My dog got hit by a car

[krnauau]

So my dog got hit by a car over the weekend, and thankfully just sustained minimal damage. I didn’t get any of the drivers details, and apparently it’s her son who was driving her car. I only have here telephone number. Should I file a police report ?

The driver doesn’t want to go through insurance, even though I know I am liable, but I don’t think they have car insurance.

Should I make the driver go through insurance? My insurance told me in these cases most likely I will pay their deductible and it’s covered by comprehensive insurance.

Thoughts? Experiences?

 

[sovereignone]

@krnauau Damage to their vehicle would be covered by comprehensive, subject to their deductible.

No one is going to make you pay their deductible unless their insurer feels your were negligent (was your dog just freely roaming?) and decide to subrogate against you to recover some or all of their payout and, possibly, the other party's deductible.

 

[krnauau]

@sovereignone But they don’t want to go through their insurance

 

[sovereignone]

@krnauau Then their other choice is to sue you directly and prove negligence on your part. Animals are tricky. I know that in the case of a bite or attack, something called Strict Liability applies where you usually don't have much of a defense but I don't know if that also applies to someone striking your animal with their vehicle since there's a degree of care and control that is expected when operating a motor vehicle that is several times bigger than a person or even a dog. It would largely depend on the circumstances and whether you could be deemed careless or negligent.