I was playing ball yesterday, when this kid, in his mom's Dodge Durango smashed into the back end of my car while he was backing out of his parking spot. This kid was no older than 17, mind you, talking on his cellphone and blasting his music.

Fortunately, nobody was inside when it happened, but the kid was scared out of his mind. He claim to not have his drivers license or any form of ID or any proof of insurance because he is not on his parents insurance policy. Lucky for me, I jotted down his Tag number and asked him for his Name before he left (even though I asked him a few times to stick around for a bit)

I called Montgomery County Police and a cop showed up to the park about 10 minutes after. He typed in the tag number into his laptop and pulled up his fathers policy number and told me that all I need to do is call his insurance company and file a claim. The cop also said that this situation does not require a police report to be made, which was a bit odd to me.

Questions:

Should there have been some sort of police report taken by the officer?

Would filing a claim to his insurance company be enough or would I have to call my insurance also?

Any tips on how to deal with the claim adjuster in order to get the right amount of money to cover repairs?


Comments and advice are appreciated.
Thanks guys!

 

It has been my experience that you ALWAYS need to file a report. The insurance company will usually ask for the report number.

 

Filing a report isn't required if the damage seems to be under a certain amount. It's recommended to ask the officer to have it filed though. It's easier in the long run when doing the claim w/ the insurance company.

The officer should have a record of going out to see you at the very least. You may want to contact the department and see if they can have him file a report.

 

there needs to be a report filed. insurance companies use the police report to use as "proof" that it happened and some "official" has filed it.

call ur insurance, and they could quite possibly take care of everything depending on ur insurance.

 

I had an H3 back into me on the 6th of June....police reports are always good to have...some states require that a police report be filed no matter what the dollar value....some don't. Just remember that the kid may try to change his story...Florida is a no-fault state, but they can still place fault on who caused the damage....Gotta love Florida.

make sure when the adjuster is working on what everything is going to cost make sure he figures for OEM parts...alot of companies are beginning to pull reclaimed parts...when you get it back go over the car with a fine tooth comb and anything that looks out of place make sure that you mention it, and take tons of pics...always good for future reference if anything begins to crack, rust, warp, or anything that it is not supposed to do due to normal wear and tear.

Good luck

 

i would find that kid and light him on fire.


after that do what everyone else said

good luck, keep us posted

 

cops won't write any kind of report if its in a privately owned parking lot, atleast in nevada. they cant do anything about it here.

 

I just called MOCO police again and they told me that they do NOT file a report unless somebody is injured or a tow truck is needed. Thats pretty dumb IMO.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

Lol. I'll leave that to his parents.

 

They usually dont file a police report unless there were injuries or big damages...you shouldve just got the officers badge number but you should also report it to your insurance

 

kick his a$$!

 

^ x2

 

so you told him to stay and he still took off? not cool.

 

if it was private property then the police cannot file a report.....it has to be public property for them to file a report in a car accident......atleast thats how it is in VA

 

yea dude get a police report..two weeks ago i got rear ended by some old lady..it wasnt much damage but i still needed to get a report. Without having the police report, you have no proof. Plus the police needs to judge the damage

 

I would def get a police report. But I think you only have a certain amount of time before one can be filed. I would of made that lil punk stick around till the cops show up.

 

were u on public roads

 

Just as people said above, police can't file reports in private property (pretty much anywhere off the street). I've been hit by a U-Haul while I was gassing up and the cop said he can't file a report. But a wise choice for you to get a cop to run the license and such. It helps you make sure you have everything you need.

One thing to do though is to take many pictures of the event. Street signs, the environment, the damages, all that help make your case go your way.

Because you had your car parked already, it's automatically the other party's fault, so you're pretty much in the win. Just call your insurance and have them fix the damages.

 

This is a state by state thing. Some states, nj for example you can get a police report for any type of accident. Its good you wrote the tag # down, just call your insurance co and tell them what happened.

 

Yeah, It happened in the parking lot of a local basketball court. I'm assuming that's private property.

I'll definitely be giving my insurance a call and having them deal with this.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

Something similar happened to me a number of years ago. No police report was given because it was on private property, and the kid took off before the police showed up.

I would see if you could get any witnesses, because even though he backed into you, it could end up being your word against his. The guy who hit me was apologetic when it happened, but later denied everything when the claim was filed. Fortunately there was a group of high schoolers who saw it and let me use them as witnesses.