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Message: [QUOTE="casual-yardin, post: 3285411, member: 8978"] Bingo. I understand we are talking about minor accidents here but calling the other guys insurance is kind of like defending yourself in court. My wife and I have probably been in 5 fender bender type accidents over the last 10 years or so on both sides of the blame. We always call our insurance co. which is GEICO (and yes if I was at fault and I could spin it I would always try to make it sound like it was less my fault to completely the other guys fault when it wasn't). If we have damage within 24 hours we're told where to take our car (no one goes around "getting estimates" anymore unless you live in the middle of nowhere or your insurance co just sucks) usually a dealer that is set up to work with GEICO and bill them directly. They also give us a loaner proly at a fleet rate to GEICO. We don't pay a dime and they work with the other guys insurance. My rate has never gone up because of this type of accident even when I was at fault and had no damage (my wife getting a red light camera ticket is another story). As far as calling the cops it certainly is good advice but what's the reality? Where I live you would call the non emergency line wait several minutes to be told your not a priority but they'll try and get someone out when they can. You'll also be told that if you are on private property like a shopping center parking lot all the cops are going to do is make sure everyone is OK. No report. And good luck having me stick around waiting for cops if I tapped your bumper. Take a pic of my card,, here's my number and see ya. If you are ever in a serious accident on a public street or property where there are injuries, fatalities or property damage keep in mind that similar to a crime scene the cops aren't there to formulate a nice story for someones insurance co. After they've made sure there wasn't any illegalities, secured the scene, made sure the medical people have access, direct traffic, etc. their job is to assess what happened and make sure they document what happened so the city / county etc can limit their liability i.e. leave it to the insurance co's and leave the city / locale out of it. In other words the cops aren't asking you questions to help your cause with determining fault. [/QUOTE]

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