What happens if a cop doesn't issue a ticket for an accident?

Yes, they do. Contact your agent and tell him or her what happened. Then pick up the police report. Your company will probably go after the other company assuming your husband got her contact information and insurance company or it’s on the police report. You may have to pay the deductible or you may not.

As long as the cop recorded what happened in the accident you should be ok. You’re insurance won’t necessarily go up. Your insurance company and the other driver’s insurance will work it out.

When you call your insurance you can ask them if this will raise your premiums if you’re concerned about it.

Most insurance companies will demand a police report. It’s OK that he didn’t write a ticket, but you want his incident report for the paperwork so that insurance knows that it really happened.

Sometimes it’s a “he said – she said” kind of thing where the cop can’t determine who was at fault. My sister was involved in a incident where she couldn’t provide proof of insurance and the other driver said he had insurance. He didn’t, so the infraction for no insurance against my sister was withdrawn.
So it sounds like the cop wanted to leave it up to the insurance companies of both individuals to hash it out.

I could not stop and skidded into the back of someone during a rainstorm. Nothing major, low speed collision that dinged a couple of bumpers. I was expecting a ticket but when the police showed up all he did was ask if everyone was ok (yes) and if we were exchanging insurance info (we already had) and could both vehicles move (yes, minor damage) then tell us to get out of traffic as soon as we finished (like we were gonna spent the night there?). He drove off. No police report was filed but the insurance companies worked it out. My rates did not go up.
By my way of thinking, I was at fault for not controlling my vehicle but then again, she was stopped in a lane that had no reason to be stopped so maybe that had something to do with the lack of a ticket being issued and the insurances figuring it out.

@rojo That makes sense. Our insurance agent told us to take the car to the collision shop for an estimate and to let them know we would be pursuing the other driver’s insurance for the damage because technically it was their fault. He sounded confident it would be taken care of but I’m not sure. We will have to pay the deductible up front but if we can prove their fault we would be reimbursed. I’m not counting on it. Without that ticket, it’s probably a he said, she said situation.

Police very often don’t write a ticket, or even appear at all, at accidents. It can help if there is any question of who’s responsible, but insurance investigators (IF either/both parties are insured) can and do figure that out from drivers’ and witness’ statements and the physical evidence.

If all goes well, ideally, their insurer will pay for your damage, and/or your insurer will pay for what they don’t. I would be far more worried about crummy insurance companies (e.g. Progressive) not paying enough (e.g. by declaring your car worth $500 and paying you that, instead of paying for much more expensive repairs, and then you having to re-title your car with the state, etc…) than the person who hit your rear side not being considered responsible.

Get a copy of the police report. I assume you got the other girl’s insurance information. Take that to your insurance agent and it should still be covered and she should have to pay. My daughter hit someone last year and was not cited. She was still responsible for the damages, but her insurance covered it all.

Go door to door asking for video. We won a case just because one business caught it all. Insurance or cops didnt go look, we had to.

Your insurance company will take it to court. Everybody involved will testify & the judge will rule on who was at fault. IF you must have your car fixed immediately, yes you will be paying the deductible because YOUR insurance company will be paying to have it repaired. IF the repairs can wait, you can hold out on with the hope that the judge finds her to be the responsible party. IF your insurance company pays right off to have your car fixed & she is found to be the responsible party, you should be reimbursed by the insurance company because your insurance company will be suing her to pay for what they have paid out. IF she is guilty, HER insurance company will be reimbursing YOUR insurance company so there will be NO deductible involved.IF you don’t have the deductible available, I’d put off repairing as long as possible to see how the court plays out!!! Assuming that you have a good insurance company, they should take care of most of this for you!!!

@LadyMarissa Thanks for clarifying that! We have full coverage so it would definitely be taken care of, we just would need to pay the $500 deductible. The collision shop estimated $2500 in damage and a 7 day repair time. We’re moving into our new home (2 hours away) Dec 1st so this timing isn’t ideal. Waiting might not be the best option although it is what I wanted to do because I’m confident she’d be found at fault and have to pay for the damages. We might have to suck it up and come up with the deductible just so our car is done before the move. It is driveable the way it is but once we move out of the city I’m not sure how it would be handled, where we would go for the repairs, etc.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Unless things are different in your state, I can’t imagine that this will go to court. I was involved in an accident that caused major injury and even that was settled out of court. The insurance companies will settle it between them as you have said and her company should pay all. You can talk to your insurance company, but it makes sense for you to get the car repaired now, pay the deductible and get it back when the claim is settled.

@janbb That seems to make the most sense. It sounds like our agent is suggesting that’s the best route to take as well.

(My family did own an insurance agency for many years.)

It won’t go to court. I don’t even think you will have to pay the deductible if it’s her fault. Unless you are in a no fault state.

I can’t see the insurance companies going to court either. It would just cost them that much more money.

@JLeslie I am in a no fault state.

Our agent said since we’re moving soon we’re better off paying the deductible, getting it fixed, and going after her insurance after. He said it could take months and in the meantime our car would just sit there with damage. The wheel was hit in the accident and with moving 2 hours away I don’t want to risk anything happening. Unfortunately in the end they might just rule it no fault anyway even though it was very much her fault, thanks to the cop not writing her a ticket.

No fault has to do more with bodily injury and medical than with physical damage to the vehicle. I think you’ll be able to recoup.

@janbb Interesting. I didn’t know that.

@janbb Oh good. I also didn’t know that.