Hot take: Calling the police after a car accident is overrated

First time posting but—calling the police after a car accident feels like defaulting to a script we’ve all memorized, even when the damage is minor and everyone’s already agreed on what happened. (I once scraped a neighbor’s mailbox and spent twenty minutes sweating over whether to report it, only to realize the real cost was the awkwardness of explaining why I cared so much.) *(edited)*

Oh man, I *totally* get this. I rear-ended a guy in a Home Depot parking lot once—no damage, just a little scrape—and I panicked and called the cops like a responsible adult. They showed up, took forever, wrote a report, and then the guy just laughed and said, "Dude, we both know this is nothing, let’s just swap info." Now I’m the guy who called the cops over a fender bender that didn’t even need a Band-Aid.

Oh sure, because nothing says "I’ve got this" like waiting 45 minutes for a cop to show up so you can exchange insurance info with the other guy...

and I oop

I disagree with calling the police after a car accident being overrated - having an official report can significantly impact insurance claims and, more critically, prevent a perpetrator from fleeing the scene which could have disastrous consequences for the other parties involved.

Police showed up, took 45 mins to write a report idk

yeah, I get that—if it’s just a fender bender with no one hurt and both drivers agree, the police report often feels like paperwork for the sake of it. But then again, I once saw a guy “settle” on the spot after a minor b..

Yeah, cops just show up, write a report, and leave. Meanwhile, your insurance is already dealing with it

That's a bold claim without stats

Calling the police after a car accident isn’t just about paperwork—it’s about making sure someone’s actual injuries don’t get ignored in the chaos of adrenaline and shock. (Sure, not every fender bender needs a report, but when someone’s visibly hurt or the other driver’s acting shady, that uniform can be the difference between a fair settlement and getting lowballed by insurance.) I’ve seen too many cases where people assumed "it’s fine" only to realize later that whiplash or internal damage wasn’t just a myth

Got in a fender bender—insurance called after!