If the accident happened on a public street, then the law requires the police to be called. If that is the case, I would involve the insurance companies just because the police would need to be called. I recently had a friend who had been hit get approached by the hitter’s insurance company to pay for the damages when it was the hitter’s fault! If your hitter tries to get you to pay for the damage to their car, its useful to have a police report to establish fault.

But thats just me.

I didn’t know the police needed to be called for every accident on a public street… I’m wondering if that differs state-to-state?  Anyway, if I were you I’d be tempted to just have the friend fix it.  I will say I’ve been cautioned against that because once a family member got into an accident (not his fault), and the other guy wanted to settle it without insurance, because he didn’t have insurance.  The guy dragged it out and trailed him along for awhile, and finally my family member went to his house and the guy came out WITH A SHOTGUN.  So… they just got stuck with the cost, but it was much better than getting stuck with a bullet.  My point is, you just never know.

I’m with Andrew. I’d had a couple, no fault of mine, fender benders last year. Both times the people didn’t want to call the police thinking we could just deal with it ourselves. They both wanted to offer Insurance information without calling the police. Nuh uh! No way. That’s not how to do with it. I called the police both times. One I had to go to court over because the cop tried to pin one of the situations on me. I won of course. My advise is to document the heck out of your case for evidence and proof so you don’t get stuck with the cost.

if there’s no controversy or injury, there’s no great need to get a police report. There’s no need to file an insurance claim if the damages are very light and can be taken care of outside of that. I suppose you run some risk of the guy backing out, you just have to make a judgment. Society can function outside of bureaucracy!

> its useful to have a police report to establish fault.

in a light accident situation, where you should have quickly moved your vehicles off the road, mostly the police are going to take statements from each party. What else can they do? They don’t have a crystal ball or infallible lie detector. If the other party lies, it’s still pretty much a he-said-she-said situation. Your best protection are witnesses and evidence, e.g. photos of the damage. If your rear bumper is damaged, it will be pretty hard for them to concoct a story where it’s your fault. If there was anybody around who saw it, get their name and number. (too late now I know)

Since you’re not at fault, calling your insurance agent is a good idea.  They will be your advocate in whatever comes next.  It might not help the other guy’s insurance premium in the long run, but you gotta cover your, um, bumper, as it were.

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