Does anyone know what information you have to give to the other driver if you hand a car accident?

[TeapotCollection]

A friend of mine had a bit of a bump last night, thankfully it was ok because she knew one of the people in the car but it’s made me think. I wouldn’t want to give my address to a complete stranger

Is registration number and insurance policy information enough to give them?

HAVE not hand of course!

You are meant by law to give your name and address and the name of the owner of the car if different. Also you have to swap insurance information. In practice most people will accept a contact telephone number instead of an address and allow you to give your address later to the insurance company.

A friend of mine nearly got taken to court for not giving her address to the other driver. She gave her name and other details, but didn’t feel comfortable giving her address.

The other party/insurance company attempted to take her to court - it was only about a week before she was supposed to attend that her solicitor rang the police and they dropped it.

Please always take pictures, even if there’s no damage.
We had a man try to blame my DH for the damage to his car that he hadn’t done. He he’d a minor bump with this bloke, no damage so no photos. Several weeks later there was a claim for hundreds of pounds of damage which he’d obviously done in another crash.
Insurance company took it over and, I don’t know what happened, but we never paid for it. It just disappeared.

Thanks all. Doesn’t seem right to me but I thought that’d be the case. Just hope I don’t have an accident!

When I had a bump I just gave phone number and insurance details. You are supposed to give your address but the guy who went into me was quite aggressive and I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my address with him

Interesting to read this. I had a bump in June but as I have a company car, I didn't have the insurance details so called the fleet management company. I'd already given the other driver my name and phone number, plus I'd given him the name and phone number of the fleet management company but he was being quite arsey because I didn't have my driving licence on me, so I really didn't want to give him my address. I was quite shaken up and had a screaming baby in the car and he was adamant I couldn't just leave without giving him my driving licence and full details. The nice lady on the phone from the fleet management company overheard me (recorded call) give him all of the details mentioned above and said I didn't have to give any more than that and that I would be free to leave!

If it is supposed to be address too, I think the law hasn't kept up with the age of mobile and camera phones.

I'm afraid the lady from the fleet management company was wrong. You are required to give your address. However, the other driver was wrong to demand your driving licence.

Agree take photos!!! Even if a minor bump!
My husband was in a minor bump rush hour traffic. He got out the car & numbers & address provided ( them stating they only lived around the corner)
A week later insurance company contacted husband - different car (even the colour) reg number and different town of the owner!! & major damage!
Thankfully they checked over our little car (not a scratch) & no way it could have not had any damage compared to the claim on the car or personal injury claim!
Very stressful! We never heard anything more other than insurance company doing checks.

My understanding is the driver's name, their insurer, and contact details.

Personally having been plagued by spam ambulance chaser phone calls for years after a crash, as well as having to repeat myself half a dozen times on the phone to my own insurer, I would give my address and no telephone number and conduct all correspondence in writing.

@prh47bridge

I'm afraid the lady from the fleet management company was wrong. You are required to give your address. However, the other driver was wrong to demand your driving licence.

The problem is the law makes it very hard for women faced with a furious man. I had a guy being so hostile snd aggressive that I didn’t get out of the car until there were passers by on the pavement.

And many years my cousin had a guy arrive on the doorstep and punch him after a minor bash (that was the other guy’s fault!)

The husband of a woman who hit my friend’s car turned up on her doorstep at night and tried to bully her into not going through the insurance company

In future if I felt at all unsafe I would call the police. Not for the accident, if no one was hurt, but for the aggression.

The problem is the law makes it very hard for women faced with a furious man. I had a guy being so hostile snd aggressive that I didn’t get out of the car until there were passers by on the pavement.

In that situation you have the option of reporting the accident to the police within 24 hours instead of exchanging details with the other driver.

I can’t believe you have to give your address out!
I came to a rolling stop against another car, zero damage, I was stopped but there was ice.
The other people were very very aggressive but agreed no damage.

Luckily I had take my photos and a short video. Later on they started harassing me for ‘damage to their car’ and it needed to be paid directly blah blah. They gave me a deadline before they were going to their insurers after sending me a crappy photo of some ‘damage’ in a bit of their car mine wasn’t high enough to reach.

I took great pleasure in telling them I had already sent photos to my insurers with measurements of my car bonnet compared to theirs. Never heard from them again. I dread to think if I had given them my address though.

I had a bump (reversing) and the man was so aggressive that I gave him a warning that I'd be calling the police if he didn't calm down. He was ranting, gesticulating wildly, demanding my license because he couldn't trust that I'd give correct details, etc. He didn't calm down, so I called the police. Lovely officer arrived, checked that I'd given my name and address and insurer, then sent me on my way while he had a 'chat' with the man. He even phoned me the next day to check I was ok.

I'd also given my phone number. That was a mistake because he harassed me to repair his car privately. I had to report that to the police, too.

@Larryyourwaiter

I can’t believe you have to give your address out! I came to a rolling stop against another car, zero damage, I was stopped but there was ice. The other people were very very aggressive but agreed no damage.

Luckily I had take my photos and a short video. Later on they started harassing me for ‘damage to their car’ and it needed to be paid directly blah blah. They gave me a deadline before they were going to their insurers after sending me a crappy photo of some ‘damage’ in a bit of their car mine wasn’t high enough to reach.

I took great pleasure in telling them I had already sent photos to my insurers with measurements of my car bonnet compared to theirs. Never heard from them again. I dread to think if I had given them my address though.

If there is no damage you don't need to give any details at all.

Long story but I once had a really minor bump, did not feel safe and did not stop. I drove until I found a police car and stopped, and the bloke who had clipped me and who'd followed me stopped behind. The police insisted we swapped addresses despite me feeling unsafe and both parties agreeing that there was zero damage. The person then followed me again.