Minor accident on i-495. What should have been done?

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by sequon

Thanks to z28lt1's comment, now we know that you are legally required to provide not only insurance info but also your contact info.

You may wonder why the contact info is needed when the insurance is available to take care of the incident. That's because the insurance company does not always handle it properly. If they don't pay enough for the repair for all the damage, for example, I would have to go against the at-fault driver.

Unfortunately, that's what's actually happening now to us.

I provided my contact information -- it was on my license. They could have contacted me by sending mail to my PO box. As far as I know, this is still an acceptable, legal method of communication. There is no need for them to have my phone number or physical address.

[dkf747]

You all just reminded me. Someone rear end my car on 395 in DC. This was during heavy traffic. He game me his contact info and insurance info. However, when Ii called his insurance, he had not given me the complete policy number. They took the partial number, plus his contact info, especially his phone number, to identify who it was and that he had a policy with them. He did verify the accident when they contacted him and will fix my car this coming week. Having the phone number was very helpful.