What insurance information should I provide for the driver who hit me?

Separate the Different Types of Insurance Information

Accident paperwork often requests several kinds of insurance information. The questions may concern the driver who hit you, your own automobile policy, your health plan, or all three. Keeping these categories separate helps prevent incomplete or incorrect answers.

The Other Driver’s Automobile Insurance

For the driver who hit you, provide the information you actually have, which may include:

• The insurance company’s name.
• The name of the insured person.
• The other driver’s name, if different from the policyholder.
• The policy number.
• The bodily injury claim number.
• The property damage claim number, if it is different.
• The adjuster’s name, telephone number, email address, and mailing address.
• The date and location of the collision.
• The other vehicle’s make, model, license plate number, and registered owner.

This information may appear on the insurance card exchanged at the scene, correspondence from the insurance company, or the crash report. North Carolina’s N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-166 requires drivers involved in certain crashes to stop and provide identifying information such as their name, address, driver’s license number, and license plate number. That statute does not mean you should invent insurance details that were never provided.

For reportable crashes, the investigating officer’s report generally includes financial-responsibility information for the vehicle the officer identified as at fault. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-166.1, law enforcement investigates reportable crashes and prepares a written report. An officer’s preliminary identification does not necessarily resolve civil fault or guarantee insurance coverage.

Your Own Vehicle Insurance

Provide your own automobile insurance information if the form specifically requests it. Useful information commonly includes:

• Your insurance company and policy number.
• The named insured shown on the policy.
• Your claim number and adjuster’s contact information, if a claim has been opened.
• A copy of the declarations page, if requested through a secure method.
• Information about policies covering the vehicle you occupied or potentially applicable household vehicles.

Your policy may contain medical payments coverage or uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Those coverages can sometimes matter even when another driver caused the crash. Whether a particular coverage applies depends on the policy language, the vehicles and people involved, and the facts of the collision.

Giving accurate information about your policy is not the same as admitting fault. It allows the relevant policies to be identified and reviewed. Do not assume that your own insurance is irrelevant merely because you believe the other driver caused the collision.

Your Health Insurance

If the paperwork requests health insurance information, provide the plan details shown on your current insurance card:

• The health plan or administrator’s name.
• The member identification number.
• The group number, if listed.
• The policyholder’s name and your relationship to that person.
• The claims or member-services address and telephone number.
• Whether the coverage is through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid, the State Health Plan, or another source, if the form asks.

Health insurance may be used to process accident-related medical bills, subject to the plan’s terms. The source and type of health plan can also affect whether the plan later claims a right to reimbursement from injury proceeds. Keep copies of explanations of benefits, provider bills, payment notices, and letters from the health plan. These documents help show what was billed, what the plan paid, what was adjusted, and what remains outstanding.

What Should You Write About Future Physical Therapy?

If you expect physical therapy but have not selected or been given the name of a provider, state that clearly. Appropriate entries may include “provider not yet selected,” “referral pending,” or “to be updated.” Do not list a facility you have not contacted or claim that treatment has started when it has not.

Once a provider is known, update the paperwork with the facility’s name, address, telephone number, dates of service, and billing information if requested. Keep visit summaries, itemized bills, payment receipts, and insurance explanations of benefits. Follow the instructions of your medical providers and document your symptoms accurately.

Check Who Is Asking Before Sending Sensitive Information

The appropriate response may depend on whether the form came from your attorney, a medical provider, your insurer, your health plan, or the other driver’s insurance company. Confirm the recipient and why the information is needed before sending a full insurance card, declarations page, or other document containing personal data.

Use a secure upload system, encrypted email, or another approved delivery method when possible. Keep a complete copy of every form and attachment. Record the date and method of delivery.

A request for basic insurance information is also different from a medical authorization. Read any authorization separately and check which records, providers, and dates it covers. You do not have to guess at missing details, and you can ask the sender to explain unclear or overly broad questions before signing.

Avoid Speculation About Fault

Insurance forms sometimes combine administrative questions with requests for a description of the crash. Provide factual information, but avoid guessing about speed, distance, injuries, or events you do not remember clearly.

North Carolina permits contributory negligence to be raised as a defense. If the defense proves that an injured person’s own negligence helped cause the collision, it can create serious difficulties for the claim. The party asserting that defense generally bears the burden under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-139. Preserve evidence showing both what the other driver did and why your own conduct was reasonable.

How This Applies to Your Paperwork

For the described situation, separate the paperwork into three categories. First, list the other driver’s insurer, policy or claim number, and adjuster if known. Second, provide your own vehicle insurance information where the form asks for it. Third, enter your current health plan details so future bills can be tracked correctly.

For physical therapy, write that the provider is not yet known and update the form later. Do not delay the rest of the paperwork solely because that one answer is unavailable. Before submitting anything, check that names and numbers match the insurance cards and claim correspondence.

Documents Worth Saving

• Both drivers’ insurance cards or photographs of them.
• The crash report and report number.
• Letters and emails from every adjuster.
• Your automobile policy declarations page.
• Your health insurance card.
• Claim numbers for bodily injury, property damage, or medical payments claims.
• Medical bills, records, visit summaries, and explanations of benefits.
• A copy of each completed questionnaire, authorization, and attachment.