[miamiparis]

Not to bribe the cop, $10 to the other driver of course. Plus it would save his time because it takes around 20 minutes for a cop to come and do his report. In many ways, France has defaults compared to USA, but on this subject, the french system is much better because it avoids throwing $180 in the toilets.

[miamiparis]

BNBR, thanks for the good advice, I'm going to do that.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

It'a not only in FL. The percentage of uninsured drivers in California is between 15 and 25% depending on the researcher.

Uninsured Motorist Statistics – Statistic Brain


California's Uninsured: By the Numbers - CHCF.org

"December 2013
Click to View Infographic - Employed but Uninsured: California's Uninsured by Employment and Family Income

California had the greatest number of uninsured residents of any state, seven million, and the seventh largest percentage of uninsured under 65 in the country. Many of the state's uninsured are employed; however, the percentage of residents who receive coverage through their jobs has declined dramatically, dropping from 63% in 1988 to 54% in 2012. While public insurance has mostly offset this gap, one in five remains uninsured."

Number of Uninsured Motorists Declines While Claim Payments Skyrocket

"Nationally, the number of uninsured peaked at 29.9 million in 2009 and moderately declined thereafter to 29.7 million in 2012. Statewide, the uninsured motorist problem varied, with the highest total numbers in:

California (4.1 million)
Florida (3.2 million)
Texas (1.6 million)"

CA has almost double the population of FL. Unfortunately CA has gotten more lax(due to our country allowing illegals in) but it used to be no insurance meant your car went to impound if you were pulled over for say speeding and you had no car insurance. They actually used to stops similar to DUIs, where proof of insurance was needed and they were able to run the insurance cards and see if they were valid(unlike FL).

FL has always been lax on the uninsured, FL is one of the top 5 states in the nation for uninsured drivers. There is no real incentive to have car insurance, when all get is a ticket and keep driving, so what if down the road they get their DL suspended, just drive with no insurance and no license.

I guarantee the reason the woman whom the OP hit was so quick to call the cops because the first thought that crossed her mind was "Miami, FL....no car insurance", the OP does have insurance but chances were good they might not have.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

CA has almost double the population of FL. Unfortunately CA has gotten more lax(due to our country allowing illegals in) but it used to be no insurance meant your car went to impound if you were pulled over for say speeding and you had no car insurance. They actually used to stops similar to DUIs, where proof of insurance was needed and they were able to run the insurance cards and see if they were valid(unlike FL).

FL has always been lax on the uninsured, FL is one of the top 5 states in the nation for uninsured drivers. There is no real incentive to have car insurance, when all get is a ticket and keep driving, so what if down the road they get their DL suspended, just drive with no insurance and no license.

I guarantee the reason the woman whom the OP hit was so quick to call the cops because the first thought that crossed her mind was "Miami, FL....no car insurance", the OP does have insurance but chances were good they might not have.

So if the other driver had no or limited insurance the woman would have gotten no relief. The best thing to do is carry uninsured/under insured insurance. You dont just get a ticket if you have no insurance because when you appear to have the ticket heard in court and cant produce evidence of insurance in effect on the date you got the ticket they suspend your license and fine you.

Upon the lapse of a Florida auto policy the insurance carrier is required by law to immediately notify the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles who will in turn notify you to provide proof of new coverage. If you fail to provide this new proof, your license, plates and registration will be suspended for up to three years. Once this suspension is in place, you will have to provide the state with proof of a new policy and pay a fee of $150 to have your license, plates and registration reinstated. By the way, that proof insurance has to show that you had new insurance in place before the old policy was cancelled.
If not, your license, plates and registration will be suspended, even if the period of the lapse is one day.

[OptimusPrime69]

I'm under the impression that if u do not have a police report from the accident then your insurance will not cover any coasts from the accident, hence why you must call the cops....for that police report. Is this correct?

[BNBR]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

I'm under the impression that if u do not have a police report from the accident then your insurance will not cover any coasts from the accident, hence why you must call the cops....for that police report. Is this correct?

No, not correct. You do not need a police report. It's stupid not to get one if you are the victim, but only exchange of information is required.

A few years ago I caused an accident. The lady was super nice and needed to get somewhere so didn't want to call the police out, even though I offered to do so. I provided her all my information and she filed her claim and it was fine.

[TUMF]

Originally Posted by BNBR

No, not correct. You do not need a police report. It's stupid not to get one if you are the victim, but only exchange of information is required.

A few years ago I caused an accident. The lady was super nice and needed to get somewhere so didn't want to call the police out, even though I offered to do so. I provided her all my information and she filed her claim and it was fine.

I wish the world had more people in it like you..... You admitted that you were at fault - you were (obviously) polite to her, provided all the info she needed, again admitted to your insurance provider that you were at fault - and had them pay the claim.

In today's world, so many people will do all that they can to deny that they did anything wrong - and will jump through all types of hoops in order to not pay a claim that they were responsible for....

My hat's off to you BNBR... You're a fine example of a good citizen and others should follow your example!

[jwolfer]

Europeans are not as litigious either. I knew a Norweigan girl who was here for school, she was in a taxi that was in an accident. She had a "good case" but she had no desire at all to get a lawyer.

All the PI attorneys have caused the cost of insurance to go up a lot in Florida. 20 years ago even, not many people got attorneys for simple car accidents. Now it seems everyone does

I talked to someone from Australia, he told me that when you register your car in his state there( Queensland I think) you also pay for the legally required insurance for the year, its part of the registration cost. I am not sure if it is private insurance or government program. That would cut down on uninsured motorists if we had something similar.

[smarino]

Best to call them, and I am sure that they are called in France if there's serious damage, or other reasons, such as if a traffic law has been broken, which caused the accident. Without proof, you would never get anywhere at all w/ this, and if the police cited you, you broke a law and SHOULD pay a fine. Why is this hard to understand? I'll bet that if an American had an accident in France they would throw the book at them. I'm not a big fan of the French legal system or most anything else from there actually, and this is typical, all this complaining about other people doing it right, while the French allegedly do it correctly. Very typical.

[miamiparis]

The french system works without police, that's why it's better, there is no fine. Each driver should have a "constat", which is a report that both drivers fill out, each one gets a copy. When both agree on what happen, there is no problem. When they disagree, each one writes down his version and then, the insurance expert will examine the damage and will decide who's right, who's wrong. On this "constat", you need to draw a scheme with lanes, sidewalk and arrows.
I think the french system is better because the driver at fault made a mistake, he has to pay for his damage and his insurance will go up, he doesn't need a third punishment with a police fine. Also, the police should have more important things to do. I can understand that police is involved when someone is injured.