SR-22 car insurance certificate

Q: I got into a little fender bender–my fault–earlier today, and the damages don’t seem so bad. I took down the other guy’s number and he took down mine, and I offered to just pay for his dent in cash. Am I right to do this? I don’t want my SR-22 car insurance certificate to be cancelled.

A: Not wanting your SR-22 car insurance certificate is a valid concern, but not valid enough to prevent you from acting in your own best interest–which is to say, filing a car insurance claim ASAP and having the other guy do so too.

You never know how many unknown factors there are in a car crash. Immediately after, your car may seem fine, but the next day you go to start it up and it just whirs, or you have engine noise. You may feel fine after a fender bender, but notice a profound ache in your lower neck and back over the rest of the week. Small things like this could eventually escalate in to medical and car repair bills in the thousands of dollars.

Also, you shouldn’t trust complete strangers with your money. If the other guy has your policy information, he can still file a claim, and can do so for damages which you didn’t cause, since there’s no way of proving you didn’t. Basically–it doesn’t matter how small. File a claim, and worry about your SR-22 car insurance certificate later.