“Failure To Remain, Followed By Police Report - Please Help!”

Hi,

I take very simple situations and complicate them. I dinged somebody's driver side mirror (a parked car) in Ottawa. My brother did this once and failed to remain -- a witness called police with his information and he's now paying at least twice the insurance rates he used to pay (I think for failure to remain). So I stopped, went to check out the damage (the cover had been knocked off and the glass was cracked - I was too flustered to see if everything was intact in terms of the power mechanism, etc.). I went back to my car, got a piece of paper, left my home phone number on the windshield. It started to snow shortly thereafter. I went home and agonized about it for a while, waiting for the phone to ring (I'm broke, and I don't like it when people yell at me, but I knew that if someone did that to me and fled, I'd be pretty annoyed). (I also don't like leaving my phone number out in the open because I live alone and I'm female). Then I checked a discussion form where a couple of people had said it was better not to leave details but to report the accident to the police. So I went for my run and picked up the note (which was soaked with snow but still readable). Then I got home and decided to call my parents before calling the police. They called my brother, who said I had to leave a number, but said I should instead leave my work number. So I wrote a note, put it in an envelope and a plastic bag, returned to the scene, and the car was gone. Of course it was gone. So at that point I did call the police, but they wouldn't take information as they said it would be reported as a hit and run and I had to come in to the station (only one open was downtown, and there's a snowstorm going on, mind). So I get the dog in the car and go downtown. Lucky the cop's a nice guy, doesn't hold it against me that my registration still has my previous address on it or that (genius!) I'm not carrying my driver's license because my wallet's in my other (non-snowstorm) coat. But I have the other person's plate number, and I give them that, and I give him the convoluted details, and I guess he just decided to believe me because who would bother making all that up? Anyway. No witness had reported the accident by then (perhaps because they were told to show up in person -- why is that?) and the driver hadn't either (same reason, and there was a snowstorm in progress). I won't get in trouble for failing to report, and I'll pay the damages even if I have to dig back into my line of credit to do it (I will). But is something dreadful going to happen with my insurance company? Is it likely the driver will be reasonable and just accept a reimbursement for damages without going through insurance? I did have the right intentions, all along -- I just couldn't leave well enough alone.

No call yet, but that's because the driver may be unable to show up in person until after work, etc.

Till then, anxiety... so a response would be most welcome.

Thanks!

Have the police charged you with anything?

If not, in the mean time, you'll just have to wait. If the vehicle's owner contacts you and you settle it outside of insurance and there are no charges, then you're likely okay. If, however, he's already gone through insurance... or decides to, and/or you get charged for failing to remain, yes, unfortunately, your insurance will probably go up quite a bit.

FYI - you cannot leave a note or your contact information. You must remain at the scene of the collision, period, unless there is some sort of life-threatening emergency or you are going to a location where you can call police from. (In the latter case, you must then immediately return to the collision scene.) If you hit a parked car, and the owner is nowhere to be found, you can call the police and have them attend the scene, but you cannot leave.