Traffic accident advice (car insurance, employment, law)

[Deeman804]

My friend was doing an illegal turn and hit a car. She damaged the other person's car and hers was ok. She gave the car insurance info to the other driver. Is this okay? She mentioned something about avoiding the ticket and inquired about VA being a no fault state. Being from VA and never hearing about it I old her that we probably weren't and that she should have called the cops. Do you think she made a good move? I'm paranoid, and think that in a worse case scenario the drive of the other car can make up damages and jack up my friends insurance. I know there have been cops on here in the past. Is anyone familiar with state and regional laws that can help.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by Deeman804

My friend was doing an illegal turn and hit a car. She damaged the other person's car and hers was ok. She gave the car insurance info to the other driver. Is this okay? She mentioned something about avoiding the ticket and inquired about VA being a no fault state. Being from VA and never hearing about it I old her that we probably weren't and that she should have called the cops. Do you think she made a good move? I'm paranoid, and think that in a worse case scenario the drive of the other car can make up damages and jack up my friends insurance. I know there have been cops on here in the past. Is anyone familiar with state and regional laws that can help.

I don't see a problem here. An accident report is nothing but statistics for the state. Calling an officer would not someone from claiming something false. The PD will not put much effort into a minor non injury crash. If the crash occurred on private property then an accident report would not have been done anyway. If on a public street and it was minor enough then still no report. If your friend passed on all required info then it's all good.

[boyd888]

She'll be fine. The insurance will call both parties to find out what happened and have a look at the car to see that the damage makes sense. For what sounds like a minor accident there really isn't anything to slip past the claims adjuster.

If the damage is low enough (usually below $750 or so) it could be a "freebie" and she'll see no insurance increase.

[Deeman804]

oh wow, didn't know that. Thanks for the advice!f

[ACWhite]

I don't want to dispute something that BigFoot (a former law employment official) says, but just to give you a (partially) different perspective, from that of someone hit by a reckless driver. This won't help now, because it's too late to request a police report. But for those who may get in an accident in the future -- the major benefits to requesting a police report at the time include reducing the possibility of non-accident related damages or injuries to suddenly show up later, AND the flip side of reducing the amount of hassle for the "innocent party" and his/her insurance company, in dealing with the insurance company that DOES have to pay for the damages, who might try to claim that legitimate damages and injuries did NOT occur to the extent that they did.

So my advice would be, if in doubt in the future, do call the police and take lots of photos, if for no other reason than to have independent evidence. If the police don't think they need to come out, they'll tell you that. Even with this info, I had hassles (even from my own insurance company) because the accident I was in was so odd, but I would have had many worse hassles, without this info. In your friend's case, I understand she didn't want the ticket, but to me, the risk of the other complications might outweigh that, if the damages were more than very minor. On the other hand, in the specific situation you described, the other person is going to have difficulty showing that something major happened given that s/he didn't call the police either, and that's something the claims adjuster is likely going to consider.

[CAVA1990]

Here's the VA statute on it. Note the "or" in the mention of who you're supposed to give your information to. Apparently she was fine just giving it to the other driver and not the Police:

LIS > Code of Virginia > 46.2-894

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Here's the VA statute on it. Note the "or" in the mention of who you're supposed to give your information to. Apparently she was fine just giving it to the other driver and not the Police:

LIS > Code of Virginia > 46.2-894

The police are under no obligation to do the investigation work for insurance companies. Accidents on pvt property are not even documented unless of course something serious happens. Accidents on the roadways are more often than not handled by the parties involved. The FR 300 (Va accident report) is for statistical purposes only for the state. Just because a report is done certainly won't stop an insurance company from refusing a claim or from paying one off.
Because moving cars off a travel lane, if possible, can often disturb the scene enough that determining fault can be difficult. Evidence left at the POI is revealing but the most important thing is usually witness testimony. Do take pics and do get contact info for anyone willing to be a witness. If you feel something is wrong then by all means call 911. Or of course if someone is hurt or the cars are not drivable.

[vermonter16]

I wouldn't worry about your friend. LOL, I'd be worried about me if I was the driver that was hit. Depending on the amount of damage - I would have called the cops and filed a report. I'm looking to protect myself. If there was no damage or just a scratch or something trivial, then no worries but more than that.....yep....

[justtitans]

I personally would highly recommend anyone who is not at fault during an accident to call the police. I had an accident when a guy came up behind me and slammed my back bumper. At the time I had my daughter, who was only 3 months old at the time, screaming because she was scared. I panicked at the time and thought that I would just get the drivers information and then rush my daughter to the hospital. Well that was my mistake because then the driver told the insurance company that I backed into him and caused the accident and thus his insurance refused to pay for the damage. So the moral of the story is, always get a third party involved especially when there is damage done that you shouldn't be liable for. As long as you have something in writing, they can't change up the story.

[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.