All .... question, do you know if Fairfax County Police is supposed to issue an accident report if they come to the scene of an accident?

My elderly mother was involved in accident. The other driver pulled out in the middle of Route 1 and hit her rental car. Police were at the scene, agreed it was the other person's fault, drivers exchanged info, and the police went away.

I have called the Mt Vernon Police Dept. many times and they tell me that the police only file a report if 1) there is bodily injury and/or 2) Damages exceed $1,500.

This sounds bogus to me. The damage to the car has been calculated at $1.500, but now my mom is being sued since no insurance company will process a claim without a police report.

I am about to go to the Police Dept. ... is this normal for them not to issue a report? The police keep telling me over the phone that if the insurance company calls them, they will tell them exactly what happened. no insurance company will do that .. come on!

Really, the question is what the OTHER driver is saying to his insurance company. If he's saying, "Yeah, my bad," that should end the issue. If he's denying liability, yeah, you need the police report.

Sounds like Va is following marylands way of doing things. Only write report if injury or tow truck needed. The cop has likely written some sort of note. Get your moms insurance agents name and call them, they have people to investigate these things.

What they are telling you is correct. To have a accident report, $1500 damage or injury. Accident has to happen on public property. Its VA law. They will also write a police report if injury on private property or a hit and run accident but these are not accident reports. And the $1500 is an rough estimate when the officer gets there, not what the repair bill is a few days later.

If the officer determined in his opinion the damage was under $1500 and no injury was claimed at that time, it is handled as a non-reportable accident. The officer makes sure insurance info is exchanged. Most officers will not even keep notes beyond who the parties involved were.

Its an insurance matter. Have you called your insurance company yet???

Been in the same spot. Dude rear ended me at a light. The damage wasn't that bad so the officer gave me a sheet to fill out and told me if their insurance has questions to give them the officer's name. I wanted a report but the officer said state law requires it under circumstances not met in my case. If you go to the station they will tell you the same thing. They're not mechanics, they make their best judgement and info exchange is all that's truly needed most times because accidents are really civil cases.

Assumption seems to be that a police report has some sort of magical authority. It doesn't. You can't get it admitted into evidence at either a civil or criminal trial unless both parties agree. It is simply the officers statement of what he saw at the scene and what he was told in his investigation. You or your insurance company can get the same information from talking to the officer, and if it is needed for trial you can call the officer as a witness.

Also if you are looking for evidence of who is at fault, look at who the officer issued a ticket to and what they ticketed the person for. You can find this information out on line. (Look above where it says Arrest/Ticket Search) If the officer has to show up at the accident and there is a clear violation, he's probably going to write a ticket because he is there anyways. If he doesn't it's a good bet the officer's report, if written, would say it was nobody's fault or an unavoidable accident.

And BTW if your mother is being sued it is because the car she rented was damaged. The car rental company rented her an undamaged car and got a damaged one back. That isn't their fault.

Insurance companies do not need a police report to process a claim! That is BS! What about accidents that happen and the police are not called!

If your mom was driving a rental car and she has auto insurance then she should contact:

Her insurance company to let them know the details of the accident. Depending on who her insurance company is, they might handle everything and sue the other insurance company for the damages. Happens all the time.

The credit card company she used to obtain the rental car. VISA, MC, AMEX, and Discoover all having varying levels of car rental coverage benefits.

Her attorney, sounds like this could get ugly.

The other driver's insurance company, to make sure he reported the accident and claimed responsiblity.

Assuming your mom did not pay for any of the coverages offered by the rental car company at the time she rented the car, Collision Damage Waiver, Loss Dmage Waiver, etc. Then it is not surprising the rental car company may be suing. Typically, in an accident they will sue for triple the estimate damages and loss of use of the rental car, which they typically calculate at $100 per day (depending on the type of rental vehicle, more if a premium, SUV, minivan, etc) X 15 days for minor damage and 30 days for extensive damage. Sounds like it is minor, so you mom will likely see a charge on the credit card she used for the rental in the neighborhood of $6000+. If that is declined, then yes, she be sued by the rental car company for the damages.

