Co-signing a loan and liability

[tpajet]

Someone I know is buying a car. His credit is kind of average, and his mother is co-signing the loan. As such she will be on the title of the vehicle. He asked me what I thought about the following situation, and I am really not sure.

The question is, if he is driving the car, and causes an accident, he would be liable for that accident. Yes insurance would cover their part. However since his mother is listed as an owner of the car, could she be held liable in a civil suit? I know that any one can file a suit, but would they realistically have any grounds to sue the mother as well?

 

[army judge]

Someone I know is buying a car. His credit is kind of average, and his mother is co-signing the loan. As such she will be on the title of the vehicle. He asked me what I thought about the following situation, and I am really not sure.

The question is, if he is driving the car, and causes an accident, he would be liable for that accident. Yes insurance would cover their part. However since his mother is listed as an owner of the car, could she be held liable in a civil suit? I know that any one can file a suit, but would they realistically have any grounds to sue the mother as well?

Yes, they both could be sued.
Yes, they both would be held liable, if the plaintiff prevailed.

If they insist on going through with this, I suggest they have very high liability limits.
Most people that do this take 100/300/500 PD and liability limits, as a minimum.
The same limits should be taken on the uninsured and under-insured portions of the policy.