Accident with uninsured motorist

I was about 6 months out of college when I rear ended a guy. Trashed my front end and gave his bumper a scratch. It was 100 percent my fault. I wanted to call the police and do it all the right way, and he insisted we don't because no one was hurt and his car had no damage, he was uninsured, and he said I should tell my agent someone hit my car in a parking lot so I wouldn't be seen as at fault. I was a little dazed and said, "yeah, sounds good, I'll do that."

We exchanged information and I filed a (truthful) report with my insurance agent. A week later, I get a call from the other driver who says he has $3,000 damage to his POS car and I probably should just pay him, since I filed a false report, and he checked with a lawyer, who told him it's too late to file a police report and there's really no penalty for lack of insurance.

When I told him I filed an honest report, that was met with about 10 seconds of silence and then an "Oh." The next morning, I was at the police station to file a report (obviously not too late) and told the police and my agent about everything.

I called him back that night and said he needs to get a better lawyer, because the police said they are going to visit him, ask for proof of insurance at the time of the accident, and pull his license and plates if he can't produce them.

Never did hear how it turned out, but my agent said they weren't going to pay him a dime after how he handled himself and tried to get a quick payday out of me.

 

I don't know how insurance works in other states, but in NJ, one of the line items on your policy is "uninsured motorist coverage". That way if someone without insurance causes an accident with you, you've got property & medical coverage up to the limit you selected. Most people are idiots and set the limit at $50,000 or less to save money on their premium. I've got that set at $100,000 or $250,000 to cover medical bills and collision damage if some uninsured idiot does hit me or my wife. It's less than $100 a year more to get that six-figure coverage vs. mid-to-low five-figure coverage, so it's worth it.

 

Knock on wood I haven't had to find out yet or not, but I'm willing to bet the house the health insurance company will do anything and everything to make the auto insurance company pay. Plus, if you're hit by an uninsured motorist and the ambulance takes you to an out-of-network hospital and your health insurance provides for no out-of-network coverage (other than the ER) you're screwed.