Get the Other Driver’s Insurance Before You Leave the Wreck. Do Not Count on the Police to Get It for You.

For many years after I started practicing law, police officers made sure you did not leave the scene of a car wreck without exchanging insurance information with the other drivers involved.

No more. In my experience, they not only do not provide that service, they will not give that information to you.

So my clients leave the scene with a report number, or with nothing. Then they wait three to five days for the wreck report to become available. During those days, storage charges on the towed car are mounting, they have no rental, and they have no idea who to contact.

It can be a crisis. It is a worse one when your child is the person who got hurt.

The fix is simple, and it is the point of this post: always get that information yourself at the scene if you possibly can.

What Georgia law says

The law has not gone away. It is just not doing the job it used to do.

O.C.G.A. § 40-6-273.1 says the law enforcement officer at the scene of a reportable accident “shall instruct” each driver to report three things to everyone who was injured or had property damaged:

• The name and address of the owner and the driver.
• The license number of the vehicle.
• The name of the liability insurance carrier, or the fact that the driver is self-insured.

Read that carefully. It tells the officer to instruct the drivers. It does not make the officer collect the information and hand it to you. And it asks for the name of the carrier, not a policy number.

Georgia’s hit-and-run statute puts its own duty on the drivers. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-270, a driver in a wreck that injures someone or damages an attended vehicle must stop, give a name and address and the vehicle’s registration number, and, upon request and if it is available, show a driver’s license. That section does not mention insurance.

Every driver is supposed to have proof of insurance in the vehicle, on paper or on a phone. O.C.G.A. § 40-6-10. So the proof should be right there. You just have to ask for it before everyone drives off, or before the wrecker hauls the car away.

Why the wait causes so much trouble

The report takes time. The City of Atlanta says its police reports are available within 5 to 7 business days. Norcross says 3 to 5 business days. A wreck that happens on a Thursday night can easily mean no report until the middle of the next week or later.

You are entitled to it when it comes. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(5), any person whose name or identifying information is in the report may get a copy, personally or through a lawyer. Others may get it with a written statement of need, which includes someone injured in the accident or someone with a personal connection to a party. But you cannot get what does not exist yet.

Here is what those days look like without an insurance company’s name:

The storage meter is running. If your car was towed, the wrecker’s daily storage charges keep adding up. Georgia law lets a towing and storage firm that has complied with the notice rules claim a lien for its charges, and the firm’s notice letter may not come for up to 15 calendar days. O.C.G.A. § 40-11-19. If the officer called the wrecker, the rate generally comes from the firm’s agreement with the local government. The state’s published maximum towing rates apply to vehicles towed off private property, not to every crash tow.

You have no car. No one has agreed to pay for a rental, because you do not yet know whom to ask.

No one is working on your claim. The other driver’s insurance company has a duty to adjust a property damage loss fairly and promptly. O.C.G.A. § 33-4-7. That does you no good until you can tell it you exist.

When your child is the one who was hurt

Everything above gets harder.

You are not going to be thinking about insurance. You should not be. If your child is hurt, your child comes first. You may leave in the ambulance while your car sits in the road. If that happens, the one thing to do is hand the job to someone else. Ask a spouse, a friend, or a bystander to photograph the other car and its tag, and ask the officer where your car is going.

Without a car, your child can miss the follow-up. Head injuries in children are often missed at first. The appointments in the days after a wreck matter. So does the pediatrician’s visit when your child starts acting differently. A family with no car and no rental may struggle to get there, and an insurance company may later ask why your child did not go.

Your child’s things are in that car. The car seat, the backpack, the inhaler, the glasses, the medicine. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-11-18, a towing and storage firm must allow the owner to retrieve personal property in a stored vehicle for up to 30 days from the date its notice was sent. The statute does not cover items attached or affixed to the vehicle. Ask for the car seat anyway, and ask early.

The car seat is evidence too. NHTSA recommends replacing a car seat after a moderate or severe crash. Do not put your child back in it. But do not throw it away either. After SB 68, seat belt evidence can reach the jury, and insurers look for ways to bring car seat use into these cases. Photograph it, keep it, and ask your lawyer what to do with it. Ask the insurance company to pay for the new one. You will also need a safe seat in any rental.

