Necessity of providing aggrieved party's insurance my insurance info?

[Jim A]

Jurisdiction

California

Hi all.
While parallel parking recently, my side mirror left a shallow one-inch scratch on a parked car. I left a note with my number saying I'd be happy to pay for damage. In my head it would have cost $100 max going out of pocket.
Instead, the car owner got his insurance involved, and now they want to know my insurance info. My insurance will almost definitely charge me more than $1000+ ultimately as a result of rate hikes.
My question: do I need to provide his insurance company with my insurance info? Are there any other options I'm not thinking of? This whole scenario just seems so overblown it makes my head spin.
Thanks in advance.
J

 

[Zigner]

Hi all.
While parallel parking recently, my side mirror left a shallow one-inch scratch on a parked car. I left a note with my number saying I'd be happy to pay for damage. In my head it would have cost $100 max going out of pocket.
Instead, the car owner got his insurance involved, and now they want to know my insurance info. My insurance will almost definitely charge me more than $1000+ ultimately as a result of rate hikes.
My question: do I need to provide his insurance company with my insurance info? Are there any other options I'm not thinking of? This whole scenario just seems so overblown it makes my head spin.
Thanks in advance.
J

In what world do you live in that it would cost $100 to properly repair a scratch in a vehicle?

No, you don't "have to" provide your insurance company, but you DO have to pay for the damage you caused. Of course, you also have to notify the DMV about this accident using form SR1 if you caused more than $1,000 in damage. (https://www.dmv.ca.gov/web/eng_pdf/sr1.pdf)

 

[adjusterjack]

My question: do I need to provide his insurance company with my insurance info? Are there any other options I'm not thinking of?

Yes, you can wait until you get sued or sent to collections. If you tell your insurance about it then, it's possible that your insurance company can rescind your policy and deny the claim on the grounds that you breached your insurance contract by not promptly reporting the claim, as required by your policy.

Or, you can pay out of your pocket, whatever the repair estimate is.

The other owner has you over a barrel. You want to keep this from your insurance company, you pay what the repairs cost. You have no leverage.

 

[Zigner]

The other owner has you over a barrel. You want to keep this from your insurance company, you pay what the repairs cost. You have no leverage.

I'd also like to point out that the OP's insurance company WILL find out about this and it WILL trigger any increases that might apply. Not telling his insurance company just means that the OP will pay out of pocket AND have rate increases.

 

[zddoodah]

My insurance will almost definitely charge me more than $1000+ ultimately as a result of rate hikes.

I assume this is nothing but rank speculation. Correct?

do I need to provide his insurance company with my insurance info?

Yes. See Vehicle Code section 16025. It's alarming that a licensed driver would not know this.

Are there any other options I'm not thinking of?

You didn't tell us what options you are thinking of, so we obviously have no way of telling you what options you're not thinking of.

This whole scenario just seems so overblown

I don't disagree. There is little, if any, benefit to the other driver involving his insurer. Just let everyone know at every opportunity that you're willing to pay out of pocket for the damage upon presentation of a quote or invoice from a reputable repair shop.