Auto Insurance Claims: no police report, dodge grand caravan, ford minivan

Question
My wife and I were stopped at a red traffic light with a minivan in front of us on 6/22/08. The driver of the other van had taken their foot off the brake and upon seeing the brake lights go off, I took my foot off my brake and started to ease forward but looked down to the floor for something that had fallen at the same time. They had put their brakes on immediately after taking them off and needless to say I bumped into them. I had not accelerated so the impact was nothing more than bumper cars at the fair. We both pulled over and I went to see if they were ok which they were. It was two ladies whose van they had borrowed. We looked at the rear bumper of their, I believe ford minivan, with a vinyl bumper to assess damage. The only damage was something that appeared to have been there before which both ladies had agreed on. When we were stopped at the light, I was directly behind them, on center. I have a '99 Dodge Grand Caravan. The nose of this van is rounded and the only thing to come in contact with their van was my license plate holder, which is about a foot wide. The old damage to their vehicle was a full foot or so to the left on the drivers side: a vertical scratch on the vinyl bumper DIRECTLY below a dent in the rear hatch door which the owner later verified was there before!! Anyways the owner called me several weeks later since I had given my first name and phone # to the ladies driving the van, we never called the police to report the accident. He decided to tell me he wanted me to pay to fix his bumper stating that the scratch was not there before the accident, or he would go about it 'the hard way'. I'm an honest guy and told him if the damage was mine I'd pay for it and to get his estimate even though I thought it was bogus. I also like an idiot told him I my insurance company when he asked me, thinking I would have to pay for it. He openly admitted the dent in the rear door was there but claims the scratch wasn't. If I had caused it, I'd pay for it. But I'm without a doubt this guy just wants my $. Its impossible for me to have caused the scratch to his bumper.
8/8/08 I received a message from my insurance companies' claim dept. What can he do with no police report? Can I fight this in some way? What could it end up costing me if I do?  I'm not the suing type but is that an option? If I am liable, whats the cheapest route, though I'd prefer to fight it since I can't stand the fact that this guys dishonesty is at my expense. The ladies in the van probably caused the scratch!  

Answer
Hi Shawn,

Since this has obviously benn reported to your insurance company, there is nothing you can do. Your insurance company will investigate. They will take statements from both drivers. They will also inspect the damage and write there own estimate. Since you do admit to hitting the van, it is likely your insurance company will just pay the claim.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh