Teen Drivers and Parental Liability in Ohio: Who Pays When a Young Driver Causes a Crash

Published September 7, 2021 · Injury Law Basics

School is back in session, and the roads around Centerville, Kettering, and Beavercreek are full again of the newest drivers in Ohio: sixteen-year-olds with fresh probationary licenses, a backpack on the passenger seat, and a phone somewhere within reach. Most of them will be fine. Some will run a light on Far Hills Avenue or rear-end a line of traffic on State Route 725, and someone else will be hurt.

When that happens, the injured family usually asks the same question: who pays? The teenager rarely has money of his own, and the car often belongs to Mom or Dad. Ohio law answers the question in layers, and the answer depends on paperwork most parents signed years ago and have long forgotten.

Layer one: the parent who signed the license application

Ohio will not issue a temporary instruction permit, probationary license, or restricted license to anyone under eighteen unless a parent, guardian, custodian, or other responsible adult signs the application. R.C. 4507.07(A). That signature is not a formality. The registrar is required to give the signing adult notice of the liability that comes with it.

Under R.C. 4507.07(B), any negligence, or willful or wanton misconduct, committed by a minor under eighteen while driving on a highway is imputed to the person who signed the application, and that person is jointly and severally liable with the minor for the damages. "Jointly and severally" means the injured person can collect the full amount from either of them.

There is an important limit. The statute says there is no imputed liability if the minor has proof of financial responsibility, which in practice means auto liability insurance meeting Ohio's minimums. Those minimums, set in R.C. 4509.01, are $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 for injuries to two or more people in one crash, and $25,000 for property damage.

So the signer statute does its real work when the teen is uninsured. If a sixteen-year-old drives without coverage and causes a crash, the adult who signed the license application can be personally responsible for the full damages. The statute also gives that adult a way out going forward: under R.C. 4507.07(C), the signer may surrender the minor's license to the registrar and have it canceled, ending the liability from that point on.

Two practical points follow. First, once the driver turns eighteen, this statute no longer applies. Second, in a serious case the first questions we ask are whether the teen was insured, under what policy, and who signed the application.

Layer two: negligent entrustment of the family car

Separate from the signer statute, an owner who lends a car to someone the owner knows, or should know, is an unsafe driver can be liable for negligent entrustment. That is the parent who hands the keys to a teenager with a string of speeding tickets, a suspended license, or a known habit of texting behind the wheel. We discussed the elements of that claim in our post on lending a car to a dangerous driver.

Ownership alone is generally not enough. The claim depends on what the parent knew, which means school records, prior citations, phone records, and testimony from friends and siblings can become important evidence. When a crash involves a phone, those records are central; our distracted driving page explains how they are obtained.

Layer three: the family auto policy

In most teen-driver crashes, the money that actually pays the claim comes from insurance, and the family's auto policy is the place to start. Questions that come up again and again:

• Is the teen an insured? Most policies cover resident relatives of the named insured and anyone driving a covered car with permission, whether or not the teen is listed by name.
• Was the teen excluded? Some families, facing high premiums, sign a named-driver exclusion that removes a teenager from the policy entirely. If that teen drives anyway, the liability coverage may not respond, leaving the victim to look to the parents' and teen's personal assets and to the victim's own coverage.
• Which car was involved? A teen who drives a friend's car, a grandparent's car, or a car he bought himself may trigger a different policy, or more than one.
• What are the limits? Many families with a new driver carry the state minimums, and $50,000 per crash disappears quickly when there are several injured people in two or three vehicles.

Layer four: your own UM/UIM coverage

When the teen driver is uninsured, excluded, or carries limits too low to cover a serious injury, the injured person's own policy often becomes the most important source of recovery.

Under R.C. 3937.18, an uninsured-motorist claim is available when there is no liability policy covering the at-fault driver's liability to you. Underinsured-motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver's liability limits are less than your own UIM limits, and your UIM is reduced by what the at-fault coverage pays. Ohio does not require insurers to include either coverage, so whether you have it, and how much, depends on what you bought. Our guide chapter on using your own insurance explains how these coverages work together, and our UM/UIM claims page covers the details.

If you are the parent of a teen driver

A few steps protect your teenager, your family's savings, and the people your teen shares the road with:

• Add your teen to your policy rather than excluding him or her. An exclusion saves premium and can leave everyone exposed.
• Raise your liability limits and consider an umbrella policy. Minimum limits protect almost no one after a serious crash.
• Carry strong UM/UIM coverage. It protects your own family when someone else's teenager causes the crash.
• Set phone rules and enforce them. A phone in a cup holder is an invitation.
• Know what you signed. If your teen's driving has you worried, the law gives you a way to surrender the license.

If your family was hit by a teen driver

Get the teen's name, the vehicle owner's name, and every insurance card involved. Report the crash to your own insurer promptly. Do not assume the first policy limit you hear is the only money available; teen-driver crashes often involve a signer's liability, an owner's policy, a resident-relative policy, an umbrella policy, and your own UM/UIM coverage, and finding all of them takes work.

What this means for you

Teen-driver crash claims are rarely as simple as "the other driver's insurance pays." The value of a serious claim often depends on who signed a license application, whether a teen was excluded from a policy, and how much UM/UIM coverage the injured family carries. Our Dayton car accident practice tracks down every policy that applies before anyone talks about settlement.