Traffic accident basics

Well...... I buy insurance because insurance is "peace of mind". Trying to circumvent a policy claim can become foolhardy...... Let's say we had a parking lot thing with Billy Doofus..... we were preoccupied and didn't look as good as we could but backed up..... Billy Doofus has a seventeen year old Chevy 4X4 and we can't really tell what was crunched before and what we crunched...... no biggy...... we agree to settle for cash..... but Billy talked to the cops later (or before for all we know) and came up with a way to finance his VLT problem...... His loving bride can no longer "be a wife" because of the trauma of the accident (shit... the whole side of his truck is caved in)..... You are presented with a lawsuit and your insurance company is going to hang you out to dry because you didn't notify them at the time of the incident.....

All insurance companies will provide you with a brochure outlining the steps to take in case of an incident.... reading it and following it will reduce the insurers exposure by reducing your exposure (if you have a history of trouble, you will find NO sympathy). Having an accident and not filing a police report can put you in a precarious position......

Look at it this way.... you have an insurer...... you can either tell the truth or "avoid" telling the truth (those avoiding the truth are usually considered "liars" and once the pattern is set, it's tough to reverse).

My best suggestion is to deliver as much honesty as you expect to receive....

Not picking on you in particular.... don't you find it strange that it took this long to think about something that could affect your life so much? We will forever be remembered by our mistakes while our good deeds go forgotten...

Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

Common knowledge is commonly known to be very wrong in many cases. IOW, don't rely on 'common knowledge'.

Check with your local/state laws; they usually have a lower limit on what must be reported to the police. Also, whether the crash happened on private or public property will make a difference. Point being: check the rules if you want to play the game. And, in this case, playing the game is mandatory.

That's why you have insurance; the insurance companies will hash this out among themselves; you present your case to your company, the other party does the same to his, and they make the decision. This is one of the reasons you pay money to the insurance companies. They know the rules to the game.

You seem to want to not include your insurance in this; that's up to you. However, by not following the rules, you leave yourself open to further consequences, especially if the other party decides to take advantage of your 'cheating'. As only one example: after you think you've paid for the damage, further, more serious damage is "discovered". Since you paid the original claim, you're now on the hook for the extra "damage". Your insurance will want to know why you didn't report the crash in the first place (not a good question to be having your insurance company asking). You will also be seen as trying to put something over on both the other party and the system, making the other party's claim for further damages look much better.

Bottom line: if you were responsible, then take responsibility, and follow the rules. Not a lecture, just pointing out that it's actually easier in the long run, considering the possibilities.

No, no fellows, not at all. I'm not trying to be dishonest at all, just trying to understand what to do. Perhaps the vagueness of my question made it sound that way. The police were called, but as Bill says, the collision was on private property (a mall parking lot), and the policeman simply blew the whole thing off, writing something unintelligible on the report, but basically saying he couldn't/wouldn't get involved because it was on private property. My '03 Focus SVT suffered $2,000 in damage (herebefore unknown front end damage in addition to the heated mirror and fender), while the other driver's beat up Caddie came out relatively unscathed, or at least you couldn't tell which damage was from this collision and which happened years ago.

In any event, the other driver, who initially refused to give any info at all, surely won't be making a claim. My question, again, is if I call Allstate and file the paperwork, will they increase my premiums (3 cars insured with them) so that I'll end up paying more in the long run then if I simply wrote a check to the repair shop?

Yes I know I *should* have the booklet they sent originally, but I don't. That's why I asked you fellows. So Bill's answer is that I should call my insurer and let them hash it out with the other driver's insurer. But if it's my word against hers, because the police report was unhelpful, then my company would end up paying the entire bill (right?), and if that's the case, I may be paying for it for years and years in the form of increased premiums, in which case I'd simply rather pay out of pocket now.

Rick Bryan

"Corwin, Prince of Amber" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I have no experience with Allstate. I was involved in a accident with an un- insured/illegally tagged driver on a snowpacked road. My insurance picked up the cost of my repairs and didn't increase rates more than the usual year-to- year gouge. I had only one other claim (windshield replacement) in the past 5 years.

Well, in my own person, I can't tell you what your insurance company will say or do. We don't even have your story of what happened. We don't know if there were any witnesses.

Even if we had your side of the story, we still wouldn't know what your insurance company would say/do, because we'd only have your side of the story (not that you'd even slightly slant it to make it look like it was the other person's fault, of course!).

An observation: if you are that worried about how your insurance company will treat you, why are you with them?

Call your insurance company, and ask for the book.