I would be worried that if he had known I had a video of it, he could have somehow claimed it was a differenc accident, different place, etc etc.
My experience has been the opposite. In one accident about 7 years ago I didn't tell the other driver of the video and his insurer questioned why I had not mentioned the footage until days after the accident - suggesting it might have been made up later. In my next accident (last week) I told the driver very quickly. Showed the video to the driver, witness and police on scene. After the scene cleared he called his insurance company up and, in their words; "Accepted liability right away".
My experiences about insurance in Ohio. (And being a UK ex-pat, I see this is sometimes very different to the UK)
- The the accident is "Non-chargeable" then your rates don't rise... Immediately. A pattern of not-at-fault claims can indicate a dangeorus driving style that will raise your rates based upon actuarial data (the math they do to calculate risk) but it's not in response to any accident. Non-chargeable accidents are those in which the other driver cannot claim any money from you at all, and animal strikes.
- If nobody is hurt and the damage is relatively minor (less than a few thousand dollars) then they adjusters tend to declare fault purely on strict adherence to driving laws, not necessarily "good driving behavior". If someone starts to merge into your lane in stop and go traffic and you spend the next 15 seconds belligerently nto allowing them in and there is contact, then they will likely get 100% of the blame, despite the fact that it takes two to tango, and you were definitely dancing with them...
- If claims are not resolved in this simple "get the chepa ones out the way" rule (more expensive claims) then the insurance companies may agree to split fault, or may go to arbitration to decide.
- My insurance company does not raise rates unless someone can claim more than $1k from you.
- Anyone involved in an accident can make a claim that will derail a normal accident. I've seen people claim the car they rear-ended backed up and the accident went 50/50. I have seen a van back up at a red ligth and then claim they were rear-ended.
- In my most recent accident the investigator saw the video and was very happy. It's still extremely rare to get dashcam footage of an accident. In this case the other driver simply coudl not avoid 100% fault due to the video. I'm told he claimed I sped up suddenly as he started merging. That claim could not be proven or disproven except for the video and one witness who stopped. A second witness stopped and told a version of events that had myself, the other driver, the good witness and the police all scratching our heads. the police figured she was either delusional or was mistaking us for other cars. She told them that myself and the other drivers had been road raging each down the freeway other for severl miles, yet we both joined the freeway only a half-mile before the accident site. My story matched with the good witness and the video 100%, so the police just sent her on her way and never even listed her as a witness.
