Originally Posted by
43Inches
A lot of mess for everyone. That's one risk of hiring to unknowns. You can take deposits, debit pre-approvals, but generally not enough to cover large loss, especially airplane losses. Sell the debt to an agency and they can hound the individual for the next 20 years. Luckily I've never had to deal with that situation, however I know a good mate who is that guy with nothing to his name, was able to get fines/loans/debts he didn't pay, and just kept false addresses so the agencies never caught up with them. If you have nothing they don't put much effort into the chase. For the majority of us that have assets and don't want to be declared bankrupt it's easier to negotiate something in the middle.
Normally the insurance company will pay out the owner less the excess, then use their considerable resources to go after the person who did the damage.