Imagine this scenario: You're driving to work early one morning on M-59, and you stop at a red light. The insufficiently caffeinated driver behind you still has sleep in his eyes, and doesn't hit his brakes in time. He crashes into your back end-not too hard, but hard enough to elicit some concern, and maybe even a curse word or two. You both get
out of your vehicles, and when you check your rear bumper for damage and see none-not even a scratch!- you shake hands, get back in your cars, and finish your drive to work in Auburn Hills.
Thank goodness it was nothing serious, you think. You don't have time to deal with filing any sort of police report, much less an insurance claim. That evening, you return home to Highland. Your children are playing on the front lawn. As you back into the driveway, you hear one of them shriek, "Hey, what happened to your bumper?" It turns out the impact of the morning's crash was substantial enough to cause your bumper to fall off somewhere along M-59, unbeknownst to you, during your commute. Now you're going to spend a pretty penny for a repair that-had you taken the time to file a police report immediately after the accident-could have cost you nothing.
The Cost of Failing to File a Report
Filing a police report at the scene of the accident creates a record of what has happened, and is always useful when another driver has been involved. Without a police report, fault can’t be determined for sure, and you may be responsible for a deductible. And what if you don't have Collision coverage, but only liability? In Michigan you can collect up to $1,000 from the other driver-if you have a police report showing they were at fault. Without it you will be on the line for the entire cost of the repairs. With proof that another driver was at fault-proof provided by a police report-you can avoid these costs.
How a Report Can Help
A police report will effectively put down in writing what happened before, during, and after an auto accident. While it's true that the person at fault may insist that
For any of your insurance questions, Contact Schoen Insurance Agency today.
