I have kind of poo pooed getting a police report for minor fender benders but now I confess I have changed my mind. As I reported a lady ahead of me in a drive through lane got frustrated with the speaker and decided to back up. I was behind her and she did $2000 damage to my bumper cover, headlight, hood and fender. We did call the police and he got the statement from her that she backed into me. She started a claim with her insurance the next day where she also said she backed into me who was stopped. Then trying to settle the claim with Travelers, they hemmed and hawed and said she changed her story. I have no idea if this was standard procedure for Travelers or not or if she actually did change her story but after faxing the police report, I had her dead to rights, and they quickly closed the file.
In Minnesota, damage over $1000 requires filling out a “Crash Report” (name changed from what used to be an “accident report” interestingly). I did mine the next day with the diagram etc. of what happened. I really don’t think the perp ever did, but if she did and changed her story, that’s a bigger penalty than the misdemeanor of not filing the report. Falsifying a public document is not something you want to do in Minnesota.
So at any rate, I take it back and encourage having the police come but get your car out of the traffic lane at least.