I have a question?

[guest79]

Hi, I drive a VW New Beetle in Michigan. I was driving down a road under construction and hit a large rock that was right in the middle of the road. This caused damage to the oil pan and all the oil leaked right out of the car. I didn't bother to call the police b/c I figured we could probably just fix the problem ourselves. I immediately parked the car. My husband was pretty upset that I did not call the police and file a police report. I did call the insurance company today and they asked me if I filed a police report. When is it necessary to file a police report in a accident like this (hitting a nonfixed item in the road). Should I go to where the car is parked today less than 24 hours after the accident and ask a police officer to come out, will a police officer file a report for me today? I just don't know if I need a police report for the insurance company? Any help with this question would benefit me, thanks!

[Roger Dat]

Here in NY you can file your own civilian accident report through DMV. IF you called us today we probably wouldnt file a report for you simply because we didnt investigate it at the time of the accident.

[guest79]

Thanks so much for the quick reply! I don't believe in Michigan I have the ability to make my own report, although that would be nice! Do I need a police report to make a claim with my insurance company if we do not do the work ourselves?

[Roger Dat]

Probably not you will just need to tell the insurance adjuster exactly what happened.

[guest79]

Thanks again for your advice. The thing I do not understand about the police report and why they will not file one 24 hours after the fact is, police have filed a police report for us when this same incident happened to us about a year ago, we hit a log in the road and didn't realize it had harmed our oil pan until about an hour after we hit the log--the police filed a report for us then. Also, my friend driving home hit a dear, they drove home and called the police from their house, police came out and filed a report. What is the difference between these situations and mine?

[Samuel]

Depends on the department/agency and their policies. For hitting something lying in the road or an animal running across or something whatever non-criminal, you shouldn't need a police report to file a claim. Just take a picture of what it was you hit and note the date/time/location. If you were to come to the station later and claim such and such occurred, I wouldn't put my name on a paper that such and such happened - if I was feeling generous, I'd simply write that you CLAIMED that such and such happened and that I could not verify or confirm...

[PJMurphy]

The insurance company will want a report and you never know, someone maybe putting those rocks out there for kicks. Those poor kids out in Michigan just don't have anything better to do.

[guest79]

Thank you Samuel for your help!

The weirdest thing happened today.

We went to where my car was parked and took pictures of this LARGE rock and a large piece of my oil pan that was near the rock and pretty much all the oil that was in the car on the ground. I didn't realize how bad it was...

I phoned the central dispatch and asked if the police would come out and with the evidence write up a police report--doesn't hurt to ask, right?!

Anyways, the police officer came out and said he would not write me a police report (fine) and that he would only do this if the damage was more than $1,000. I was like how do you know the damage is less than $1,000? I simply told him that I like to cover my bases and if my insurance co. asks for a police report I'd like to say I have one.

This would not have even have been an issue if my insurance co. was open today! Anyways, it doesn't say anything in my policy about how I need a police report for a collision with a non-fixed object.

Back to the interaction with the police officer. I said, okay, so no police report. He goes to his car, he said to have some conversation with some of his fellow officers, comes back and says "I'll write you a police report, but I'll also write you a citation." Seems a little like blackmail or sabotage to me! That pissed me off, which I didn't tell him, but rather kinda laughed. Maybe I should've taken the ticket and fought it, then at least I would have my police report! That is just the weirdest statement though... "I'll give you a police report, but also a ticket." I hit something in the road that should not have been there!!! What would I get a ticket for?

[Samuel]

IMO, outside any additional circumstances, I wouldn't write a report OR issue you a ticket. It was an accident, accidents happen - like chips in windshields, flat tires, tree branches falling on cars, etc. You didn't deliberately dump waste onto a public highway or lands either. If your insurance company won't cover you for that without a police report, and the terms of your policy cover that sort of thing, you should change companies.

[Creeker]

I don't know how things work in your state, so Caveat Emptor what I have to say...

Try verifying that your DMV won't give you a blank form.

In my state, the only time an accident is required to be reported to Law Enforcement is if the damage amount was over a certain monetary limit. For accidents such as yours, they had a form for citizens to fill out.

A few years ago, I struck a truck tire that was laying on the Highway at night. It knocked my exhaust system out of whack and stripped out some bolts off of the header. It also damaged 4 other vehicles in some form or fashion, including a brand new Toyota Tundra, which had a lot of fender damage.

My local PD came out to all of us and did a regular Police report due to the number of vehicles as well as the damage amount. My exhaust cost me $1200 to repair, but claiming it thru my Insurance would have cost me my Safe Drivers Discount, resulting in a yearly increase of $600 a year for 3 years.

Were I you, and my PD refused to make a report, (now that you know that), I'd:
1. move/tow my vehicle to my nearest VW repair center, before it was towed by Law Enforcement to wherever has the tow contract in your town.

2. Get an estimate to repair the damage outside of any insurance payment.

3. check with the local DMV about that report from.

4. Check to see if it will raise your insurance rate to file the claim.

Good luck.

[808SSD]

As mentioned it depends on department policy. If there is no traffic tie up issues, no cars to be towed, no injuries, we may not even be dispatched much less do a report. If the insurance company requires a report, let them do their own investigation and make their own report of the incident. That is why we pay them so much for insurance coverage. Insurance companies will try to get the police to do a job that we pay the insurance company to do.

We used to do reports for all Motor vehicle related accidents, which wasted much manpower and city resources. When the department went away from the civil matter documentation of accidents, insurance companies were extremely pissed as it cut into their profits. Too bad for them, nothing they could do about it.

[Roger Dat]

If im not called to the scene and dont investigate it there, Im not going sign my name on an accident report I didnt fully investigate.

[PJMurphy]

Write you a ticket?? What's up with that? or are we missing some vital piece of info here.

If he writes you a ticket for ??? who is going to testify? If the cop does not witness the violation he/she will loose in court, unless there is another witness to whatever you did that makes him write you up.

Sounds like you need to speak with a supervisor, probably the one who told him to do a report and pissed him off enough to threaten you with a ticket.