The most frustrating and unfair auto claim is the one when your parked vehicle is hit and the person responsible leaves without trying to contact you and does not provide a name and phone number. Unfortunately, because it is treated as a collision, you will have to pay the deductible, but the good news is that it is not considered chargeable, so there will be no surcharge for the “accident.” Some people who have had this happen might consider leaving the scene if they crash into an unoccupied parked car but before you consider it, you need to know a little bit more about the consequences of a hit-and-run accident. If you are identified with failing to report a crash, you could be fined up to $2,500 and given a jail sentence of up to one year. It gets much more serious if there is an accident in which someone is killed or injured—failure to report for over 30 minutes can mean a fine up to $25,000 and a prison sentence from one to three years.

Why would someone leave the scene of an accident? People who have had previous accidents or convictions, have no insurance or are driving under the influence, may panic and make the wrong decision.

More than six million people are involved in traffic accidents each year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. If you become part of this statistic, will you know what to do? Here are some tips for your review: stop immediately; call police, sheriff or state patrol; warn oncoming traffic by using emergency flashers; help the injured but do not move them unless absolutely necessary. Make no admissions and take no blame. Sign no statements except what is required by authorities. Get names, license numbers and insurance information. Also get the names of injured individuals and witnesses. Unless a collision alert has been issued because of bad weather or a snow storm, make an accident report to the police. Under a collision alert, you have 24 hours to report a non-injury acccident. Call your insurance agent or the claim call center. Your agent can give you this information in an automobile accident checklist to keep in your car. tpw