Expert: Charlie Barone - 3/16/2010

Question
What can you do if you are involved in a car accident where the other person does not want to call the police, claims on there insurance its a "hit and run" and has to pay a $500 deductible and tries to come at you for the money with out a police report filed and having the claim already falsely filed? Can they come at you for that money? The other person first called saying that we owed them the money about a month after the accident and called 2 weeks later claiming they'd call the police if we didn't hand the $500 over to them. Legal do we have to give them the money, what can they do and what can we do?

Answer
Don't worry about the police, as they will refer the other party to a small claims court. In fact, the only way they can get money from you is to obtain a judgement against you in small claims court. If you have insurance, they will pay for an attorney to represent you in this matter, but it doesn't sound like their case is that strong, considering the lack of a police report. If you are uninsured, I would not worry about the other person and their threats until such time as you are served papers from a court.