My son was involved in a fender bender last Spring 2008. Another college student backed into him and caused damage to my son's front fender by the driver tire. He ask my son not to call the police and that they would pay for this out of their pockets versus submitting to insurance. He even spoke to the boys mother and she said this was the way she wanted to handle it. So my son decided to help them out and agreed to this. Well he lost the phone number and all information and we just recently found this. We contacted the parents and they said they were not responsible that they talked with their son and drove back to the site and said that my son was driving the wrong way. I spoke to my son about this and he said it was a parking lot that was not marked and if he was going the wrong way it was not marked and he could not tell. What advice do you have for us? My brother an ex police officer said the other person was at fault bottom line he backed into my son. He said to do an accident report and have our insurance company take over and they will contact his. Does this sound right? I look forward to hearing from anyone. Thanks!

I would suggest doing an accident report, even at this late date if at all possible and notify your insurance company. But you are in for the long haul with this one given the time frame.

Tick

Seeing that this incident is about 18 months old, it's really doubtful that you are going to be able to make a claim against the other driver. Too much time has passed to prove anything. Sure, you can still file a claim and have your insurance cover it if you have Collision (without proof, this would be covered by Collision).

But honestly, unless you can locate an eye witness with the memory of an elephant, it's going to be difficult to prove that the other person was at fault for your damages. You should have followed up on it immediately following the incident.