Q: Can I plead not-guilty for the at-fault accident? No ticket have been given.
I was involved in an at-fault minor accident which made a small scrape to the other party's car. The police officer did not give ticket to me but made a report that I am in at-fault.
How many points will be added to my record?
Will my insurance premium go up? Can I appeal/plead not-guilty against the police officer decision as there is NO evidence that I hit the car?
A:
First, you have a great question here since there is a lot going on that isn't typical of most accidents. Often times, tickets are issued in connection with these reports and these violations certainly can be a basis for increasing rates.
In the present situation, there doesn't appear to be any such circumstance so the only potential for an insurance company learning of the ticket depends on whether the accident report is reported to the insurance company or made otherwise publicly available. In my experience, your insurance information is documented on this so it is possible. I would contact the police agency and ask if they will inform your insurer or if that report is sent to the insurer. If not, I doubt this document will make it to an insurer since we don't even see them in court files for accident cases despite how useful they would be to those cases.
Second, you could have your rates go up if either party reports it to their insurer. This notifies them of a potential claim and can form the basis of a rate hike. You can mitigate this risk by offering to pay a hundred bucks or so for the paint to fix the scrape if the other party insists on reporting the claim. Absent filing a claim and the above report reaching the insurer, I am very doubtful that an insurer would ever receive notification of this.
Third, you will not have any points added to your license (to use laymen's terms. Technically we don't have a points system but all the same, it won't affect your license). There was no ticket issued. In order for a traffic offense to affect your license, there must be a ticket issued. The only exception to this is that report the officer has you fill out documenting the accident. Failing to return that in a timely manner may result in a suspension of your driving privileges.
Fourth, there is no need to appeal or plead. There is no traffic citation. The only question here is what the insurance company, a private corporation, decides to do with future premiums for their customer, yourself, following this incident. That is the only factor at play here.
Hope that helps!
Jason A. Wilkins
Attorney at Law
1 user found this answer helpful
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