Traffic accident advice

[car54]

My advice....anytime you're involved in an accident that's not your fault. Do not call the at-fault driver's insurance company, call YOUR insurance company. You're not the other guy's insurance company's customer and they don't care if you are satisfied or not with the claim service.

Your company will get to the bottom of the accident and negotiate with the at-fault driver's insurance for the best settlement. Leave it up to the pros! And your rates will not go up if, in fact you are the innocent party.

Last time I got rear ended, MY company negotiated an excellent settlement and even had a rental car delivered to my house THAT DAY! I did have to pay the deductible, but my company refunded it after they settled with the other insurance company through subrogation.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by FCNova

Calling the cops may not legally help in any way, but it may be a deterrent to the other person lying about what happened, if a police report was taken. They still could lie probably without any repercussions, but maybe they would be reluctant to.

Liars are liars are liars no matter who is present or where they are. Go sit in General District Court one day and listen to some of the cases. It will be apparent in most cases on who the liar is. Do a little research on how to spot a liar and you will be surprised on how many of these tips you will see in court.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Liars are liars are liars no matter who is present or where they are. Go sit in General District Court one day and listen to some of the cases. It will be apparent in most cases on who the liar is. Do a little research on how to spot a liar and you will be surprised on how many of these tips you will see in court.

Obviously. I never implied calling the cops would guarantee a person wouldn't lie about what happened. It could be a deterrent though, for some people. The way I see it, what do you have to lose by calling the cops if you have a car accident, assuming you have the time to wait for them to show up?

[airjay75]

It is interesting to hear Bigfoot's perspective on this. I have always been of the view that you should call the police no matter how small the accident is. I realize the police officer in no way determines fault and plays a relatively minor role in insurance claims. But, I still think there is value in having some sort of official documentation that documents that an accident occurred, the location of the accident, the parties involved, etc. It seems to me that this could prevent the other party from lying about certain things. I mean, if you don't call the police, what's to stop the other party from saying, well, that's not where the accident occurred or it wasn't that time of day or I wasn't driving that car or even accusing you of making everything up entirely. I remember one minor fender bender I was in where I called the police officer and he came and took all of our information and documented the accident, and, then, the other driver said he was in a hurry and refused to give me his insurance information. The police officer, having just put all of it in the police report let me have a few minutes to write down all of that information. What if I hadn't called the police and the other driver just took off and said I don't have time to give you my insurance information? I guess I would have hurried to try and write down his license plate, but simply by saying, we need to call the police and file a police report, I imagine that driver felt obligated to stay for fear of a hit and run.

Of course, one of the first questions insurance companies ask you is whether you filed a police report. I can imagine that simply making sure you filed a police report can send a message to the claims adjuster that this driver was doing everything they were supposed to do - I think it can go to your credibility during the investigation by the insurance company. Again, it won't be dispositive to the liability determination but it is one piece of the overall picture.

At the same time, I am sympathetic to the fact that it seems like a waste of police resources to call them for every minor accident. But, unfortunately, I think it is just the kind of society we live in - I'm not willing to leave anything to the word of another idiot driver out there. By calling the police, filing a report, you do everything you can to prevent someone from not following the rules. I take the point that it won't accomplish that in all (or even most) cases, but if it does just once, it seems like it's worth it.

[Bigfoot424]

Airjay.

Insurance companies understand that now all accidents are reportable and documented to PD's. Police will not do a report (FR 300) if no one is hurt and is under a certain amount of damage. Accidents on private property will never see a police report. Obviously hit and run, fatalities will be reported under a police report and not necessarily a FR 300. You cannot imagine how many accidents come in on a typical day. On days where the accidents are piling up during snow, ice and so on PD's can suspend their accident policies and no FR 300's are done. Again, serious injuries and such will be the exception. When you call 911 and report you've been in an accident there is proof you called and even a case number is assigned, which you can have, but there is no guarantee a FR 300 will ever be done.

[airjay75]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Airjay.

Insurance companies understand that now all accidents are reportable and documented to PD's. Police will not do a report (FR 300) if no one is hurt and is under a certain amount of damage. Accidents on private property will never see a police report. Obviously hit and run, fatalities will be reported under a police report and not necessarily a FR 300. You cannot imagine how many accidents come in on a typical day. On days where the accidents are piling up during snow, ice and so on PD's can suspend their accident policies and no FR 300's are done. Again, serious injuries and such will be the exception. When you call 911 and report you've been in an accident there is proof you called and even a case number is assigned, which you can have, but there is no guarantee a FR 300 will ever be done.

Point taken. Seems to me to argue in favor of at least calling. If the PD says they won't respond, fine, then you've done all you can. But, there will still be that phone call record supporting what time the accident occurred and where. Maybe it's the lawyer in me, but I would just feel very nervous walking away from an accident without any attempt to officially document the accident in some way.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by airjay75

Point taken. Seems to me to argue in favor of at least calling. If the PD says they won't respond, fine, then you've done all you can. But, there will still be that phone call record supporting what time the accident occurred and where. Maybe it's the lawyer in me, but I would just feel very nervous walking away from an accident without any attempt to officially document the accident in some way.

I don't disagree with you but it doesn't always happen. You can always say you want an officer to respond and most agencies will do everything possible to make it happen. Some won't though. But don't be shocked if the officer has the drivers exchange info, provides a case number and possibly charge the at fault driver. If he can figure that out. A traffic charge will certainly help one side but as you know it doesn't always mean anything once civil court is involved.