When To Report An Accident
You’re required to report a car accident to the police if:
1. Anyone is injured.
2. There is damage to property.
3. The combined damage for both vehicles is over $200.
The dollar limit for reporting an accident varies between provinces and states, so know the limit where you live.
Police will come to the scene when collisions involve the following:
- Injury or death.
- Criminal activity (impaired driving, stolen vehicle, assault).
- Damage to federal, provincial, state or municipal vehicles (like buses and trains).
- A person who is uninsured or a suspended driver.
- Vehicles transporting dangerous contents.
- Damage to private, municipal or highway property.
Beware: If there’s an accident where another driver is involved, you may think there’s not much to report and innocently drive away. But if the other driver reports it to the police, you could be charged with leaving the scene of an accident. To protect yourself, call the police and let them know of the accident. Then you cannot be charged. If you don’t, this could lead to a serious conviction and send your insurance rates skyrocketing. You are also expected to report your accident to the DMV.
Reporting An Accident To Your Insurance Company: Your insurance policy states that you are required to report all accidents, regardless of the amount of damage, even if it’s under $1,000. (In some US States this amount can be as low as $200 to $500).
Insurance companies base their rates on "risk", regardless of who pays for the accident. If there was an “incident”, they want to know about it regardless of who was at-fault. With many insurance companies, even if they don’t pay a penny, and you pay for all repairs, it will still count against you. Your insurance rate will increase even if you were only partially at-fault for the accident.
In Practice, All Bets Are Off: Most people report accidents only when they want the insurance company to pay for the damages. In reality, many drivers do not report accidents because they fear that their insurance rate will increase. Instead, they cover the cost of repair themselves.
Here drivers run the risk of their insurance company finding out about the accident and cancelling their insurance policy. If the accident involved another driver, and they report the accident to their insurance company, then your insurance company will be notified. What's worse is that the only report your insurance company will have is the other driver’s account of it. This will not do you any favors when determining which driver is at fault.
If you are not at-fault for the accident, then it will not count against you and your insurance rate will not increase.
If the fear of your insurance rate skyrocketing is clouding your judgment of whether or not to report the accident, go to InsuranceHotline.com and see how much your rate will increase with the accident added.
Accidents on Private Property or Parking Lots: If you have an accident on private property, then the police will not come to the scene unless there are injuries or property damage.
Most of these types of accidents are considered by insurance companies to be 50/50, meaning each driver is considered to be partially at-fault. This holds the same weight as being completely at-fault when it comes to your insurance renewal. Nobody wins.