I’m the one that called the police. The woman she hit didn’t seem to have dealt with an accident before and she wasn’t going to call the cops. There was no way I was going to let insurance companies mess this one up, so I called the cops and made sure everybody’s statement (including mine) was taken, and that a police report with a correct account of events was filed then and there.
Might sound harsh, but my very first day driving alone I was side-swiped by a drunk truck driver (pickup, not big rig). He gave me a fake ID and a bogus insurance policy number. When I tried to get things taken care of with my insurance company, it turned out that he was full of it. The license plate on his car was out of date, and there was no record of anybody with his name/info. A $2,500 hole in the side of my parents’ car is one helluva way to learn a lesson, but you can be sure I learned it!