Ah! someone rear-ended me, and i didnt file a police report..now what?

[TheTSiGuy]

Some dude rear-ended me on my way to work tonight. As i was in a hurry, and he was too, we exchanged insurance information, and left it at that. I figured id just call my insurance company, he'd call his, and all would be well. I was just told by my co-workers that in my case, the insurance companies may not want to cover me, as there is no police report. Am i screwed now? what can happen? My Talon has cracked tail-lights on the bottom portion, and my bumper is chewed up. Do i just hassle my insurance company to do their thing?

help!

 

[Mcgee16]

If you talk to his insurance company they will call him to verify that he hit you. And ans long as the dude says he did then you will be fine.

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Whew.

And if he doesnt admit it, ill get a few local DSMérs to show up to his door with baseball bats to let him know whats up.

Also, it was his work truck that hit me, so i think his company may deal with it.

 

[eclipsed95]

Originally posted by Mcgee16
If you talk to his insurance company they will call him to verify that he hit you. And ans long as the dude says he did then you will be fine.

What he said

 

[Goblin]

Originally posted by TheTSiGuy
And if he doesnt admit it, ill get a few local DSMérs to show up to his door with baseball bats to let him know whats up.
.

?

Go file a police report, you are obligated to do so and the insurance company will look for one.

 

[Streetbeat]

yeah its not to late to file one

 

[TheTSiGuy]

You sure?

It happened like, 6 hours ago.

What do i do? call up the police department in my town and tell em what happened? you sure they arent going to laugh it off?

 

[TheTSiGuy]

cos it technically did happen on the illinois state highway. wouldnt a state trooper have to write a report up?

 

[Goblin]

oh wow...

No.

You SHOULD have called the police.

Go down to the DP and tell them you need to file a police report involving a car accident. If you don't file one I'm willing to bet the wheels off my car that the insurance company will use that as an excuse to bend you over and tear you up then refuse to pay the medical bill after you go get stitches.

Insurance companies have one purpose: Screw as many people as possible out of as much money as possible.

 

[Streetbeat]

i learned this in traffic school and from a couple experiences-
officers are to busy to handle a little fender bender. if noone was hurt and you both acknowledge who was at fault then do not call the police. go to the police station and file a report there

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Ok. so i can just walk into my local law enforcement agency and file a report?

No one was hurt. His massive ford pickup truck was pretty much unscathed.

I dont need medical attention, but my talon does. If you guys honestly think that i need to file one, ill stop by my local police department on my way home from work, and file a report.

 

[LightningGSX]

Originally posted by Streetbeat
i learned this in traffic school and from a couple experiences-
officers are to busy to handle a little fender bender. if noone was hurt and you both acknowledge who was at fault then do not call the police. go to the police station and file a report there

Exactly.If the insurance companies involved require a police report, you can go to the station and file one at a later date.No need to waste a cops time, when he could be doing more important things.Usually,unless a certain dollar amount is exceeded,no police report is required anyway.

 

[BUCK]

The "L" word - LAWYER.

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Ok, update.

I stopped into my local police station tonight, and they gave me the number for the state highway police. told me to call them in the morning. So i will, i guess

She also mentioned that in most cases where the damage isnt horrendous, a police report isnt even needed. However, she said that since i was going to make an insurance claim, it could be handy to have a police report just in case. Im going to file one to be on the safe side. The damage to my car isnt that bad. Im not sure how to determine whether or not my damage is under or over 500 bucks. My left tail-lamp is cracked a bit, my bumper is cracked the size of a quarter in one area, and my liscense plate is dented. Thats the extent of it, though im not sure if anything behind the bumper or whatnot was damaged.

Ah well. We'll see where this goes. I still dont know if calling the police and filing the report is needed, but better safe then sorry right?

Ah, also....my girlfriend told me about her incident that just happened. She was at a stoplight, and she accidentally rear-ended someone. They didnt file a report, and still went through with insurance. No hassle, she said. So maybe i'd be ok after all. We'll see i guess.

And buck, you may too sue happy my friend Yeah, i'll sue ...my wanting - a new built 6/4 motor from buschur racing.

 

[turboholic]

Originally posted by TheTSiGuy
Ok, update.I stopped into my local police station tonight, and they gave me the number for the state highway police. told me to call them in the morning. So i will, i guess

-I'm not sure about the law in your state, police/sheriff handle street collision, highway partrol handle freeway collision, police won't come out unless someone need medical attention, you'll have to pay $ to get a copy of the report, you're require to report to the DMV if your vehicle has more than $750 damage, if you have full coverage, your insurance company will send out an adjuster to look at your car, if not, you'll have to wait (awhile) for his insurance company to send out their adjuster, if you don't have full coverage, your insurance company won't be very helpful in the paper work, you should take your car to several body shops for written estimate ASAP in case the insurance company want to play dirty and insist on using NEW OEM parts, if you own some assess like houses; land... and have doubt about the other party, you should get a lawer just in case, in most case don't win you won't pay. $.02

-ps : carry a disposable camara in your car will come in handy.

 

[ericismyname]

i filed a police report when someone bakced into my car severl hours later because i didnt have time to go down to the station, they will understand if u say i had to work and run errends and this si when i have time do this. cuase it happened at night while iw as sleeping then wheni woke up i saw it.

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Well, i just got off the phone with my insurance company. They said all was fine and dandy, no polic report needed. Told me to take it the body shop ive always taken my cars to, and have it looked at, and fixed. I gave them all the information about the other guy, and they said they'd take care of it.

I dont know. that seemed pretty seamless and easy to me.

 

[girlieracr4g63]

This is just my 02 but ,the best way to deal with these minor wreaks is to ask the person to give you the money for the damages right then..You would be amazed how many ppl will do this and not have to deal w/ there insurance co. In most cases the $500 in damages story is true. Sometimes geting a lawyer can be more costly to you than paying your deductable and reporting a hit and run ie..like in the mall parking lot. You may want to go to like 3 diff. body shops and ask for an estimate.Most of them will give it to you for free. Some insurance co.. will let you pick one of those to repair your car..( Ask for a little higher estimate when you go to get them).Trust me this works unless you have one of those insurance co. that only will let you deal w/ there own shops. There are ways around everything!!!

 

[Defiant]

Sorry to come in so late, but Rundgren concerts come first.

Out here in Fruit and Nut land, it's not a matter of the police (or CHP) being "too busy" to come and make out a report, it's that if the officer didn't witness the crash, there's no point in making out the report at the scene of a non-injury accident. They're not going to measure skid marks, they're not going to say, "You're an idiot, watch your head getting in the back seat".

All that changes if someone's drunk, or smelling like it. Hit-and-run crashes are also a mandatory-response situation.

Here you have ten days to file a [stand-at-the]"counter report", but as you found, usually if you check with your insurance first, they don't even need that. After all, there's a reason these things are called "accidents".