Help! Car Insurance Question. Should I report this accident? (best, driver, repair)

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Somebody backed into my parked car last night. They did some pretty god damage to the rear side panel on the driver side. The driver of the other car left a not saying that they had already contacted their insurance Co. and left me the claim #. My car is not woth much (Maybe $2K) and I am not interested in paying for cosmetic repairs. If I contact my insurance company eventhough this accident was not my fault, will I be on the hook to pay a deductible or should the other driver's insurance pay for everything? Hopefully the damages do not exceed the value of my car. Since the other person already contacted their insurance agent, am I obligated to report the accident to my insurance Co. as well? In addition to not wanting to pay a deductible, I also don't want to have the insuracne company claim my car is "totalled" (It stil drives well but has a nice hige dent in the rear side).

Anyway, any tips peoplecan provide on how to handle a situation like this with an older car would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[sunsprit]

Follow up with the other insurance company.

The other driver has the responsibility to "make you whole" at this time. If his insurance company pays you for the estimated repairs to your car, you then have a choice about getting the car fully repaired. If the estimate is well past the threshold for totalling out the car, then he still has the responsibility to "make you whole" pre-accident damage.

I'd be leary at this time that the driver ... who left the scene of an accident ... has left you honest information about the claim. Call the agency or Ins co. and verify that the information is valid and that they will work to settle your claim against their insured. Don't hold your breath on this ... many insurance companies are not going to pay out without an accident report settling responsibility on their insured. You may have to sue the person in small claims (if you can now find them) to get a judgement ... and then go through all kinds of maneuvers to get paid, if at all.

As for filing a claim with your own insurance company, you will be at risk of having your car totalled out. Best to get a repair estimate from a body shop (at your expense) and know in advance if it's worth pursuing the claim on your comprehensive policy. If it amounts to most of the money coming out of your pocket in the way of deductible, and very little from the insurance company, it's probably not in your interest to make the claim.

Plus, it's going to be questionable to them as to how the damage was caused ... since it doesn't sound like you filed a police report, either. Can you absolutely prove to them now that you didn't cause this damage yourself?