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Must Minor Car Accidents Be Reported?

You’re in a parking lot at the mall backing up your car and accidentally another car hits you from behind. No one is hurt, there doesn’t appear to be any damage so do you have to report it? Depending upon the cause as well as the law for the state you live in, it may have to be reported.

Plenty of states demand that you report an accident for even the slightest injury. Sometimes there’s no injury at all but there’s minimal damage to a car but that must be reported also. If the cost of repairing the damage exceeds $1,000 many states require that you report it.

All states require that you exchange phone numbers with the other driver as well as driver’s insurance information for even minor accidents. If the other driver refuses to comply you should call the police. Even minor accidents can get driver’s worked up so if there is any kind of argument that is not getting resolved you ought to call the police. The attending officers will be able to gather information if there were witnesses and write a report of the damage to the vehicles as well as any injuries that might have occurred. If you weren’t hurt that’s still not enough of a reason not to call. Many times injuries aren’t felt until days or even a week or so after the accident. If you don’t notify the police and feel the results of the injury weeks later, the other driver can deny that the accident took place. Therefore, it is important that you have this all documented.

Insurance companies require that you report the accident. If you don’t do so you can face repercussions later on regarding your car insurance.

If you don’t report the accident and down the line the other driver says that you hit his car and took off, the insurance company is not responsible to pay for medical expenses. They can deny to protect you because you didn’t report the accident as you were told to. So by trying to avoid an increase in your premium it may very well cost you much more in the end.

You don’t have to report an accident to your insurance company if no other vehicle was involved. If you accidentally hit your own property such as your garage or front gate than there’s no argument with another driver who can claim to have been injured. No one can state that you damaged their vehicle because there wasn’t another vehicle. An isolated event doesn’t need to be reported. However, if you were hurt than you should take proper steps and go see your doctor. Sometimes even minor injuries can impact a driver whether that is physically or emotionally so don’t reject to get the assistance needed in the case that it’s caused you any kind of pain or suffering. Only you know how your body feels in such circumstances and so you must ensure that you receive help if needed.

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