Met with an accident, need advice to prevent harassment in the future!

Hello BHPians,

This query is on behalf of my friend, who recently met with an accident. His car nudged a Honda Dio yesterday in early morning hours. Apart from minor bruises which were attended to at a nearby hospital, the rider is completely fine. The same cannot be said for the scooter though.

Anyway, it was mutually decided on the spot that my friend will reimburse the repair amount to the scooter rider. Both the parties took pictures of damages and left after exchanging numbers.

As the damage to the car is limited to a torn bumper, my friend plans to send it in for repair in a week or so. Later in the evening, the scooter rider called him to inform that some panel replacements are required and repair cost is around Rs. 6,000. The person says that he doesn't want to involve police/court, which my friend also agrees to. But the question is, what if he changes his mind and demands further compensation, or worse, files an FIR at the police station?

My friend wants to pay the agreed repair cost and close this chapter. He reached out to me for advice, not knowing that I am equally clueless on matters involving the police. I decided to go through existing accident advice threads on the forum but came out more confused.

From what I've read so far, it seems that accident victims are free to claim further compensation, and file FIRs or false cases of hit-and-run, as they deem fit even months after the accident. Is there a legally binding agreement that can be signed by both the parties to absolve each other from compensation claims in the future?

In our particular case, is it better to pay the compensation amount with bank transfer instead of cash? Although I'm not very sure if it can be proved that the transaction is settlement money and not for something else.

My friend fears that the scooter rider might file hit-and-run case against his car number, even after accepting settlement money. This brings me to another question. If the other party is not physically present, can one go to the police and voluntarily file something like an entry in the CSR/general diary to acknowledge the accident? Generally, police officers are not very keen on filing FIRs. Is it the same for general diary entries as well?

As normal people without any connections, we are more worried about our peace of mind than ever. Reading through bad experiences of members documented on the forum has made it worse. I have created a new thread so that members can shed light particularly on this topic. And if this thread grows to include multiple options to safeguard oneself from future harassment, it will be of great help to those stuck in similar situations. Thanks.

I hope you have hospital receipts - ideally you would have paid by card or UPI which highlighted this was not a hit and run.

While I don't know the accident circumstances and who is at fault. Your friend is in a stronger position considering the victim does not want to involve the police.

1. Does he have no licence?
2. Suggest he claims insurance? If third party, verify this - the chances are the person has no insurance

If any of the above are true, the victim has a weak case as the scooter was possible operated in an illegal manner.

You have been a gentleman! Wait and see and take professional advise.