Is the owner of the car responsible if someone else was driving?

Yes. Florida holds a motor vehicle owner responsible for the negligence of a person operating the vehicle with the owner's consent. This is broader than most states.

What it means. Lending your car to a friend who causes a crash exposes you and your policy. The owner didn't do anything careless; the responsibility attaches to ownership.

Consent is the element. It's generally presumed where the owner voluntarily entrusted the vehicle. A genuinely stolen vehicle is different.

Why it matters to an injured person. It adds a source of coverage. Where a driver is uninsured but the vehicle's owner isn't, the owner's policy may respond.

Statutory limits exist for certain owners — including short-term lessors and rental companies — capping exposure in defined circumstances.

Practical step: determine who owns the vehicle, which the registration or the crash report shows. Owner and driver are different people more often than you'd expect.