Auto Insurance Claims: Negligible damage, monetary damages, paint job

Question
Hi Bennie,
Recently I put a scratch to a 1999 Honda civic bumber while parking on a street in NJ. The cops came and refused to file a accident report since the damage was negligible. But they gave a file number and suggested me to pay for the repair job.
The bumber already has all kinds of damages. Now the owner of the car wants me to pay for the paint job of the complete bumper. He got a quote of $350.
In the long run is it cheaper for me to just pay for it or ask him to go through the insurance, file a claim and get it repaired by the insurance?
If the owner of the car chooses to pay the deductable and get it repaired by the insurance does this incident stay in my record as an accident and increase my premiums?

Answer
Hi JK,
Earlier in the evening when attempting to answer your question, I somehow hit a wrong
key which probably caused you to be sent a weird message and caused me to totally lose
your question.

Now, after hours of searching, I found the question again but it doesn't give me the
right to answer, only to revise my previous answer.  I apologize for whatever weird
answer that you may have been sent.  Here is the proper answer.


You need to report this directly to your own company and have them send a claims agent
out to inspect the bumper of the other car.  Their inspection and photos will verify
that you only caused minimal damage.

If you wait for her to go through her own company, she may state that a huge amount of
her damage was caused by you and pay for all of it and then send your company a bill
for reimbursement (they don't have to send photos).

Every state has a threshold that must be met or exceeded before this can be considered
a "fault-chargeable" accident against you.  That threshold is any bodily injury and/or
monetary damages in excess of set limits.  The lowest limit that I'm aware of is Ohio
which has a $400 minimum limit.  The rest of the states vary between $500-$750.  There
is one state that has a %1,000 limit but I can't remember it's name at present.

I hope that you find this helpful.  Your feedback by rating my response will be
appreciated.


Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area