Re: [gti-vr6] Something to think about.

[Eric Dotson <ecdot@sprynet.com>]

Don wrote:
> The reason I post this question is because of what happened at my
> dealership a few weeks ago. A customer left off his 96 GTI for service. The
> Service Advisor was out road testing the car when she was hit broad side at a traffic light.
> Anyway heres the predicament. The GTI was totaled and the lease expired 4
> days after the accident. The customer states that the Service advisor didn't
> have permission to road test the car. I had heard a rumor that she was
> coming back after cashing her paycheck. The insurance company for the
> dealership wants her insurance to cover the accident.
> The last I heard was she was trying to file a workmens compensation claim
> because she was hurt on the job.

Well, I don't do auto, but I do work for an insurance company, and this
is how I see it:

There should be claim filed against the dealer's general liabilty or
similar policy to cover the car.  The customer will likely not be held
responsible for the damage due to the fact that a) she wasn't driving
the car, and b) the car was at the dealership for repair.  I don't think
the signed/unsigned work order would matter at all if it went to court,
which it probably will.  Add the fact that the service advisor is filing
a workers' comp claim for the accident and it adds evidence to the fact
that the car was under the dealership's care at the time.  Another
option is for the customer to pay her own deductible and have her
company take care of it.  The customers company will likely then
subrogate against either the service advisors personal auto policy or
the dealer's liability policy.  That's my best educated guess.

Eric