Expert: Ron Cercone - 10/31/2011

Question
Hi there!

Question for you:

I was a party in an extremely minor fender bender in California, if you could call it that. A person in front of our vehicle went through a stop sign then inexplicably stopped short. We bumped them from behind at less than 5 mph. We pulled over, investigated cars, and there was limited/no damage to either vehicle (attached picture. It is hard to see what is dirt and what is damage. The only thing we could attribute as damage is the 1" vertical scratch on the bumper) We were in a friend's car (the owner was not present).  We took photos of their car to prove no distinguishable damage, and agreed with the owner as such.  It was a black car with scratches already on it/around the bumper, and it was impossible to distinguish any damage done from our car, as we had none either (not even a paint smudge). There were no witnesses, outside of one person is his car and people in our car.  It was night time.

We were both in an extreme rush. No police were called, and I actually didn't get the other car's name (have his license plate). He took down our NJ driver's license, name, and cell phone.  No insurance info was exchanged. We parted ways amicably.

Just received a call from a Farmer's insurance agent asking for the car owner's name and policy numbers.  How do you think we should proceed? We were driving a friend's car.  Again, limited information was exchanged between us, and no police were called. My thinking is just to respond to the next Farmer's call and ask them to send me precise details of what was involved and why. I have no interest in getting my friend's auto insurance raised over such a small incident (I know, no incident is too small).

Thank you and best regards.

Answer
Well, if you don't want your friend involved and the other driver does not know your friends name or the license or vin of the car, then all they can do is deal with you or sue you in small claims court for the alleged damage to their car and see if a judge buys their story. You should get some daytime pics of damage to both cars if possible. The burden of proof is on the plaintiff, the other driver, to prove that the scratches were from the accident. He will have a tough time doing that without date stamped before and after pictures. And any testimony from him and or his witnesses will be admissible only if the judge finds them believable.