Got into a fender bender. No insurance. What will happen?

You can be fined up to $10,000 and 90 day license suspended.

You have no say, its up to him whether he wants to report it to the police and his insurance. If its a really small dent on his car as well, he might consider. Not worth the increase in his insurance policy. If he does not have your license or plate # or even name, dont call him or contact him. Let him file a claim, they wont know you at all.

Your options are limited.

To legally drive in Indiana, you must be licensed and have valid insurance. When you register your car in Indiana, you have to list the name of your insurance company and policy number on your registration. So either you have lied on your registration or shown none. (I live in the state of IN).

It sounds like you are not at fault for this accident, which might be in your favor. Did the police come to the scene of the accident? If so, then they will require you to complete a form that you MUST complete w/in 10 days, that will list your name, address, license info and YOUR insurance company plus policy number. The insurance company MUST verify if in fact you had insurance or not, and if not, then they can suspend your license.

Now if no police came to the scene, it is unknown if the insurance company (for the other guy) will report that you had no insurance to the BMV.

You better hope that they do not find you at fault for this accident, and if so, then you will owe for the damages. A lawyer cant do a thing for you, since what is your defense, "well, I can't afford car insurance, so if you cant afford, you are not legal to drive period...........

IF, the BMV does find out that you were driving w/out insurance, then to keep your license active, you will then have to buy insurance and the insurance company by LAW, must submit proof that you have indeed paid for and not cancelled it.

One other thing to consider. In the state of Indiana, the license record goes back 10 years.......It will show all points, be it open or closed and the dates of each.

He gave you the information and admitted fault. Therefore, you technically don't need insurance at all in this situation. You should call his insurance company, then take your care to a body shop for an estimate. The insurance company will either pay the body shop directly if you choose to get it fixed, or they will cut you a check for a slightly lesser amount than they would pay the body shop.

It is state law to have auto insurance, but since you were not at fault in the accident, your insurance wouldn't be involved anyway, even if you had insurance.

If you're at fault then you can expect the other person to go through his/her own carrier and for them to then decide whether to pursue you directly through a subrogation action, or collection, or a civil suit if you don't agree to pay. And as Cowboy Bill said, you could be in trouble beyond that. The benefit of having insurance, beyond the obvious, is that your carrier could see this other person's car and pay based off an insurance estimate, not some inflated estimate that this person got at a shop. Now, if you want to pay for this yourself, work out the amount by asking for other estimates (good luck with that!) but make sure you get a release signed by the other person that says in exchange for this payment, they agree this is the final disposition, that it's binding and they agree not to sue you. Wow, that sounds exactly like what insurance companies do!

Options? You had the "option" to buy insurance if you wanted to drive. Since you foolishly drove without insurance, you will probably be cited and fined for driving without insurance and your license may be suspended His insurance will pay to repair your car but you may be walking for a while.

If you ever get into an accident with many people, including me and don't have insurance, you can be sued for everything you have or will ever have.

I'm betting (hoping) that his insurance company already has your information and already has reported that you were uninsured. People like you who drive without insurance, are one reason why our insurance rates are so high.

Because it was not your fault, you are not liable for any of the damage that the other driver did, specially if he admitted that it was his fault. The downside to this is that he can still report it to the police and BMV and to his insurance as required if there is more than 1,000 in damage.

According to Indiana BMV, "Driving a vehicle without valid liability insurance is against the law. A motorist...without a liability insurance policy is subject to a 90-day driver's license suspension or a one-year suspension if it is a repeat violation. "

And: "State law requires that any driver who has a judgment for, who is convicted of, or is administratively suspended for operating a motor vehicle without financial responsibility be included in a Previously Uninsured Motorists Registry (PUMR). Three times per year, drivers from the registry are randomly selected and sent a request for proof of financial responsibility."

Here's the issue:

If the guy that hit you has enough damage to his vehicle that he wants to submit an insurance claim, then all of this will come to light and it will all happen as stated in Indiana law. ie. you will get your license suspended for 90 days at least. And you will get added to the registry and will get contacted several times to ensure you have insurance, so you will have to pony up for insurance unless you want to get your license suspended again.

The only way out of it is to ask the offending driver not to submit a claim. If he does it will result in your 90 day suspension. If he already has, then it is too late. And even if you ask he can do whatever he wants and you have no say in his decisions.

The driver that hit you has an incentive to report because if he has an expensive car or if he has collision insurance or uninsured motorist insurance it will cover damages done to his car. Not reporting will result in his damage not being fixed or paid for by his insurance.

Please understand that if he just has the state required minimum insurance and not collision insurance, then only damages to your car are covered by it, not his. So if that is the case, explain that he has no incentive to report it since he will not be compensated for any damage to his car. If he has collision insurance then yes damage to his car, minus the deductible is payable to him for repairs.

Again, it all depends on what type of insurance the other person has, which limits your options:

If he has liability insurance and not collision: then his insurance only covers damage to others not to him, if this is the case explain to him that you do not want him to file or report because of the situation, that it will not cover him in any way and doing so will just cause a hassle for you.

If he has collision insurance: then his insurance covers damage to HIS car. If this is the case then it is in his best interest to file, but only if the damage done was greater than his deductible. For example, if he has a 1,000 deductible, filing a claim is only worthwhile if the damage to his car is 1000 or greater. It all depends on whether the damage done to his car exceeds his deductible and by how much. IE. if his deductible is 250, and damage done is 300. He will only receive 50 bucks. If that is the case then just offer him the 50 bucks and be done with it, but if he demands some large amount make sure to get a written estimate.

If all else fails and he files a claim with his insurance then you can go ahead and file a small claims lawsuit against him and his insurance and make him pay for damages to your car. He will have to pay for the damages and all court fees (you will have to front the court fees though). If he plays hardball with you, explain that you have the option of taking him to small claims court. But before you do try to get prove of him being guilty by e-mailing him something like: "Don't worry about hitting my car the other day, I will be fine, How about you? how is your car." And he'll probably reply with something like> "sorry for hitting your car (This is him saying his guilty btw) etc..." DO NOT mention him not filing anything over email since it could be thought of as coercion. Keep it extremely on the surface and very short and send it to the email on his business card. Then when you are in small claims presenting evidence, you can show your e-mail and his business card (that shows the email address) as evidence that he admitted guilt in hitting your car then simply show the written estimate to fix or repaint your car and bam, you win.

Lastly, and this is extremely important. If he files a claim and his insurance contacts youdo not mention anything about it being your fault. NOT ANYTHING. NOT A SINGLE WORD THAT MIGHT SEEM LIKE IT WAS YOUR FAULT. If they mail you something about it being your fault and that you are liable for the damages and they send you a bill. DO NOT PAY IT (doing so admits fault) instead get a lawyer if this happens and do as the lawyer wants you to do.