Good luck.

All of you will tell him exactly whathe needs to know to handle this and the police have already told him they can't write a report and my bet is he will still be a typical FFX resident and march down to the station and demand the police break policy and state law because his case is SPECIAL and he needs it. *insert foot stomp and whiny cry*. The police followed proper law and procedure. Their obligation is done. Subpoena the officer to court but otherwise they can change nothing. Like Bill said, the report is not the holy grail. They often contain mistakes and are not admitted as evidence because they are heresay.

The police reports are not admitted as evidence in court for civil matters. It's actually worthless piece of paper, unless it is a criminal matter. It's a waste of time even speaking with a cop.

forgot to add the code section. va code 46.2-379 prohibit the use of police reports as evidence.

Again police reports are worthless. The cop's real job is to clear the roadway and determine if there is a crime, not to pass civil judgements.

an official police report is not worthless, when insurance companies are involved. since granny had automobile insurance ( I assume wasnt a cheap dummy and paid the uninsured motorist fee ), she has at a minimum liability insurance.

i'm not speaking about in court, rather dealing directly with insurance companies in the case of a no-fault accident like you describe. moreover, in the case of an accident like that, on a public road, the officer would have issued a ticket to the person who caused the accident. in your case, who know what the code would be - failure to pay full time attention, failure to avoid a collision, improper/illegal merge, whatever....that's your "ticket" to getting the other driver's insurance to pay for damages.

what granny needs to do, if things have gotten to the point of a suit from the rental car company, is to put a claim in with her insurance. they will then pay for repairs then go after the other driver's insurance company to re-pay them and refund her deductible.

that fact i know intimately, as i was recently involved in a no-fault accident in which the other driver ( ticketed for improper lane change at the scene ), took their sweet time in contacting their insurance admitting fault.

Just following up in the event this can help others.

Actually, I just spoke to the other party's insurance company and they have finally accepted liability and will process the claim, after more than 2 months ... better late than never.

They also told me car rental companies can be extremely aggressive and will threaten to sue such as in my mother's case.

I called the Commissionner's office in reference to a police report and they told me the officer may have notes from the scene of an accident and I could call him. I was also told that if I could not get in touch with him, I could ask to speak to his supervisor. In the event of a lawsuit, we could subpeona the officer. He was at the scene of the accident (Route 1) and could testify the accident was the other party's fault.

Glad I didn't have to engage in any dramatics ... but yes, they did tell me that if the officer thinks the damage is below $1,500 he may not issue a report ... but that he should have.

All in all, Fx County Police was nice and pleasant. Glad they are available to help their citizens.

Whether or not granny has collision to "cover" and later subrogate the matter to other insurance carrier, the insurance carrier will do its own investigation (interview witnesses ...etc). Not sure what insurance carrier you have, but I have yet to find an insurance carrier that has NOT shorted me.

Again, the police report is worthless, regarding the civil matter.

Depending on the other party's and your mom's auto insurance, they may not pay the car rental company for the lost use of the rental vehicle. Your mom will still be liable for that, and they can and will sue to recover that. As another poster pointed out, she should check with here credit card company to see what car rental benefits she has with them. It may help ease the blow and lessen the fighting required with the insurance companies!

When you rent a car you have the option of useing your own insurance or buying theirs.

If the police responded to the accident and "agreed" that it was the other drivers fault, was a ticket issued?

Last year I was involved in what I thought was a minor accident with a trucker that took responsibility at the scene. The officer issued him a ticket and told me the reason he was doing that was because the damage (in the officers estimation, no accident report) was minor and by issuing the ticket it would protect me if the trucker later decided it wasn't his fault. The damage turned out to be almost $6,000.00, but there was no problem with my insurance paying and going after his insurance company. As it turned out that was the absolutely best thing the officer could have done, as the trucker did deny responsibility to his insurance company and all mine had to do was remind them their driver had been issued a citation. I not only had the repairs paid for in full, including the deductible, I also was given a rental car for however long the repairs took.