Report minor accident to insurance company?

One potential problem with this.

If the insurance company issues a check to you and the vehicle is financed, it will normally be a joint-check, payable to you AND the finance company.

The finance company will insist on seeing an invoice for the repairs and they will "take" any excess and apply it to the loan.

That's how it happened when my Escort was hit (I had Progressive) and my '94 SR5 (State Farm).
With Auto Club, they pay the body shop directly.

 

Wrong.

Any claim affects EVERYONE'S insurance rates... but depending on state laws, your own cost will generally not change for a claim that is not at-fault, or for a claim for comp or vandalism.

 

It affected mine, so I'm not wrong

 

As I said... it depends on the state.

Apparently, in VA, it's true, but you are wrong in making it a general statement for all of the US. It is absolutely not true in California, which is a big surprise because in California there's more people fucking each other than a Nevada whorehouse!

 

it happend to me last month and i had to mail to toyota and they endorsed and gave note for bank of no responsibility after fact when check cashed.but it was toyota financial so it might be different if different company. i just told toyota i was fixing myself and put on body armor bumper and walked away with a few bucks

 

This happened to me but I got backed into at a parking lot. I was going to be nice and not report it because she was 18 and in her parents insurance and just have her pay me cash. I wasn't smart enough to get a police report though. When I went to get th estimate it was about 850 and she flipped out and was starting to give me the runaround. I went through insurance after that and got the money sent as a check which I put towards a new bumper. Don't try and be the nice guy, you'll get screwed. Go through your insurance and get your claim taken care of.

 

That's getting harder and harder.
I've had three incidents where the cops have flat out refused to come out because the accident happened on private property, or because there were no injuries, the street was not blocked, and there was no way for THEM to determine if a traffic violation had occurred.

Last one, I finally got CHP to respond when I mentioned that the lady in front of me was pregnant and expressed concerns, though she claimed to feel fine.
Chevy 3500 lost his brakes, hit me, pushed me into a Versa, and pushed the Versa into a Tacoma.

The Taco just had a scratch on the chrome bumper.
Her Versa was wiped... front and rear. The Taco bumper shoved her hood into the windshield and she was losing fluids.
My Blazer got totaled, but was mechanically okay other than a broken fog light and bent tailgate... I drove it for a month while fighting the insurance company over their lowball.
My spare tire wiped the Chevy's radiator.

Man... when he hit me, the only way I can describe it is when you catch a wave body surfing and it picks you up and pushes you. I saw him coming up at the last second and planted both feet on the brakes.

 

I'd tell the insurance company because there may be some damage on your frame with the hitch being there that you may not have noticed at first and if you don't tell the insurance and file a claim then you're up the creek with a bent frame.

 

Next best thing is a witness that you don't know. Just hope they are decent enough to give you their phone number so you can pass it to your insurance company. In my accident my brother was in the car with me but he's family and doesn't count. Couple people saw in the parking lot but didn't come over since it was a tiny fender bender and they saw no one was hurt. Next time I'll sure as hell try and grab a witness or two. I'm pretty lucky the girl's insurance company claimed fault seeing as it was just my word vs hers. Luckily though it was pretty obvious it was her fault seeing as I was hit while I was still in my parking stall.

 

Reported the accident to the other person's insurance company. The adjustor can't see my truck until April 16th Go figure its Infinity insurance...LOL

 

This ^^ always!