[Ayannah20]

I was in the burger king drive through, counting my change & went to look up and let my foot off the gas.. my car just barely rolled into the car in front of mine.. the damages are BARELY visible.. we both pulled over and I apologized... they seemed very calm and were around my age group.. they didn't call the police.. they made conversation and told me about the accidents they themselves have been in and said hopefully I won't have another one like it.. they said that your first little fender bender is scary but you learn a lesson. I gave them my insurance information & my mom was on the phone with my sister.. I asked them if they wanted to speak with her.. so they could get more information.. they said no, so I decided to right down my families phone numbers.. they said that it wasn't necessary and that it wasn't a big deal.. they said thank god it was a little tiny accident and since no one was really going over 5mph the damage is bearable. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.. but they just got in there cars and left.. they have my insurance but they didn't call the police.. do they need a police report to file a claim against my insurance company? I took pictures of their car and the little damage you could see on the car. Since they didn't call the police but the have my insurance... will they try to scam me? Make my insurance pay for car accidents they are involved in later on?. did I need their insurance, even though I was at fault? I'm sure since I work at the burger king this happened at there are witnesses which I'm fine with I own up to my mistakes.. I've only had my license for 2 weeks.. do you think they will try to call my insurance and say that the damages were more than what they were? Will they believe them since I have pictures and witnesses that say no one was hurt and the damages were less than minor? Everyone was okay when we got out the car.. they just said there's a ding in the car.. I gave them my information.. they stood around and talked a little and left.. it seemed like they didn't care at all enough to call the police.. I was writing down information, they could have I had no problem with it.. I tried to do everything right.. but they just seemed to want to forget since it wasn't to necessary. I wish I could upload pictures.. you can't really see the ding.. but they are there and that's how barely visible they are.. I was SO scared and they were just having conversations like yeah I've ran over peoples feet before.. and having conversation like I didn't just hit there car.. they didn't even want my phone number.. they said they have the insurance its fine.. I'm nervous... my stomach is turning... I was literally rolling.. didn't touch the gas pedal..

[ScottGem]

Its not a good idea to piggyback your question on another thread. To avoid confusion I've move your question to its own thread.

Ok, Calm down. What you need to do is report it to your Insurance carrier. Tell them exactly what happened and that you don't know if they will file a claim or not. If they do, your insurer will require that their claims examiner checks the car, so they are not going to be able to add damage from other accidents.

I had a similar accident when I was young, had only had my license a few months. Took my foot off the brake but was looking away from the road and didn't see traffic stop in front of me. Your insurer will cover this under your liability coverage. But they might raise your rates next time, they recalculate the rates.

[smoothy]

A lot of damage can be done "while just rolling". Those plastic bumper covers can hide a lot of damage. Particularly in the back depending on the vehicle and exactly how it was hit, where it was hit and how hard it was hit. First hand experience, more than once on multiple vehicles.

Insurance adjusters always look at the car before paying a claim... they can tell recent damage from old damage. Its not easy to make a fraudulant claim.

In many places the police won't even come if nobody was injured or if vehicles can be driven away from the scene. Other places Police will not even make a accident report unless damage to private property or an injury or significant vehicular damage occurred.

You should have gotten their information as well, as giving your own, something that should always be done. Regardless of whose fault it was. If someone refused to do it...I'd immediately call the police myself. Not rely on them doing it.

So what state and country was this?

But yes this is always an upsetting experience.

Just last year I had a woman on a cross street stop, look at me then pull forward hitting my car causing a lot of damage. She said she thought I was going to stop? Told her do you see any stop sign on my street? Apparently according to my wife I was screaming that at her. I don't remember being quite that angry. I refused to let her move it...took pictures (thank goodness for cell phone cameras) and called the police myself. She moved only 4 feet and it almost totaled my car due to its age.

[AK lawyer]

... but they didn't call the police.. do they need a police report to file a claim against my insurance company? ...

No. But in some places it is required that the police be called if it happens on a public street. Such laws don't affect the insurance claim, but may be technically a traffic infraction. Since you were on private property (Burger King is privately owned, not publicly owned), such laws probably don't apply.

[smearcase]

I agree with smoothy about police investigating minor incidents like this. Most I know of, won't do it.
I don't understand how you remove your foot from the gas pedal and that causes the vehicle to roll forward??
The adjuster probably won't either.
Did you intend to say brake pedal? Best procedure is to place the car in Park or set the parking brake while waiting/paying etc in drive-thru lanes.

[smoothy]

As far as a car rolling forward just by taking a foot off the brake. I can see that happening depending on the vehicle. All my automatic transmission cars do it... but they are Mercedes diesels and have a very low stall speed converter, and my work truck does it too, just to a lesser degree, all have idles adjusted to spec and not too high. You drive accordingly and pay attention. In fact one of them will idle faster (at a correct idle) than the speed limit on parts of some military bases when in drive, meaning over 15 mph on level ground. meaning I have to drive in a lower gear on base to keep from having to ride my brakes.

But it takes no effort to keep it stopped at a light as long as your foot is just resting on the brake.

[Fr_Chuck]

First I agree, where I was a police officer, ( you did not say location) we did not do accident reports
1. on private property, drive thu
2. did not do report where the damage appeared minor and/or no injury

So no, there was no need to call the police.

If they wanted to scam you, calling the police does not do anything, except prove you quilty. The police do not know car damage or know if someone has hidden injury

Yes of course they can ( and most likely will) call your insurance company to have them pay for the damages.

Depending on the car, some minor impact to those plastic bumpers may be a few thousand dollars, since many will be replaced after any inpact.

Also neck and back injury ( real injury) can happen from an accident like this, but you will not know a lot of the pain, till the next day..

So, you tell your insurance company, and just wait and let them handle it.

[ebaines]

I would add that your insurance policy most likely requires that you contact them within a week or ten days of an accident, otherwise they may not cover the claim.