I got rear-ended the other day, nothing too serious. Luckily, a cop was actually a few cars back and came over to investigate. He discovered the one who hit me is driving with a suspended license, although he claims it is a clerical error. The officer wrote him a ticket for the suspended license, totally separate from the accident. He will have to go to court and bring documentation to prove it is a clerical error. (FYI: No ticket for the accident, and not serious enough for an official police report, per State law.)
Later, I discover this guy’s insurance policy was cancelled. Should I report this to the officer? After all, it is illegal to drive without insurance.
It really depends on the state and local policies. Around here sometimes the officer would write a ticket for no insurance. More likely, because you were the one with the information, you would be directed to sign a complaint with the court. Both tickets would most likely be heard in court at the same time.
The best course of action would be to speak with the prosecutor or solicitor scheduled to be in court on his court date for the ticket he was given. Even if he pays that ticket rather than appearing in court, that would still be the proper procedure and then it would be up to that person, an officer of the court, to act on the information you provide.
Not always feasible. For instance, our prosecutor is there at most 4 hours one morning a week and a few hours at night. And he’s really not going to care about one traffic ticket that isn’t yet on his docket. The prosecutor will not be doing any investigation into an additional ticket. And then you might run into statute of limitation problems. In my state you have 30 days to write a motor vehicle summons. One exception is no insurance (6 months) but that is very different from state to state.
Was there damage to your vehicle? If so, I’d report it. But there wasn’t I’d probably just let it go. I would also report even with no damage if the guy acted like a dick, if he was driving like an ass, if he was on the phone/texting, or if upon further investigation it appears that the guy has a record of moving violations, DWI, etc. As far as I’m concerned, accidents happen, but some people don’t deserve breaks.
A young woman backed into me at the bank. Just reversed out of a spot without looking despite my leaning on the horn to warn her. I could not move because I was stuck between a car behind me and a car in front that was backing out of a spot as well. She just t-boned me on the front quarter panel and passenger door.
She had no insurance. Spoke english poorly. Looked scared out of her mind when I asked her for her license and insurance so I can file a report and claim with my insurance. There was damage to my car, a dent, and nothing on her already beat up bumper. I was pissed but didn’t want to stand around waiting for the police to arrive and possibly get her into deep water with respect to not having insurance and who knows what other possible legal issues. I was stern with her and told her I’d be calling her when I got an estimate on the damage on my car. Of course I knew I wasn’t going to bother because the damage wasn’t that bad and she probably gave me a fake phone number. It cost me $200 to fix using a professional dent removal shop. I guess I got off easy. But not as easy as her.
I believe at least here in Nevada, proof of insurance is sent from insurance company to the state - and if you don’t have it, they put a warrant out for your arrest! My guess is the driver might be in for a shock when they show up in court.
Isn’t it common policy to have an “uninsured motorist” rider on your policy - covering damages and medical bills (at no fine for you) just in case you are hit by somebody who doesn’t have insurance?
Yeah, even though my state requires insurance (I think, but it’s NY so I think my guess is a good one) but I’ve always carried uninsured driver insurance just in case.
If you do have insurance and damage, if they can verify the other party doesn’t have insurance you could be able to have your deductible waived should you seek repairs.
In my state you’re required to have proof of current insurance any time you’re driving. In a situation like you described proof of insurance would need to be shown by both drivers. And they can and will check to see if it’s been cancelled since it was issued. Tickets will be issued for lack of insurance, even if no other tickets are issued.
In my state the only way to verify if the policy was cancelled is to call the insurance company. Many dont have 24 customer service so if its after hours or weekend it can’t be verified. And the officer is under no obligation to check further if a valid card is presented. Some go above and beyond in checking, others don’t.
Some areas of my state have laws requiring police tow away uninsured cars. Doesn’t matter what you’re stopped for, accident, ticket, registration sticker; if you don’t have insurance you lose your car. I’ve been hoping my city will enact this as well, but no dice yet. Is this common in other states?
As to the OP, for every motorist* who’s hit me and wasn’t insured, the insurance company goes after them, and their level of coverage is quickly known.
*that would be all of them, but who’s counting. :rolleyes:
We have a huge uninsured driver problem (not coincidently we have the highest insurance rates in the country). We have tough penalties for not being insured. Police are required to tow uninsured cars. And yet there is no easy way to verify insurance. As long as you have an easily counterfeited insurance card to present you are good. Unless you get an aggressive cop or give some reason for him to dig further.
I had a guy run a stop sign and hit my car on the passenger side door. Put a big dent in it but nobody was hurt.
He could barely speak English, and professed not to understand when I asked if he had a phone to call for help. I have no cell phone. But he did get out a cell phone and spoke in rapid Spanish to someone. A guy who’d seen the accident from his house called the police for me. Eventually the owner of the other car showed up. The driver had no license, no insurance, no ID even. But thankfully the owner did, so I was able to eventually get repairs paid for. The driver was taken to the police station and jailed briefly while his identity was established. He wasn’t taken away for the accident, but because he couldn’t prove he was who he said he was. The car owner had to act as interpreter for all this, and while I don’t think she was ticketed the cop was stern with her for letting someone unlicensed drive the car.