Aloha! Please let me know if this isn't the right place for this question.
Ok, so here we go. Two years ago I rear-ended a fellow doing 5 mph, I sustained some minor front-end damage (turns out my car had previous front-end damage and it just refolded along to the "old lines") and he had no visible damage but said one of his back-up cameras was gone (there was a small hole in his bumper where it looked like a plug had fallen out that could have been a camera). I took a couple pics of the damage, we exchanged info and didn't get the cops involved because, as I said, there was almost no visible damage, and went our separate ways. The damage to my car came to $1800 (new hood and new bumper) and I never found out (until today) what the damage to his car came to. Back in January, we traded that car for a new Passat (accident disclosed to dealer). I haven't really thought about that accident until last week when I got the statement for our insurance policy (wowwee are new cars expensive compared to 9 year old Toyotas!). It now includes some Driving Merit Board ranking, and they listed that accident as "major", I inquired why and was told that the damages were more than $2000 (makes sense given mine alone was $1800) and was told they paid out $4800 to the other driver's insurance company (!!!!!!). I actually laughed because, like I said, there was no obvious damage to the other car and I was going ~5 mph (my foot was still on the brake but had released some pressure). Now, I had photos but recently deleted them thinking I wouldn't need them.
Is there anything I can do this far after the accident to show that fraud may have taken place? ie, Is it worth my time to try to recover the photos from my phone? Is $4800 for a new bumper for a Jeep Compass (? small SUV of Jeep make) with a backup camera system reasonable (assuming the entire thing was replaced)? It's not the money that bothers (this might be partly a lie) but more the fact that I may have been an unwitting participant in an insurance scam.
TL;DR: Is $4800 reasonable for a new bumper (with cameras!) hit by a plastic Toyota at 5 mph or can I report a potential scam 2 years after the fact (assuming I can get my photos restored)?
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[–] mostly_sarcastic 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I'm unfamiliar with "Merit Report." If it's a new policy, you should not -legally- be held to anything that occurred prior to it being initiated. It's very illegal to retro-activate a policy that would negatively impact a person's credit/finances/life/etc.