Hit by Someone Driving Another Person’s Car in Michigan: When the Owner Is Liable

The police report lists two names: the driver who hit you, and someone else as the registered owner. It might be a teenager in a parent’s SUV, a friend in a borrowed sedan, a rental, or a company pickup. Michigan law often holds that owner responsible too, even though the owner was nowhere near the crash.

Vahdat Weisman Law auto accident attorneys represent people hurt by drivers of borrowed, rented, and company vehicles across Michigan. Call (734) 469-4994 for a free consultation. No attorney fee unless we recover for you.

Can You Sue the Owner of the Car That Hit You?

Often, yes. Michigan’s owner’s liability statute makes a motor vehicle owner “liable for an injury caused by the negligent operation of the motor vehicle,” whether the driver broke a traffic law or simply failed to use ordinary care (MCL 257.401(1)).

The owner does not have to have done anything wrong. The liability comes from ownership plus permission: “The owner is not liable unless the motor vehicle is being driven with the owner’s express or implied consent or knowledge” (MCL 257.401(1)). If the driver had permission and drove carelessly, you can generally hold both of them responsible.

That matters most when the driver has little insurance and few assets.

For this purpose, “owner” includes the titleholder and also anyone who has exclusive use of the vehicle under a lease or otherwise “for a period that is greater than 30 days” (MCL 257.37).

The Teen Who Hit You Was Driving a Parent’s Car

When a family member is behind the wheel, the law starts on your side. “It is presumed that the motor vehicle is being driven with the knowledge and consent of the owner if it is driven at the time of the injury by the owner’s spouse, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, or other immediate member of the family” (MCL 257.401(1)).

So if a 17-year-old was driving a car titled to his father, the father is presumed to have consented and can be sued along with his son. The claim rests on ownership, not parenthood. If the car was titled to the teen, the owner’s statute does not reach the parents, though negligent entrustment (below) might.

Michigan does have a separate parental liability statute, but it rarely fits a crash. It applies only when an unemancipated minor living at home “maliciously or wilfully” damaged property or caused bodily harm, and recovery under it is capped at $2,500 (MCL 600.2913).

“The Driver Didn’t Have Permission”

Sometimes that is true. A stolen car is not driven with the owner’s consent, and the statute does not make the owner pay for a thief’s driving. But the claim is weighed against a legal presumption.

Beyond the family-member presumption in the statute, Michigan courts presume consent whenever someone other than the owner drives (Fout v Dietz, 401 Mich 403 (1977)). The presumption is not conclusive. To overcome it, the owner must offer “positive, unequivocal, strong and credible evidence” that there was no consent (Bieszck v Avis Rent-A-Car System, Inc., 459 Mich 9 (1998)).

Bieszck shows what strong evidence can look like. A rental contract barred anyone under 25 from driving; the renter’s 21-year-old relative drove anyway and ran a red light. The Michigan Supreme Court found the “plain English contract was clear and unequivocal” and reinstated the jury’s verdict that the rental company had not consented (opinion).

Lending chains get their own analysis. In Cowan v Strecker, 394 Mich 110 (1975), an owner lent her car to an acquaintance and told her not to let anyone else drive. The acquaintance let her son drive, and he caused a crash. The Court held the owner liable: when an owner willingly surrenders control of a vehicle, the owner consents to the risks that follow, “regardless of admonitions which would purport to delimit his consent.”

Consent is usually a fact question, and texts, key history, and police statements can matter.

The Driver Had No Insurance, but the Owner Did

In most cases, the owner’s auto liability policy covers someone driving the car with permission, and a claim usually starts there. If the driver has a policy of their own, it may add a second layer.

Michigan’s default bodily injury limits are $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident, though a policyholder may choose limits as low as $50,000 and $100,000 (MCL 500.3009(1), (5)). Those limits cap what the insurer pays, not what the owner owes; a judgment above the policy is the owner’s personal obligation.

One exception can change everything. A Michigan policy may exclude a specific named driver. When that excluded person drives, the policy’s required warning says all liability coverage is void, no one is insured, and the vehicle’s owner “remain fully personally liable” (MCL 500.3009(2)). If the driver who hit you was a named excluded driver on the owner’s policy, that car may have no insurance at all, while the owner’s personal liability coverage remains. If you bought uninsured motorist coverage, it may then come into play.

Your medical bills and lost wages are a separate track. Those generally come first from your own no-fault insurer through PIP benefits, regardless of who owned the other car.

If the Car That Hit You Was a Rental

Michigan’s caps. For a rental of 30 days or less, the rental company is liable only if the car was being driven by an authorized driver under the rental agreement or by the renter’s immediate family member. Its liability is limited to $20,000 for one person hurt and $40,000 for two or more people in one accident, unless the company “was negligent in the leasing of the motor vehicle” (MCL 257.401(3)). The company must tell the renter about those limits and that the renter may be personally liable for amounts above them (MCL 257.401(4)). For leases longer than 30 days, the leasing company “is not liable at common law,” though the long-term lessee is treated as the owner (MCL 257.401(2); MCL 257.37).

