It is amazing that this same type thing JUST happened to us. We were stopped at a red light in the right lane, with a car in front of us and a car in back. When the light turned green, the guy in front was yakking with a driver in the next lane and not moving, and just as we were about to honk, we were rear-ended by the car in back of us, who must have been a little impatient to get going. the car in front of us took off (fortunately we did not hit HIM), and miraculousy we did not sustain ANY damage to our car at all, and were not injured B”H. The other guy, driving a fancy, large car, actually had a glfbasll sized dent in his fender. He admitted fault immediately to us (what else could he have said, he hit us when we were stopped), BUT reported to the police, whom I insisted on calling, that we stopped short and that’s why he hit us. That was funny, as he was so apologetic for “driving too close, my foot slipped off the pedal. etc,” when it happened.
So I reported the INCIDENT, but made no claim, and then yesterday received a DMV form that I thought I HAD to file. As the damage was under $1000 (and in our case was zero), my insurance co. said we did NOT have to fill out the report. Over $1,000, if you make a police report and report to the insurance co, makes no diff whose fault it was, you have to fill out that tedious form, I was informed. And even though it is a pain to go through this, you are better off calling the police and making out the report, so it is on record what you had to say about the accident, so no false claims can be made later on. I have seen people report someone as a hit and run, after they both agreed not to go through insurance.