rear - ended

Doing what your insurance folks say is absolutely the right thing!

 

Sorry to hear about you Prius although it sounds like everything is ok. I was always under the impression that you needed an accident report, but I had one weird incident similar to yours where I did feel like the bad guy.

I had my previous car hit in the drivers side door in a parking lot by someone who backed out without looking. There was no major visible damage, but I couldn't open the drivers side door. The woman actually said to me, "How do I know that your door wasn't broken before" and she didn't want me to call the police. When the police got there, they didn't want to write an accident report. They just told us to exchange name and addresses (not insurance info) because it wouldn't be worth it for either of us to get the insurance company involved if it could resolve it on our own. They said if I really needed a report I could go to the police station later to request one.I ended up getting it fixed at some small shop for $25 but never bothered to try to collect.

I still think it's smart to call the police.

 

While a police report might not be necessary (I think in CA you only need to do that when it's above "x" amount of damage), you definitely must take it into your dealer's suggestion of a body shop and get an estimate on the damage. I was rear-ended on the freeway years ago and had what looked like extremely minimal damage...but the shock absorbing properties of the bumper had been compromised and it ended up costing insurance over $700 to have it completely replaced.

I'm so sorry that happened on your brand new baby!!! I felt the same way when my week-old Camry's bumper got sideswiped while parked. It's just not fair!!!

 

JustDrooling4Now,

I think you did the right thing calling the police. The only two times I didn't (about 25-30 yrs ago) I got burned badly. The first was during the start of a snow storm. Almost head on at low speed into our VW bug, when he crossed the center line on a curve (took 3 yrs in small claims court, two judgements of default, and no response until he was unable to get his license renewed). The second was a lady rear-ended my beloved 66 Mustang with a BIG Pontiac. Her insurance denied the accident because she didn't report it (now that I look back I think she was drunk) - until I mailed pictures of both cars to them. Thank God I had a camera in the car! They quickly paid, but only $250.00 book value at the time. This was long before MA had no-fault insurance. Since then I call them every time. I learned I had to cover my own @$$ since nobody else would. Better safe than sorry, and hopefully no damage to your baby.

 

dh says that it may not appear to be damaged, but plastic bumpers usually go back into shape but there is foam and impact beams underneath that don't go back and he works for a dealership and a porter backed a car into a pole what looked like a small smudge on the bumper, turned into 1500 in damage. So you did the right thing by getting a report JIC. I dont mean to worry you but you would feel awful if you find out later there was damage and you didnt take it in. i hope everything works out for you