Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 5/14/2009

Question
I was in the parking lot of store, where a backed up and hit somebody.  There is no damage to my car, and the damage to the other car is very minimal (a little bit of my bumper rubbed off onto the right rear side of his car).  We had both never been in an accident before so where where both confused on what to do next.  We exchanged apologies, and information.  Then a cop showed up out of nowhere and offered to do an accident report. We agreed.  Our original plan was to settle this ourselves and i would just pay the costs to repair it, that way our insurances don't get involved.  However, i've been trying to contact him and i've been unsuccessful.  Even the number the cop had written down doesn't work.  I haven't filed a claim yet becuase i would prefer to not lose my Safe Driver discount over something so small.  I've tried to contact the officer several times within the last 3 day (leaving 2 messages) and he still hasn't contacted me.  What should i do?  Wait until the cop answers me so that we can figure out this guys phone number? or file a claim?  What are the repercussions of not filing a claim in time?    sorry for the long message.

Answer
Hi Ed,

The police report should show the other driver name and address. You should send him a brief letter telling him that you have been trying to contact him to get this resolved. In your letter you should state that if he does not contact you within 5 days you will assume that he does not want you to pay for the damage.

Then if he contacts you, you can make arrangements to settle the damage. If he does not contact you, there is nothing to do unless or until he does.

You should not report this to your insurance company unless it becomes necessary to help settle the claim.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh