Overhaulin'

Fender bender - did not exchange insurance info?

A car was parked in a parking lot where it shldn't be, even though there were lots of free spots. Exitting the lot, I scraped the fender of that car. Parked, waited for owner. He came. Told him he shouldn't have parked there. we got some witnesses too. I told him we shdl exchange insurance info. he was in a hurry. I said let's call police, get a report, and let our insurances deal with it. He said no, and kept saying he wld get the quote, and I pay for ALL of it. I said I am not paying anything without getting insurance involved. So, we went away without exchanging insurance info. just phone #s and first names. now, he is calling asking for insurance info, and that he has quotes. I don't know if he has insurance. he doesn't know my car's license #. if we had exchanged insurance then, I would pay for upto 50% . He didn't give/take insurance info by his choice. what do I need to do now?

Public Comments

1. Get a police report anyway, that would be the right thing to do
2. YOU HAVE THE WITNESSES, THEN I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU GET THE POLICE REPORT NOW BEFORE HE GETS IT AND TRIES TO PULL SOME CRAP ON YOU FOR MORE DAMAGE THAN THERE WAS.
3. I would go ahead and file a police report. You have his number, they will contact him. You both might get ticketed for leaving the scene of an accident without report it first. I would never ever leave without insurance information regardless of how minor you think the damage is. This protects you.
4. You should contact your insurance company and alert them to the situation. You (actually your insurance) will likely end up paying for all of it. You hit a non-moving car in a parking lot. You might be able to shift some blame to him if it was parked on the freeway at night with the lights off around a blind curve, but in a parking lot you should have had ample opportunity to avoid the collision.
5. OK, he shouldn't of parked where he was but that doesn't give you any special privileges. You should exchange insurance details and let them (ins co's) sort it out properly
6. If you know the person's license plate then you should report the details to your insurance company. They should keep a record of your claim. Just make sure you cover all the details (for example: the location, what time and day,the weather, how many witnesses, how many passengers in your car and his, what kind and color is his car?) Also state if there is damage on your car. So when the other guy finally reports to his insurance company you should be covered. Yes there might be 50/50 or 50% your fault, but at least there is some kind of an agreement and no sneaky / surprise quotes from the other guy. Next time (if there is one) bring a disposable camera or digital and take a picture of the incident. Take a photo of your car and his car marking. Some people hate this but your a** is covered.
7. You should contact your insurance company and let them know about the accident. Give him your insurance information and let the insurance company deal with it. Hopefully this peron won't try to get over on the insurance company. Always always call police and report accidents. If other party doesn't want to comply get a tag number.
8. he probably did not have insur. now he does I'd tell him to bug off p.s change you #