can you file an car accident insurance claim without a police report?
October 25th, 2009 by admin
this is re: a very minor accident. our car “bumped” into the other car after they slammed on their breaks. No damage at all to our car. The license plate and screws are “bent” on the other car. Other person uncooperative and after we gave our insurance info to them, refused to give info to us. Police on scene did not file report, told us to just deal with it on our own. My worry is, can they file a claim? wouldn’t it be just our word against theirs? advice would be helpful thanks.
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yes, your fine to file a claim.
Clearly you will be at fault here.. you know that right? Sure.. its your word against theirs.. but both of your words should be the same lol. Clearly you rearended them.. it doesnt matter if they slammed on their brakes.. you have a duty to maintain proper distance.
Just call your insurance.. and they will cover the minor damage to the other vehicle.
Since there is no police report it will be your word against theirs. Since the the only damage seems to be the license plate and the screws I would offer to pay for that out of pocket. I would also contact a lawyer and explain to them what happened. You may be able to get the lawyer to draw up papers that the other person can sign saying that he accepts the payment for the plate and screws and considers the matter settled. This way he couldn’t come back 6 months later and sue you for damage that may not have resulted from your accident.
Good Luck
I hope you got there Tag Number atleast ? .. File a Claim with your inc. company. You can def. do it with out a police report.
When a lady hit me in my Father Funeral Procession , the Cops didnt file a report , But i called my Inc Company an filed a report , an ended having to sue her.
I would file the claim with your insurance and make sure you give all the details. If not, the person may claim all types of damages later.
Yes, they can file a claim and claim you did damage to their car and they now have whip lash. You should have told the police they were refusing to give you their information and it could have been dealt with at the time.
All you can do now is file with your insurance so they will be ready when the other person tries to scam you for bunches of money. If the police were there, even if they didn’t do a formal report there should be something on the log about it. As I said, report it to your insurance with all the information you have, and hope they will do the right thing. Hopefully you did get the license number and make and model of the car you hit.
The best thing you could do is contact you insurance company and ask them. They won’t file a claim without your permission. The other driver may not of had insurance. That’s what it sounds like to me. But you need to inform your insurance ahead of time just in case the other driver tries to come back on you.
I have trouble believing what the police officer told you.
It might help you in the future, if you had photo of what happened to their car, plus the badge number of the police officer who refused to do a police report on the accident.
You should inform your insurance company what happened … you are not filing a claim, just making a statement for their records.
No
The auto insurance companies need to know how is at fault to determine whose insurance company is to pay the damages.
I grant you that if everyone involved were to give the same story, that a police report might not be neccessary, but beaurocracies are accoustomed to rules because of what the normal situation is with witnesses disagreeing.
It sounds like it was your fault.
The other car slammed on their brakes for what they will say was good reason.
You were following too closely to react in time.
Thus your insurance needs to pay for their damage.
However, your insurance needs police report to do so.
Let the insurance company lawyers beat up the police dept for non-cooperation.
Then the other motorist may try to sue you, for the damages that your insurance company cannot without the police report.
You may need the help and guidance of a lawyer.
You start by being reasonable. Ask for estimates from 3 different body shops, and take those estimates to some friend who is in the business, to see if they appear to be inflated, Then offer a settlement only if they will sign a paper agreeing that the payment is complete resolution of this matter.
My wife was driving through a parking lot last Friday when a young man backed out of a parking stall and t-boned her car. The police were not called, the other driver’s insurance is paying for our repairs.