Auto Insurance Claims: car accident, insurance policy number, phony name

Question
hello my name is Violet and i had a question regarding a car accident i had on dec 25th. another car was driving on my left we were both going northbound on the street all of a sudden he swerved a litle to the left then sort of swerved to the right crashing into my car. the guy wrote down all his information including his insurance provider and policy number. i made a claim with my insurance, i thought they were going to handle it but about a week and a half later they called me and gave me the number to the other parties supposed insurance, and told me i had to call them.so i did, they gave me an appointment to check my car and do an estimate of the damages but a few days later they call me and tell me that the guy that crashed into me is not insured with them. i tried makin a police report and they said that it was my insurance job to handle it. i was not hurt in the accident so a lawyer wont help me. is there anything i can do to get the guy to pay for the damages? the guy seems like a type of person that wont want to pay me so i dont want to do it direct?


Answer
Hi Violet,
I'm sorry to learn of your problems.
There must have been some confusion when you spoke with the police.  An insurance company can't make a police report.  A true police report is only made at the scene of the accident where the officer can verify the information from both parties.  In many cities, the police will only respond to an accident involving injuries.
There is another type of report called a "counter report".  This is where you go to the police department and fill out a report about the accident, telling your side of the story and listing the information for both parties.  This is simply held on file for a period of time.
The police make no attempt to contact the other driver.

Since the other driver gave you a phony insurance policy number, the odds are that he also gave you a phony name and address.
Did you write down his name and address from his drivers license and the license plate number of the car?

If you have that information, perhaps you can have a male friend attempt to make contact with him.  The odds are that everything was phony and you will never see him again, or he may show up at your insurance company and file a claim saying that you swerved into him.

That's the bad part of accidents when there are no witnesses or police report.

If you carry collision coverage and the amount is greater than your deductible, you can always pay your deductible and have your own company repair your car.  Depending on the amount of damage, it could cause your rate to increase if handled this way.

If you don't presently own a cell phone, I suggest that you purchase one of those pre-paid minutes phones for about $20 and $10 of air time and keep it charged and in your purse.  This way you can call the police should there be another accident or any type emergency.

I hope that you find this information to be of help.  Your feedback to my answer is important to me.  Please take a moment to rate my response.

Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area