The Information the Law Requires You to Exchange

Californians often treat the roadside exchange as an informal negotiation. It is not. Vehicle Code section 16025 makes it a duty with a specific list and a specific penalty, and knowing the list is useful in both directions: what you must give, and what you are entitled to receive.

The statutory list

Section 16025 provides that every driver involved in the accident shall, unless rendered incapable, exchange with any other driver or property owner involved and present at the scene both of the following:

• Driver's name and current residence address, driver's license number, vehicle identification number, and current residence address of the registered owner.
• Evidence of financial responsibility, as specified in Section 16020. If that financial responsibility is a form of insurance, the person shall supply the name and address of the insurance company and the number of the insurance policy.

Note the second half. Handing over a card is the normal way to satisfy it, but the statute is specific that the insurer name, insurer address and policy number are what must be supplied.

The penalty for not doing it

Section 16025 provides that a person failing to comply with all of the requirements of the section is guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine not to exceed $250. That is separate from, and much smaller than, the consequences of leaving the scene of a collision, which is an entirely different offense.

What to collect beyond the minimum

The statute is a floor. In practice, also photograph the other driver's license and insurance card rather than copying them by hand, note the license plate, and write down the make, model and color of the vehicle. If the driver is not the registered owner, get both names. Ask for a phone number, which the statute does not require but which every adjuster will want.

If the other driver will not cooperate

Do not turn it into a confrontation. Photograph the license plate and the vehicle, note the location and the time, and call the police to report that the other driver refused to exchange information. Then report it to your own insurer with everything you have. A plate number and a photograph are often enough for an insurer to identify a policy.

If the other driver leaves

This is where a specific deadline appears. Insurance Code section 11580.2 defines an uninsured motor vehicle to include one whose owner or operator is unknown, but for that unknown-driver situation the statute conditions coverage on there having been physical contact with the insured or the vehicle the insured was occupying, and on the accident having been reported within 24 hours to the police. If someone hits you and drives off, report it to law enforcement the same day, without exception.

Then finish the paperwork

Write it down even though you photographed it

Phones die, photos get deleted, and cloud backups occasionally do not include the one album you needed. Take the pictures, and also write the essentials on paper or in a note: the other driver's name, the plate, the insurance company and policy number, the time, and the cross streets.

Thirty seconds of writing produces a record that survives a dead battery. It also slows you down at a moment when adrenaline is making you feel finished before you are, which is when the insurance company's address gets skipped.

Give the collected information to your insurer, and check whether the collision meets the DMV reporting threshold under Vehicle Code section 16000. If you are not certain your policy would respond in a situation like this, ask us to read it with you.