Expert: Richard L Carranza - 2/6/2005

Question
My 18 year old son was involved in a minor fender bender.  He is clearly at fault.  Both parties agreed not to report it to the police and he agreed to pay the damages.  At this point, 48 hours later, does he have any recourse to the insurance carrier?  

Answer
You can always report the matter to your liability carrier... by always I mean up to say 7-10 days .. simply say the matter was minor, no one was injured and you were waiting on the other driver to provide you with repair estimate(s).

Is your son listed on your policy as a licensed driver?  Reason I ask is that by reporting the loss you will ALERT your company to that fact and your premium will jump moderately.

If the property damage (PD) is something you can handle out of pocket (say under $500.00) I would give serious consideration to not reporting the matter and paying for the PD out of pocket.  If you have your company handle the matter, even if you son is already on your policy, your rate(s) will go up on renewal and the increase in premium can be eye-opening...  

For protection (if you go the non-reporting route) I would have the other car's owner get at least two estimates from reputable body shops (not dealerships..).

Hope and trust that the above answers your question and provides some direction.

Get back to me with any further questions/issues relative to this matter.

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Thanks