Am I liable if someone in my car got a DUI? 49 Answers as of December 12, 2011

There could be criminal as well as civil liability.

Yes it is possible if you knew they were intoxicated and let them drive.

In Michigan your car could be immobilized.

Allowing a person you know to be intoxicated drive your vehicle is a crime.

Most likely, such a Negligent Entrustment issue would only arise in a civil suit if someone was injured by the driver.

An owner a car cannot get a ticket for DUI just because a person the car was loaned to was charged with DUI. If the DUI involve an accident, the owner of the car could be responsible to an injured party depending on the jurisdiction where the accident took place.

Only if they were drunk when you gave them the keys.

Yes. The offense is allowing operating while intoxicated and is a 93 day misdemeanor.

I do not believe so.

You can be charged if you knowingly let someone drive your car that you know to be intoxicated or should have reasonably believed to have been intoxicated. That is a 93-day misdemeanor. If you do so and the intoxicated driver causes serious injury or death to someone else, then you can be charged with felonies.

You can't get a ticket for someone else's law violation. Whether you're on the hook in a lawsuit if you loaned your vehicle to someone who then got in an accident is a different question. In this matter, however, you are not criminally liable for your friend's drunk driving.

You may be criminally liable as an aider and abetter. You may be civilly liable for negligent entrustment.

Yes. You could potentially be liable for negligently entrusting your vehicle to someone. If they cause damage, you the people damaged may look to you for money.

Although you cannot receive a ticket depending on the severity of the DWI offense, you may risk having your license plates impounded requiring application for special series plates often called "whiskey plates." If it is offense three or more, then your car may even be subject to forfeiture to the state.

The registered owner of a motor vehicle is liable for injury or damages resulting from the vehicle in question. There does not appear to be any injury to person or property in the scenario recited, therefore no damages. Therefore there would be no basis for a citation being issued, merely because you granted permission for another person to drive your car.

I know of no provision in the law for that. You might have a problem if you were aware that the driver was intoxicated and allowed him to drive the car and there was a wreck.

No, unless you forced them to drive. The D.A. could technically charge you with aiding and abetting or conspiracy but they never do.

You are liable if they injure or kill someone, and you are liable for any damages resulting from their negligence, but you are not criminally liable unless you knew they did not have a license or knew they were intoxicated. You should never allow anyone to drive your vehicle. Give them cab fare if you must, but once you hand them the keys you are risking your life savings or your house if they cause an accident. Drinking and driving is like firing a gun at a moving train and hoping that no one gets hit by the bullets. It is dangerous and can result in the death or injury of innocent drivers. Call Designated Driver, a service that will drive you home or anywhere you like in your own car.

If you let someone drive your car when you know that they are intoxicated you may be liable for damage that they cause because of driving intoxicated but you cannot get a ticket for doing this.

No, you have nothing to worry about.

Unlikely, but if you know someone is drunk and you let them drive, you could be held liable for injuries and damages caused.

No liability unless you provided the alcohol and allowed them to drive but that would be a long shot.

You can be charged with allowing an intoxicated driver to drive your vehicle. This requires your knowledge that the person was likely intoxicated.

You could be. Did you know the person was drunk when the borrowed your car. Did you grant any kind of permission? Were you providing the person with the alcohol? Any of these issues could make you liable. Maybe not criminally (possibly, if your state has the Dram Shop Act) but a good chance of civil liability if that person caused property damage or injury to another person as a result of driving drunk .

Generally no, unless there was an accident. However, your car may be in jeopardy as there are statutes that courts can utilize to impound vehicles though very seldom done by the courts.

You could be charged with aiding and abetting a DUI if you were in the vehicle and knew the driver was intoxicated and you had that person drive instead of you. It is a tough case for the state to prove but if you are charged please get legal representation as soon as possible to analyze your rights and potential defenses.

Not in a criminal sense unless you knew or had reason to know that the driver was intoxicated; except if someone was badly injured and you knew or should have known that the driver was impaired. You could be looking at civil liability as well if there was an injury accident. But if this was just a DUI with no accident, you probably won't be facing prosecution or suit.

Generally no. Unless it was clear they were intoxicated, theoretically a prosecutor could try to charge you with aiding and abetting the DWI, but that is unusual and hard to prove.

You cannot be held criminally liable for someone else's illegal conduct. Allowing another licensed driver to drive your vehicle is not illegal. However, you may be put to some expense in having your vehicle removed from impound.

While it might be legally possible to charge the car owner if they knew a person was DUI and they let that person drive there car, I have never seen that happen and would be very surprised if the owner would get charged. It would have to be a very special set of circumstances to have the owner get charged in this type of situation.

No. maybe your friend could sue you, but you did nothing wrong. That other person is an adult and should've known better.

NO. DUII is a personal crime. You have to commit it. If a person driving your car got into an accident, there may be civil liability but you would have to be the server of the alcohol as well to be criminally liable.

You most likely would not be liable criminally. However, if that person injures someone while under the influence and driving your vehicle, you could be civilly liable.

In Massachusetts, operating under the influence (it is called OUI in Mass. but that means the same as what some states call "DUI") is a criminal offense, not a mere civil infraction. And no, one cannot be prosecuted for OUI based solely on the fact that it was their car that was being driven by an alleged drunk driver. It is conceivable (though quite unlikely) that you could be charged with some other offense if you allowed someone to use your car knowing that they were under the influence at the time you let them do so.

Yes, it is not too uncommon for someone who allows a drunk person to drive their car to get ticketed with aiding and abetting a DWI. You should consult an attorney about your options, each county handles these matters in their own way.

You may not be criminally liable but you could be civilly liable which means you could be sued if you allowed the individual to operate your vehicle while you had knowledge that person was intoxicated. I can really only see this happening if an accident occurred.

In California, you have no criminal liability if you let someone drive while intoxicated.