Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin

Re: personal liability for damage caused by automobile

In response to your posting, the issue is not who was last in the car or who last touched the car, but instead, who was at fault in allowing the car to roll down the hill. It may be the fault of both of you or one of you. As to insurance, the primary insurance will usually lie with the owner of the car and then secondarily with who was operating the car.I would certainly suggest that the owner of the car, you and the person who was test driving the car each report this to your auto insurance companies and let them hopefully sort out which insurance(s) will agree to pay for the car damage and home damage.

Re: personal liability for damage caused by automobile

The person whose negligence caused the car to roll down the hill is the party liable for the damages. The person's automobile insurance coverage should apply to this situation. I am assuming that the car was not left in park, although my cars have not allowed me to remove the key in that situation. The person whose property was damaged (I assume the house was your house) would have to prove whose negligence caused the damage. I am unable to give you a better answer than that. It all depends upon what actually happened, why it happened, and who was the person whose negligence led to the car rolling down the hill. The issue is not who the last person in the car was. The issue is who the negligent party was. It is possible that both you and the buyer of the car could be determined to have been negligent. If that were to happen, the fault would have to be apportioned between the two of you.