Mother of teenage driver involved in accident requesting to identified as the driver

[kharvel]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

Situation:
A teenage driver T-boned my wife's car while she was driving. Teenage driver was at 100% fault. Teenage driver's mother came to the scene of accident and asked my wife not to call the police and agreed to pay for all damages, etc. My wife, being somewhat naive, agreed not to call police and exchanged info with the mother of teenage driver. Vehicles were taken to local auto body shop and after estimates were provided, the mother of teenage driver requested that she be accused as the driver of the vehicle at time of accident, apparently for insurance purposes. I guess her insurance company would contact my wife and get her story including who the other driver was.

Questions:

1) Is it insurance fraud if we agree to the request by the mother of the teenage driver to name her as the driver? Generally, I don't care who pays for the repairs (the mother or the insurance) as long as the car is repaired. But I don't want to get into legal trouble either and would like your advice on how I should handle the request. If I say no, then the other party may refuse to pay for all repairs since they would have to do so out-of-pocket.

2) The local police advised us that if the other party refuses to pay, we could file a hit-and-run complaint. There were witnesses to the accident and we're trying to locate them and get their info. Is it a good idea to prepare a hit-and-run complaint as a back-up plan?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

1. Yes, they can not only charge your wife for fraud, they can deny the false claim.
2.You can attempt to get them filed. Only the police and prosecutor can file charges.

 

[swalsh411]

Surely you have already informed your own insurance of the accident?

 

[ecmst12]

Don't lie about anything. It's never a good idea. It wasn't a hit and run, either, since they did provide their information.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

Questions:

1) Is it insurance fraud if we agree to the request by the mother of the teenage driver to name her as the driver? Generally, I don't care who pays for the repairs (the mother or the insurance) as long as the car is repaired. But I don't want to get into legal trouble either and would like your advice on how I should handle the request. If I say no, then the other party may refuse to pay for all repairs since they would have to do so out-of-pocket.

Your wife should definitely not lie about who was driving the car that caused the accident. If the teenager was driving, that is who she should report as the driver to both her insurance company and the driver's insurance company.

2) The local police advised us that if the other party refuses to pay, we could file a hit-and-run complaint. There were witnesses to the accident and we're trying to locate them and get their info. Is it a good idea to prepare a hit-and-run complaint as a back-up plan?

It sounds as if the local police were not aware that the driver remained at the scene of the accident and the mother came to the scene of the accident, and names and insurance information were exchanged at that time. A hit-and-run is when the driver leaves the scene of the accident without providing identifying information, and it is a crime.

 

[sprinkles]

I know you want to help the mother somehow when it comes to claims but lying won't solve anything so it is better to just tell the police the truth. It'll be fraud and it might be used against you. I think it is time to learn their lesson so that they should take care next time.

 

[kharvel]

Here is the situation so far:

We told the mother of the driver that we cannot be party to insurance fraud and cannot say anything false. So the mother agreed to have everything go through her insurance company and her insurance company took care of all repairs as well as car rental during the repair period.

The police was NOT involved as my wife decided at the time of the accident not to involve the police based on her perception of this mother. Obviously she was wrong not to involve the police and I told her that even if Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa was the driver at fault, she should ALWAYS call the police so that the police can be witness to the accident and provide testimony if required by the insurance companies.

Thank you all for all the advice.

 

[ecmst12]

The police can't become a witness to the accident if they didn't actually see it happen. They can testify about their investigation if they do one, but depending on the situation that may be of limited value.