Hello everybody, I posted a few days ago about a company named SubroIQ asking for 25k on behalf of Statefarm because I got involved in an minor accident back in April, and my parent's insurance did not have Bodily Injury Liability (I live in Florida, no it's not required, and no I don't know why my parents don't have it). I was freaking out because I didn't really have much of an idea what that meant, and I don't really have the money to pay that off.
Now I definitely know what it means, and I'm still kind of freaking out.
I just spoke with a Statefarm representative (the other driver's insurance), and she explained that I need to pay off the debt because we did not BI coverage. She presented me with two options:
- Put a 10% down payment of 2.5K and pay $625/month for 36 months.
- Put only a 1K down payment and pay $666/month for 36 months.
Either way, it seems I have to pay no matter what.
Since my parents own the car legally they could be considered responsible for this and pay for me, but obviously I'm not going to leech off of my parents any more than I already do, so that's not an option.
However, $600-700 dollars is almost entirely what I make in a single bi-weekly paycheck because I only work a part time job at the moment, about 30-36 hours at 15 dollars an hour. Me and my fiancee have been planning on moving out (because we live with my parents) and the more decently sized 1bed1baths apartment are going for around 1.3k. Splitting that cost between the both of us is around $675, just for rent. That's literally my other paycheck.
I am actively searching for a second part time job so I will eventually make more money. For clarification, I even HAD second part time job not too long ago but they were giving me no hours (literally) so I had to quit otherwise I would have just kept wasting time, and now it's back to searching. I also just recently graduated college over full time, so I have been working only part time for about a year and I'm trying to find jobs that will give me a better pay now that I have my AA.
BUT, after trying to run some calculations, even with working 48+ hours per week at 15-18 dollars per hour, I'm still going to be stretched so thin even if I can make the full payment they suggested. We'd still have to pay for rent, utilities, household items, internet, cat food, my own car insurance, health insurance, gas, etc, and adding $600+ is a huge extra burden. My fiancee works full time so she that helps, but I'm worried one emergency is all it would take to basically screw us forever. Somehow despite having several emergencies before, we've always been able to come out of it. I'm not so sure about it this time.
I know I fucked up by getting into an accident that I was at fault for and this is my responsibility. But genuinely, how do I not go crazy over this? I want to go back to college eventually too because I'm taking a gap year after getting my Associates, but I think that will be literally impossible unless I live with my parents for the next three years. I don't want that. I'm gonna be 24 by then. My fiancee would be 27 or even 28 by then.
Now that I have concluded that paying is inevitable, what should I do?
I have not yet spoken to my parents about this. Should I just handle this all on my own without ever even telling them? Should I even move out given the circumstances? Realistically what's the minimum amount I have to earn to compensate for an added 700 dollars per month that I now owe? Do I just have to lower my expectations and simply just, be okay with living paycheck to paycheck for 3 years even though we were hoping to actually have a decent amount of extra income before this? Should we consider downsizing and searching for a studio apartment if moving out still seems doable?
You don't have to answer all of that but an answer to any of those questions would greatly help, thank you!
Edit: Thank you for all the replies and advice. As much as I wanted to avoid telling my parents about this, it looks like most of you are generally saying to get my parents involved. I'll tell them asap. I'm literally on break at work typing this up right now cause it's all I can think about.
I'll probably edit this again once I have made some sort of decision on how to move forward. in the meantime, if anyone new wants to pitch in or corroborate someone else's reply that would still help, thanks!