Do I have to notify my insurance company about this single-car accident?

by askyy
(Baltimore, MD)

I had an accident last Friday. The road was slippery after the snow in the morning.

When I turned into the I83 entrance, my car slid and scratched on a concrete shoulder. My front fender and the right front light was broken. I was not hurt, and no other vehicles and people were involved. The concrete shoulder was surely not damaged either. The only property damaged was my own little poor car.

I did not have collision and comprehensive coverage for my car since it is old. So I will pay by myself to repair my car.

In this case, am I still REQUIRED to notify my insurance company about this? I think it should not be necessary since I am not asking my insurance company for anything, but I am not sure whether such a "notification" is REQUIRED by law or something. So I want to consult with an insurance expert. Obviously, you are an expert. :-

Thank you very much for your help, and have a nice day.


Answer


Thanks for the comment about being an expert ;) One can only hope.

No, you are not required to report something like this unless you are seeking coverage (as in- you are liable to someone else and you want your insurance to cover their damages OR you want your car fixed). As you said, you do not have collision or comprehensive in your policy, so you do not have coverage for the damages to your car, so no coverage there.

The only way you would be seeking coverage is if the county – city (if you were in a public road), or a private person (a private road) come after you for the damage to the concrete. If there is no damage to the concrete, then you are not seeking coverage.

In this type of claim, very rarely cities go after motorist (unless you knock out a power pole or something like that). If they do, you could tell your insurance company that you did not think there were any damages at the time to the concrete and that is why you did not report. Most insurance companies will not hold the not reporting against you unless they can clearly see that there was a lot of damages (to the concrete) or that you could have injured someone. Other than that, you should be safe.

Good Luck