Auto Insurance Claims: accident claim, accident claim, vin number

Question
My son was driving his fiance's car (with permission, of course) last Friday night. He was stopped at a red light. When it turned green he was 10 to 20 feet into the intersection when he was hit hard from behind by another vehicle. The young man was very apologetic and gave my son his registration card which he copied in detail. He was very worried about his father finding out and wanted to pay out of pocket. At 10 pm the damage didn't look that bad and my son felt he could trust him. My son did not get his insurance info and did not call the police as a favor to the young man, a college student. At first this person answered his phone calls and seemed to be cooperating. You know the rest: the car has extensive damage underneath (it's at a body shop) and may even be totaled. My son has contacted the parents. He has all the information from the registration including the VIN number. Why would he have that if the boy was not admitting fault? So now what should he and his fiance do? Did he commit a fatal error in not reporting it sooner? Or can his finance's insurance company successfully obtain the boy's insurance information and get them to pay?

Answer
Hi Linda,

Your son should immediately file a police report. The call the drivers parents and tell them that if they do not provide insurance information, you will turn it over to police and will file a law suit. If they give you their insurance information you should immediately call their insurance company to file a claim.  If their is any problem along the way then your son should file the claim under his insurance and they will go after the other person.

Also tell your son, in the future ALWAYS call the police no matter how much the other person pleads not to.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh