Reporting a Car Accident to the Insurance Company

[Prudence]

I live in Maryland. Last night my neighbor's grand son (about 16) backed into my car causing between $1,000 and $2,000 damage (my estimate). My car was legally parked on the street in front of my house. The son and his father, who also live in Maryland, came to my door to tell what happened. We are both insured and the son was at fault. The policies require that an accident must be reported to the insurer. Since this involves a friend, I am wondering if I can offer them the opportunity to pay me for the repairs and not report it. It appears that I cannot legally do that. Anyone disagree?

[livesoft]

Isn't it a myth that this "let's not involve the insurance company" helps anyone at all?

Will the collision repair place report the VIN & accident repair anyways?

[runner3081]

Isn't it a myth that this "let's not involve the insurance company" helps anyone at all?

Will the collision repair place report the VIN & accident repair anyways?

How so?

There are many collision repair places who do not report.

The real key here is to save money on potential insurance premium increases.

This happened to me about 15 years ago. Car was hit in friend's driveway, they took it to a repair shop, it was fixed and never reported to insurance.

[bob60014]

I had a similar experience and it was property damage , no injuries, minor damage (many deductibles are $1k nowadays)... so no reporting to the insurance company. Not a issue.

[Golf maniac]

When I was much younger I lived in an apartment and I get a knock on the door at about 2 am. It seems my car had rolled back and hit another car. I was obviously at fault and the damage to the other car was about $300. I had set the emergency brake but didn’t put the car in 1st gear as required. My Dads funeral had taken place that day and my mind was elsewhere. Luckily the cop and neighbor had some compassion and let me just pay for the damage and not write up an accident report. So, my take is give them a break and don’t report it.

[dwickenh]

I live in Maryland. Last night my neighbor's grand son (about 16) backed into my car causing between $1,000 and $2,000 damage (my estimate). My car was legally parked on the street in front of my house. The son and his father, who also live in Maryland, came to my door to tell what happened. We are both insured and the son was at fault. The policies require that an accident must be reported to the insurer. Since this involves a friend, I am wondering if I can offer them the opportunity to pay me for the repairs and not report it. It appears that I cannot legally do that. Anyone disagree?

It is not illegal to not report this loss. There are some things to think about before deciding not to report this loss.

1. In addition to the obvious damage, is there a possibility of hidden damage? This may go over what the neighbor is
willing to pay if the shop finds additional damage after tear down.

2. Is this neighbor a friend that you can trust without the threat of legal action?

3. Is there any chance they might change their story after hearing the amount of damages?

4. Who will decide what shop repairs the vehicle(quality collision shop vs low ball repair shop)

5. Be prepared to contact your insurance company if any of the above raises red flags.

[Prudence]

I agree. This morning we each reported the incident to our respective insurance companies. My company has been informed that the damages will be covered by his company. That is the plan. I was concerned that the damages could be much higher than I think and then he would want to back out or change the story. When I googled this subject earlier, the informed advice was that it is a bad idea not to report it. BTW, I have known this family for 38 years.