A driver scratched my rear bumper while parallel parking. My car was parked and I was in the car when it happened. I confronted the driver and he refused to give me his insurance information (claiming he doesn't have car insurance) and only gave me his first name and phone number. I copied down his license plate number and took photos of the damage at the scene. What should I do next?

 

You should've called the cops...he would've got in trouble for driving with no insurance!! Bastard!!

 

Yup agree with CoolTL ...he would of been screwed. THis is one lesson i learn when i got hit from behind. THe bastard said he forgot his insurence card and he gave me his name and phone number, called him the next day, he denied everything. Yea talk about it.

 

Yeah, should've called the cops...then he would be more willing to help. It happened to me before, we took each other info down, next day he said that i hit him....B!TCH!

 

i check with a friend whos a cop...he said, call the cops where in the city or area that it happened (if its a big city he said the cops probably arn't going to do much to help you out, go figure) , and then call your insurance. He said in California if the other driver doesn't have insurance, you can claim it on you uninsured motorist policy and by law the insurance company cannot use that against you when they renew your policy at the end of its terms. good luck and i hope the damage wasn't too bad

 

i had similiar thing happened to me. came out one morning to see that a freaking nissan se-r's back was smacked up against my front bumper. i was writing a note to leave on the car saying that she had backed up onto my car. she denies it, we called the cops. we told our story. cop asked me if i saw the accident happen and witness her backing up into me, off course i didn't see. so he said if i didn't see it he can't do much. just call the insurance comp. he said. so i was so upset with myself for not being able to prove that it was the other drivers fault.

if i had known, i would have just scratch up the nissan and leave.

 

I would just call the cops anyways. You got his plate #, and some other info (if its true) but let them handle it.

-Ryan
'99 SSM TL

 

Should've called the cops on this one. But it's never too late since you got his info (not sure what can be done by the cops at this point though).

 

Regardless of whether or not the cops show or what info you get on the guy, if the guy doesn't have insurance, odds are he doesn't have money to pay for the damage, either. So, you're better off just filing a claim against your uninsured motorists policy, since it would probably be a waste of time and money on your part to go after a guy who's probably indigent.

As far as making the guy's life miserable--maybe you can report the fact that he doesn't have insurance to the DMV, especially since he was involved in an accident; they might be able to investigate and perhaps suspend the guy's license for no insurance, if they do have a department that investigates such matters.

 

I did call 911 at the scene, but the operator told me that I shouldn't call the police when nobody was injured. Then she hung me up. I called my insurance agent afterwards and he told me that all I can do is notify DMV about the fact that he has no insurance so that his license would be suspended and there is a $500 deductible for the repair. The repair wouldn't cost over $500 to fix anyways so I said forget it. Even if I notify DMV about the fact that he doesnt have insurance, when they do check him out, I'm pretty sure he does have insurance and will claim that he didn't hit my car and there is no way of me proving it. His car was parked behind my car and he could say I scratched it myself and am trying to make him pay for the damages. The guy drove a 2000 Toyota Camry sedan and had a fancy cell phone. Doesn't seem like the type of person that doesn't have car insurance.

 

you call 911?!!
Lol!!
Dun you know your local poclice department #?

did you try to call him and try to work something out just between you two?

 

That's stupid, if I called 911 and they told me "If there is noone injured then don't dial 911" I'd be pissed off. You need the cops so they can write up a police report so your insurance company would know what happened and who was involved.

In NY if you dial 911, the cops always show up....thats what we pay taxes for. I guess it's different in other states.

 

InspireSaber--I see you're from the BA (I used to live in the East Bay before jobs became scarce)--too bad it wasn't a hit-and-run; you'd get a bit more assistance from the police if it was. Although the police do their best to serve the public, quite frankly they don't really want to spend the time looking into little stuff like minor fender benders. Trust me--I know from personal experience, as I was involved in a pretty nasty accident (compared to yours). Both CHP and Richmond police arrived--neither wanted to take an accident report because nobody was hurt and no blatant traffic violations were observed; they basically told both of us to take care of it ourselves. Bottom line--because there was no police report, the other guy claimed that I was at fault; I had to argue based on the events that took place that there was no way I could be at fault--I even had to take my case all the way to DOI because stupid CSAA (my insurance carrier, for crying out loud) actually believed the other guy! Only after I complained and gave my very astute testimony did CSAA reverse their decision.

What am I getting at with all this rambling? The other guy might file a claim with his insurance company claiming that you caused the damage to his vehicle...assuming of course he got your information (license plate, driver's license, etc.). If you're ticked off now over what happened, that'll be nothing compared to how you'll feel if the other guy does what I just described...

 

The other driver didn't ask me for anything such as my name, driver license, insurance info, and contact information. All I did was saw him copy my license plate number down when he called the cops. Thanks for all your help guys. Costed me $450 to fix and repaint the bumper at my local autobody shop. I want my TL to look its best...