Your teenager may be alone at the scene. A 16-year-old who has just been in a wreck is scared, and may not know what to ask for. Teenagers are often unfairly blamed for a wreck. Teach yours what to do before it happens. Put the list below in the glove box and on the phone.

Your child may have been in someone else’s car. A grandparent, a carpool, a friend’s mother. You were not there, and you have no idea who the other driver was. Call the person who was driving and get what they have. Find out which agency came, and get the report number. Your child’s medical bills are starting, and you hold the claim for them.

Your child may have been on foot or on a bike. A driver who hits a child and keeps going is the case where that tag number matters most. If the driver is unknown, your own uninsured motorist coverage may pay, but Georgia requires actual physical contact, or an eyewitness other than the claimant who backs up the description of how it happened. O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11(b)(2). Get the names of witnesses before they leave.

What to get at the scene

First, make sure everyone is safe. Call 911. Get your child care. Then, if you can, take your phone and photograph:

• The other driver’s insurance card, front and back. Ask for it. If you cannot photograph it, write down the company and the policy number.
• The driver’s license. Georgia law requires the driver to show it on request, if it is available.
• The tag on every vehicle involved.
• The other vehicle, the damage, and its position on the road.
• Your own car and your child’s car seat, before anything is moved.

Also write down:

• The owner’s name, if the owner is not the driver. The insurance often follows the owner.
• A phone number for the driver.
• Witnesses’ names and phone numbers. They will not wait around.
• The officer’s name, the agency, and the report number. On a highway, it may be the State Patrol and not the city. In Atlanta, the interstates change hands depending on the hour. You need the right agency to find the report.
• The wrecker’s company name and where your car is going. Ask before it leaves.

Ask the officer for help, politely. You can say, “Can you make sure we exchange insurance before we go?” Officers at a wreck are busy, and some will still help.

If the other driver refuses to show you anything, do not argue. Take a picture of the tag and the car, and tell the officer. Do not say whose fault it was, and do not apologize. Words get twisted.

If you already left without it

Do not panic. You still have options while you wait.

• Report the wreck to your own insurance company right away. Give them the report number and the other car’s tag if you have it.
• Look at your own policy. If you have collision coverage, your own company may be able to pay for the damage and move your car now, and seek its money back later. If you have rental reimbursement coverage, it pays actual expenses for substitute transportation, subject to your policy’s limits, while the car is inoperable or under repair. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 120-2-52-.07. Your policy may also have medical payments coverage.
• Find your car and call the wrecker. Ask what it charges per day and when you can get your belongings. Get it in writing if you can.
• Get the car moved. Do not leave it sitting if you do not have to. Ask your insurance company or your body shop about moving it to a place that does not charge storage.
• Keep every receipt. Towing, storage, rides to the doctor, rental, a new car seat. Georgia allows loss of use when a vehicle can be repaired. A total loss is handled differently, so ask.
• When you get the report, contact the other insurance company in writing. You can open a claim and ask about a rental without giving a recorded statement. If you have not hired a lawyer, get advice before you give one.

If the insurance company stalls on a clear property damage claim, Georgia law has teeth. An insurer that refuses a proper written demand within 60 days, in bad faith, may owe a penalty and attorney’s fees. O.C.G.A. § 33-4-7.

What I tell parents to do today

• Put a copy of your insurance card in every car, and a picture of it on your phone.
• Keep a pen, paper, and this list in the glove box.
• Teach your teenager the list, and practice it. Tell your teenager to call you first.
• Read your own policy. Find out if you have collision, rental reimbursement, medical payments, and uninsured motorist coverage. The time to learn that is before the wreck.
• Tell every grandparent and carpool driver who has your child to call you from the scene.

Do not count on anyone else to protect you at a wreck, not anymore. It takes one minute with your phone. Those few pictures can save your family days of not knowing who to call while the bills mount and your child needs to get to the doctor.

Attorney Pete Pearson has practiced personal injury law in Georgia since 1996. He has a special interest in helping families of injured children. He is a father of ten and lives with his wife and children in Newborn, Georgia.

If you need to talk, my direct line is Six-Seven-Eight 358-2564, or email pete@petepearsonlaw.com.