You just had an car accident but you decide not to inform DMV and your insurance company. The damage is not that much and other car has less damage as well. So you both agree not to notify DMV. Here are 5 things that may happen to you if you don’t give car accident report to your local DMV.
You may lose your driver license
You are obliged to report car accidents that costs more than $ 1.000 to DMV. This figure was $ 750 before January 1, 2017. You have to reporting in 10 days. This means, if you don’t report in 10 days, DMV could suspend your driver license.
You may pay fine up $1.000
If you don’t report the accident, you may think that you’ll avoid an increase in your car insurance and also you may avoid more negative points on your record. But according to California law, if you don’t report the accident and leave the scene without California Vehicle Code (Section 20002), this will be regarded as misdemeanor and if you are lucky, judge will give you a fine up to $ 1000.
You may go to jail because of car accident you didn’t report
There is a possibility that the same judge, who might like your misdemeanor, send you to the jail for six months at least. Worst, you can both go to jail and obliged to pay the fine.
Other driver may put all blame on you
Your perfect scenario failed and other driver changed her/his mind and give up bypassing auto insurance and file a report to DMV. If you exchanged relevant information (insurance number, driver license info etc) along with your phone number, the driver of other car may lay all the blame on you for the accident. If he or she files a damage claim against you because you didn’t report the accident, you can face some very ugly results and pay costly damage fees for other driver.
Insurance company may cancel your policy
This is not maybe the worst outcome but if you avoid going jail or paying the penalty, your insurance company may cancel your policy because of your misdemeanor. In some cases, if you are injured in the accident for instance, you can’t report in 10 days. But you can have a passenger with you file the report in 10 days or you can hire an attorney.