Conflicting Statements - Parking fender bender

What is the name of your state? New York

Here is the situation:

I was parking for school on a side street. This side street is popular for school parking so cars and generally stretched down the street very close to each other. I parked 6-12 inches behind a 97 grand prix. A couple days ago, a woman comes to my house, with a police and body work estimate. She claims I hit her car when I was parking. I am positive I did not hit her car. The police report is very brief, and only notes that my bumper was "up against" her bumper. Since I did not park on her bumper, I think she must of backed-up into me when she was trying to get out of her parallell park. Her back bumper has a scratch now and claims I was the cause. I have little damage (scratches) to my bumper, and am unsure whether or not it was caused by her. After telling her I was not paying her a dime, she filed a claim. My insurance has taken my statement. What is likely to happen here? There were no witnesses, the policeman who wrote the report did not have my side of the story as I wasn't even there. I only found out about this when she came to my house demanding money. I took a ride to look at the car, and it is pretty beat up and the bumper has other scratches besides the one she thinks I caused. Who will they side with? I am not even happy with paying 50/50 considering I didn't do anything. Should I report my minor bumper damage? I am fully insuranced with full collision and liability for myself and others. Her estimate was from a body shop, not an adjuster, for $400, for a whole bumper repaint.

I am driving a 2001 Alero.

Would appreciate any comments.

thanks
joe

It can go either way.

With no witnesses and no proof that you hit her car, your insurance company will probably deny her claim. Her car could have been damaged by the person who was parked there before you got there. After your insurance denies, she could decide to sue you in small claims court, but your insurance company will handle your defense there too, and let you know what (if anything) you need to do. But you've done your job, so you don't have to worry about it anymore unless you get served papers (in which case forward them to your insurance company ASAP).

Police Reports are not always the final word

I'm actually shocked she could get a police report. Most police won't do anything "after the fact". Their report is only as strong as her words, as that's all they could put into it. One thing you could do is find other cars that have scratched bumpers and ask her "if this car, with this -already scratched- bumper parked behind you, you could just as easily say it was them. Lady, get lost....hahahaha.

The police will always come and take a report in a hit and run case but will do so based only on the information from the person making the report and any witnesses. If there were no witnesses, the report will just state "Owner of V1 reported to officer that at X date and time, at X location, V1 sustained damage noted from an unknown source". If the owner has a tag number, they will report her version of what happened and look up the tag owner. It is up to the insurance company to investigate whether the claim is legit, when it comes in. But they have to take the report because if the owner has uninsured motorist property coverage and wants to use it, they need to have a police report confirming an unidentified hit and run before that claim can be opened.