Clients often ask our car accident attorneys, “Will the accident report automatically go to my insurance company?” The short answer is no.
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It’s helpful to understand the purpose of the police report to understand why a police report does not automatically go to an insurance company. A police officer is not a judge, jury, or arbitrator. A police officer typically did not see the accident occur. A police officer is more like someone who acts as a historian.
Police officers come to the accident scene and take statements from witnesses. They may take photographs. They may take measurements to help someone, later on, officially determine who was at fault in the accident. Although an officer often will attribute fault at the bottom of a report, that’s their opinion of fault and not binding on anybody. It is based on what they know at that moment while creating the report.
Why A Police Report Does Not Automatically Go To Insurance
Because the police report is not binding on anybody, it is subject to interpretation and argument and can be factually wrong. As such, it is not automatically sent to the insurance companies after an accident. If a police report is inaccurate, you have the right to challenge it in court; most police reports are not even admissible as evidence.
However, this does not mean a police report is not important evidence. The police report is one of the first documents an insurance company will request after an accident. It helps them start the due diligence process to determine who is at fault in an accident. For that reason, you should always call the police at the scene of an accident and wait until they arrive. Sometimes, injuries take time to present themselves, or you may not notice damage to your vehicle at the accident scene. Once you, your vehicle, and the other individuals involved leave in their cars, it is harder to prove your injury or damage happened as a result of the accident.
Another reason a police report does not automatically go to the insurance company is that it is not a conclusive, comprehensive, and binding statement of fact against or for you. It is only part of the puzzle of figuring out what happened and who is at fault. That said, the police report is often sent to the insurance company by one side or the other to advocate their point and provide facts that might suggest why somebody was at fault.
If you’ve been involved in a car accident and have questions about insurance or making a claim, please call us at (916) 438-1819 to schedule a free consultation. You can ask questions and get the answers you need to understand the situation. If we agree to take your case, you will pay zero fees until your case is settled and you win.