The federal Graves Amendment. A federal law enacted in 2005 says a company that rents or leases vehicles is not liable under state law simply for owning the vehicle, as long as there was “no negligence or criminal wrongdoing on the part of the owner” (49 USC 30106(a)). It preserves state insurance and financial responsibility standards (49 USC 30106(b)).

How those two laws fit together in Michigan remains unsettled. In 2025, the Court of Appeals set aside a rental company’s dismissal based on federal preemption because the company did not address the savings clause or produce the rental agreement. It sent the case back without deciding the question (Marshall v USAA Casualty Insurance Co, No. 371351 (Mich Ct App, Sept. 30, 2025) (unpublished)) (opinion).

The rental company’s own negligence, such as renting to someone visibly intoxicated or unlicensed, is outside both the Michigan caps and the Graves Amendment’s protection.

Car-sharing apps. Since October 17, 2025, the owner’s statute does not apply to a person who shares a vehicle through a peer-to-peer car sharing program, or to the program itself, during a car sharing period (MCL 257.401(8), added by 2024 PA 225). If a car-sharing vehicle hit you, the program’s insurance and trip records become central. Rideshare crashes follow different rules, covered on our rideshare accidents page.

A Company Truck or Work Vehicle Hit You

Two theories can reach the company. If the business owns the vehicle and lets the employee drive it, the owner’s statute applies on the same terms as for any other owner. Its text turns on consent, not on whether the employee was on the clock.

Separately, an employer is generally liable for an employee’s negligence when the employee acts within the scope of employment (Hamed v Wayne County, 490 Mich 1 (2011)). That liability can extend to a company even when the employee drove a personal car on a work errand. Commercial carriers raise added insurance questions, discussed on our delivery and commercial vehicle accidents page.

When the Owner Should Never Have Handed Over the Keys

Negligent entrustment is a separate claim that looks at what the owner knew. You must show the vehicle was driven with the owner’s permission, that the driver was in fact incompetent to drive, and that at the time the owner knew it or knew facts implying it (Perin v Peuler (On Rehearing), 373 Mich 531 (1964)). Lending a car to someone with no license, a suspended license, a string of recent crashes, or who had obviously been drinking are classic examples.

This claim does not require the defendant to be the legal owner. The Court of Appeals held that a person who supplied a loaned car could face an entrustment claim even though he was not the titleholder (Bennett v Russell, No. 334859 (Mich Ct App, Jan. 16, 2018) (published)).

The Same Threshold, Fault Rules and Deadline Apply

A claim against an owner is still a Michigan auto negligence case. For pain and suffering, your injury has to meet the serious impairment threshold or involve death or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)). If you were more than 50 percent at fault, noneconomic damages are barred (MCL 500.3135(2)(b)). The lawsuit generally must be filed within three years of the crash (MCL 600.5805(2)).

Why Choose Vahdat Weisman Law?

Owner’s liability cases turn on early paperwork: title and registration, the owner’s declarations page and any named-driver exclusion, the rental or lease agreement, and the messages showing who had permission. We identify every owner, employer, and insurer that may answer for the crash, and pursue PIP benefits and any excess economic losses alongside the claim.

From our Livonia office, we represent injured people and their families throughout Michigan. Founding partners Kara E. Weisman and Jordan S. Vahdat have each been honored as Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Our attorneys are members of the State Bar of Michigan and active in the Michigan Association for Justice. We advance case costs, we work in English and Spanish, and we are available 24/7.

Frequently Asked Questions

• The teen who hit me was driving his dad’s car. Can I sue the dad? Likely yes, if the father owns the car. Michigan presumes a family member was driving with the owner’s consent, and a consenting owner is liable for the driver’s negligence (MCL 257.401(1)). The claim rests on ownership, so if the car was titled to the teen, look instead at negligent entrustment.
• It was a rental car. Is the rental company responsible? Possibly, but in limited amounts. For rentals of 30 days or less, Michigan caps the company’s liability at $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident unless it was negligent in renting the car (MCL 257.401(3)), and federal law may limit it further. The driver’s own coverage usually matters more.
• Can I collect more than the owner’s insurance limits? Possibly. The policy limits cap the insurer’s payment, not the owner’s liability, so a judgment above the limits is the owner’s personal obligation. Whether it is collectible depends on the owner’s assets.

About the Author

Jordan S. Vahdat is a founding partner of Vahdat Weisman Law in Livonia and handles negligence, premises liability, auto accident, and insurance dispute cases. He has been admitted to all Michigan state courts since 2014, practices in the Eastern District of Michigan, and has served as a case evaluator for the Washtenaw Circuit Trial Court and the 15th District Court since 2020. He is fluent in Spanish.

Talk to a Michigan Car Accident Lawyer

If someone driving a car they did not own hurt you, call Vahdat Weisman Law at (734) 469-4994 or contact us online for a free consultation. Available 24/7, serving all of Michigan, with Spanish-speaking staff.

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Reviewed by Jordan S. Vahdat, Vahdat Weisman Law. Last reviewed October 2026.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique, and prior results do not guarantee future success.