What to do after a minor car crash

I had a minor crash with another car this morning It was definitely the guy's fault and he admitted to it. He broke my bumper and a halogen.As we didn't have much time the guy expalined to me that we didn't have to call the police but I could take the personal details of him/ his insurance and he daclares to inform his car insurance company about the accident. And, well, now I've been thinking if I did right? What should I do in case he turnes out to be a smart ass and does nothing ?

Bad move...

#1 - Call cops/get report, doesn't matter how minimal the damage seems. Without it he can come back and deny everything and
say you caused the accident. Insurance companies (Both your and the other guys) may also require a report and will cause
problems for you if you don't have one. Always get the cops involved..

#2 - Get lots of pictures and have the guy sign a confession letter..

I wish you luck...

If you don't have any proof it was his fault, you should have called the police.If he refuses to take the blame (and you probably don't have any witnesses for what he said) you'll be in trouble.

As far as I know, unless you are injured, then not involving the police is ok. Contact his insurance company today, give them all the details he gave you and car registration and tell them that he admitted blame. They will tell you to get a quote or two for the repairs and it should go quite smoothly.

If on the other hand the insurance company has never heard of him, call the police with his registration number and they will do the necessary.

That is what you have insurance for. You don't have to call the police for minor accidents, but you do have to worry that he may change his story at a later time. Normally, you would document the damage and if possible have the offending party sign a statement that it was his/her fault. Some damage automatically does this for you like a rear-ender where the one behind you is obviously guilty, but then there are the side impacts or corner impacts that can be a little tougher to determine. Relax and just give the details to your insurance and next time take photos!

s#$t I don't know why I agreed on this?! He convinced me that he knows it was his fault so since the situation was clear we didn't have to call the police. But now, how can I prove it was his fault and not mine ?I'm going to call the insurance right away.

A good piece of advice a friend gave me when I first came to Germany was to keep a disposable camera in my glove compartment in case of an accident and then take pics ASAP of the accident scene and all damage to my vehicle and the other vehicle.

The worst is that I had my camera with me and I didn't think about it

<Bolting the stable doors ...>
This is where a disposable or a mobile phone camera would have come reall handy. A few shots of the scene as well as a hand written note from the perpetrator to back up your claim so he/she cannot change the story afterwards etc.

SNAP

OK, I called my lawyer friend and he said that he'll have a declaration paper ready for the guy for tomorrow. The guy will have to sign it up, and I should rather inform the insurance company myself asap.

Always call the police because, if nothing else, they are the witnesses. I have had two minor scrape-ups here in Germany. One was a guy on a bike who hit my car while I was standing still, took the blame at the time, gave me his phone number, etc and then the next day, recanted and said it was my fault, I was moving, blah, blah, blah. It took forever to convince his insurance company that I could not have caused the accident and when they saw the car, they agreed.

Second one, guy said I backed up into him. We looked at the car, agreed there was no damage and swapped numbers anyway. I later get a letter from his insurance company that he is claiming I hit him and there is damage to his car. He just wanted my insurance company to pay for his little scrapes on his f*cking ugly, piece of shit Mercedes. He got nothing. But, still it was a lot of aggravation.

On Easter, I witnesses an older woman (around 60) back out of a parking spot and back straight into the bumper of my friend's Honda (5 of us witnessed it). She got out of the car and tried to say that the damage was already there because she had no damage to her car. Well, the cops were called and they had 5 witnesses standing there all saying that she hit the car. I could not believe she tried to deny it right there in front of the owner and 5 witnesses!

I have learned my lesson...always call the police.

I'm gonna have a heart attack I gave myself a greatest birthday gift ever

Now for the fun answers.

Jumping up and down and screaming at the other driver is always fun. Throw in a few "did you win your driver's license from the Lotto?" comments and such. Alternatively, look at the damage and fake a heart attack. That will fuck them up really good.

Don't worry, you'll be amazed that there are still some people who keep their word in this world. I once admitted fault and paid, the guy who ran into our car admitted fault and paid. In fact the only trouble I had was with a lithuanian lorry driver, and the police were involved in that. Took a year to get the money. It isn't always necessary to call the police. In fact it can be down right pain in the ars to do so. How many traffic jas are caused by stupid peopel insisting on the police even though the damadge is just scratches! And cause traffic jams galore..

I made the mistake of not calling the police when a child on a bike ran straight into my car, luckily I was only going walking pace so he wasn't hurt, next day his parents tried to claim I was going to fast and he couldn't avoid me. It took a lot of legal to-ing and fro-ing to get them to pay up. Always call the police, they will establish the truth and most importantly that nobody was hurt.

bidul: maybe this will assuage your self-kicking guilt. i had a fender bender last weekend in a parking lot and DID call the police. they came, but said that unless anyone is hurt, there's no need to call them. in minor accidents they never decide responsibility because (obviously) they weren't there during the accident. i called my insurance to report the next day and they told me to directly contact the other driver's company (it was clearly his fault). granted, this is not over and the insurance haggling may take some time, but it seems having the police there will make no difference. the cop even off-handedly remarked that he would split damages 60/40. if that's what his 5-minute conclusion is, i'd rather he NOT talk to the insurance company...

You could always try what happened in front of me last night/morning...

The fella pulled across the traffic lights and hit a woman think he must have been drunk! Seriously there was no other reason that it would have happened.

Anyhow he did the classic reverse and drive off move!

Luckily there was a copper just up the road.

Happened to me as well, as long as it's only minor car damage the police may even refuse to come. Take it easy, most probably the insurance will sort it out for you. Taking pics -> always a good idea, but I was too confused that day as well to think about it.

Not strictly true. Witnesses are people who saw the accident happen, the Police may collect witness statements but they are not necessary at the scene unless someone is injured. You should always collect witness statements from one or more people who saw the accident (if possible) and of course their name/address/phone number. Insurance companies will always argue about who pays what, that's what they do, but if it goes to court your insurance company is obliged to represent you. In Germany fault is rarely assigned 100% to either party - they usually take the view that you could have done something to avoid the accident (unless you were rear-ended, of course...).

Don't worry, there's always a chance the other guy is honest and will take responsibility, but it will all blow over eventually.

This is probably a stupid question, but is there a special police number to call to report accidents? I assume it's not the emergency number.

Yes it is - 110

This is what the "Zentralruf der Autoversicherer", says:
take pictures of the damage, make drawings, collect witnesses' statements and adress, fill in the "european accident report"-form and have the opponent sign it. But leave the legal assessment to the insurance companies. Take down the opponent's name, registration no. and insurance. If you don't have the opponent's insurance, call the Zentralruf 0180-25026 and tell them what happened. No need to call the police. You can order your copy of the accident-report on www.gdv-dl.de
Cheer up, it may yet all turn out well.
Chris

I was REALLY lucky, the guy who hit my car informed his insurance company himself even before me!But, yes, I learnt a lesson - next time I'll always ask the guilty person to confirm their guilt on a piece of paper! So simple...

Sorry, but I don't think you'll find anyone signing such a thing. I certainly wouldn't.
Just call the police and get a report filed, so both parties can be sure not get screwed in the end or settle it outside of the insurance realm as it may come you cheaper.

It'll turn out ok, don't worry.

Yeah, my insurance company specifically mentions to not sign any admission of guilt, regardless if one's at fault or not.