover the financial side of things and compensate the injured driver. The parent or legal guardian's personal liability wouldn't come into play, at least from a practical standpoint.
Will My Car Insurance Go Up If My Teen Causes a Car Accident?
As with any kind of incident that triggers insurance coverage and forces your insurer to pay out on a claim, if your child causes a car accident and your car insurance company has to pay thousands of dollars under your liability coverage, it's safe to assume that your premium will go up.
At this point, you or someone who is covered under your policy (your teen driver) has become more of a risk in the eyes of the insurance company, and so it's strictly a business decision for the company to ask for more money in order to keep insuring your vehicle. Learn more about accidents, tickets, and your car insurance rates.
What If I Didn’t Give My Child Permission to Drive My Vehicle?
What if your teen driver takes your car without permission and causes a car accident? If it's a first-time incident, parents and guardians will likely benefit from any monetary limits on recovery that can be found in most parental liability statutes, while parents might be on the hook for much more if they continue to leave their car keys unattended when their teen driver has take the family car without permission in the past. In that situation, it could be said that these parents were on notice of the need to prevent their child from having access to the family car. And that can lead to the argument that the parents themselves were negligent. (More about negligence and liability for personal injury.)
Depending on your car insurance policy, your joyriding teen might not be covered under your insurance, especially if they're not listed on the policy and you tell the insurance company that the teen didn't have your permission to drive the car. That's usually true regardless of whether the teen was licensed or not. Your car insurance will almost certainly not apply if your teen driver's actions amount to criminal conduct. What's more, some insurance policies may provide that joyriding accidents will lead to cancellation or nonrenewal of coverage. Learn more about car insurance and car accident claims.
Can Parents Be Found Liable in Personal Injury Lawsuits for Their Child's Accident?
Absolutely. As we've touched on throughout this article, a parent or guardian can face civil liability (a lawsuit, in other words) through a number of potential avenues when their teen driver causes a car accident, and other drivers or passengers are injured or incur property damage.
What Will the Other Driver/Injured Party Need to Prove?
Depending on where you live, you as a parent of legal guardian of a driver who is under 18 might be automatically liable if that teen driver causes a car accident. In other words, if your teen driver is at fault for the crash, you are too, under the "vicarious liability" statutes in place in a number of states. Learn more about proving fault for a car accident.
If no statute applies, then the injured driver or passenger would need to show that on top of your teen's fault for the accident, you did something (or failed to do something) that also played a part in causing the crash. That usually means you were negligent in some way; in other words, you failed to act reasonably under the circumstances, and that failure ended up causing harm to someone else. This is where the "negligent entrustment/negligent oversight" liability we discussed earlier comes into play. Get more information on proving negligence in a personal injury case.
What Damages Can Parents Be Found Liable For?
As with any other kind of personal injury case, a lawsuit against a parent/guardian after a car accident caused by their teen driver could find the parent/guardian on the hook for a wide range of compensable losses ("damages"). An injured driver or passenger could sue the parent/guardian for:
- payment of past and future medical bills
- reimbursement of income lost because of the accident, and compensation for any diminished earning capacity
- mental and physical "pain and suffering" resulting from the accident, the injuries, and the impact on the injured person's life, and
- vehicle damage and related out-of-pocket losses (i.e. cost of a rental car).
Some states have passed laws that set a limit on the amount of money a parent or other guardian can be made to pay after a teen driver causes an accident, but there are a number of notable exceptions to these caps. For example, if the parent's own negligence played a part in the accident (the parent gave their teen driver the keys to the family car despite the teen's having caused two accidents and received a DUI in the past year), the parent's financial responsibility will probably go uncapped.
Potential Defenses of Parental Liability for Their Teenage Child’s Accident
When facing a lawsuit or other claim of liability when their teen driver causes an accident, a parent or guardian might raise a number of arguments in defense. Of course, the effectiveness (and ultimate success) of these arguments will depend on the circumstances of the underlying accident, and in part on you (or your lawyer's) skill in applying a specific defense to the facts of your particular case. But potential arguments include:
- The parent/legal guardian did not have custody of the teen driver at the time of the accident, and had no reasonable opportunity to monitor or control the teen's behavior.
- The parent/legal guardian took all reasonable precautions to ensure that the teen didn't drive or didn't endanger anyone else; the teen's behavior was simply too outlandish or unforeseeable for any reasonable person to have prevented the accident.
Getting Legal Help When Your Teen Driver Causes a Car Accident
Even after reading this article, you might have more questions than answers when your teen driver causes a car accident. Understanding how your car insurance coverage works, learning whether you're personally on the financial hook for car accident injuries and other losses caused by your child, and figuring out the best path forward are just some of the concerns you might have.
Discussing the specifics of your situation with an attorney might be your best first step. You can connect with a lawyer right on this page, or learn more about when it might make sense to hire a car accident lawyer.