Cousin hit someone whose car had expired plates — does that affect fault at all?

From my time working claims, I can tell you the expired registration detail will get noted and maybe used as a bargaining chip somewhere in the process, but it doesn't actually shift liability for the collision itself. What WILL matter a lot is whether the police report clearly documents that the other driver declined medical attention on scene. That contemporaneous record is genuinely valuable. Make sure your cousin gets a copy of that report if he hasn't already — like, today.

A few practical steps that will really help him:

1. Report to his insurance immediately if he hasn't — delay can actually be a policy violation 2. Get the full police report and read it carefully for any inaccuracies 3. Write down everything he remembers about the scene while it's still relatively fresh — what she said, who else was around, weather, etc. 4. Don't post anything about this on social media — I know it sounds obvious but people do it

The statute of limitations on personal injury varies by state so there's no infinite window here, but he still has time to handle this properly.

The delayed injury thing happened to me too. Guy said he was fine at the scene, shook my hand, and then three weeks later I'm getting a demand letter. It's incredibly frustrating but it's also just... how it goes sometimes. Tell your cousin not to panic but to get ahead of it fast. The worst thing he can do is ignore the letters or try to handle it himself.

I just want to add some context on the "she seemed fine" piece — I work in a clinical setting and soft tissue injuries to the neck and back genuinely can have delayed onset. Adrenaline masks a lot right after a collision. I'm not saying her claim is definitely legitimate, but the timeline alone doesn't make it fake. Just something to keep in mind as this plays out.

Not legal advice, but I can give you a general sense: expired registration is almost certainly not going to affect the fault determination. Fault in a collision is about the driving conduct itself — registration is a separate administrative issue that might get the other driver a citation, but it doesn't make your cousin less liable for the contact. The delayed injury claim is very common and unfortunately does hold up in a lot of cases — symptoms from soft tissue injuries can genuinely take days or weeks to surface. The most important thing right now is that your cousin runs everything through his insurance and does NOT communicate directly with the other driver or her lawyer. Seriously.

Honestly? Stop overthinking the registration angle — it's a distraction. The only two things that matter right now are (1) notify his insurance and let them do their job, and (2) talk to his own attorney if the claim starts looking like it might exceed his coverage. Everything else is noise.

That's such a stressful situation to be navigating for someone else, especially when they're not super plugged in online. You're a good cousin for helping him sort this out. Hope it resolves without too much drama — it sounds like he's approaching it responsibly at least.

One thing I'd flag: if his coverage is minimal, his own insurance company's interests and his interests might not be perfectly aligned once the claim gets big enough. They'll handle it up to his policy limits, but after that he could be personally exposed. Worth at least having a free consult with a PI attorney just so he understands his own position — not just the other driver's.