Vehicle Damage Rating On A Police Report

How Does A Police Report Affect Your Claim?

As with any automobile accident, a police report is a very important piece of evidence and documentation relied on by attorneys and insurance companies alike to determine the cause and result of the accident in question. Filing a police report after a car accident will guarantee there is a record of the crash, which gives you leverage if you wish to eventually file a claim for compensation.

You should never hesitate to file a police report after a car accident — even for a fender bender that incurred only minor damage. It’s necessary to record what happened, what may have caused the accident, who was involved, and documentation of any injuries or damages.

Vehicle Damage Rating

Vehicle damage ratings on police reports are done through numerical and alphabetical values, with each aspect of the accident utilizing its own form of rating. When the first responders, i.e., police officers, arrive at the scene of the accident to conduct an incident report, they will rely on these values to report the level of damage sustained to each vehicle involved. 

Understanding how these ratings work will help you assess the level of damage your vehicle has sustained, thus allowing you to better assess your economic and non-economic damages when it comes to your car accident settlement. 

Values That Determine Vehicle Damage Rating

There are three different values that are used when allocating the vehicle damage rating. These three values include: 

1. Severity of Damage

As indicated in the name, this category determines how much damage the vehicle has sustained as a result of the accident. The scale for assessing the severity of damage is 1 through 6, with 1 representing the lowest severity of damage and 6 representing the most severe damage sustained. 

2. Direction of Force

Determining the direction from which the vehicle was struck, also known as the location of the vehicle damage, is evaluated on a scale of 1 to 12. In situations where a car receives a value of 6 in this category, it means that the vehicle was struck from behind, whereas head-on collisions are valued at 12, and impacts to the side of the car will likely be a 3 or a 9. 

3. Description of Damage

Unlike the other assessment categories, the description of damage uses letters from the alphabet rather than numerical values. Vehicles struck from the rear will receive the letter R as the rating, whereas vehicles involved in front-on collisions will receive the letter F. 

Four Car Damage Categories

Insurance companies inspecting an accident will often send an inspector to assess the damage sustained by each vehicle involved in the accident. The inspector will rely on four main categories of vehicle damage to classify the extent of the damage. These four categories consist of: 

• A: Vehicles in this category are considered beyond repair or entirely destroyed
• B: Vehicles rated in category B are determined to be undrivable per the level of damage sustained. However, despite being unusable, selling auto parts from this vehicle is still possible.
• S: If a vehicle has been placed in category S, it is determined to have incurred severe but repairable damage. It is important to understand that vehicles placed within this category may only be driven again after being entirely fixed by a professional mechanic. 
• N: Vehicles ranked in category N are determined to have only sustained minor and easily repairable damage. Although damage has been sustained, vehicles within this category can be driven again. 

Should I Still File A Police Report If There Were No Injuries In The Accident?

Regardless of whether there were no injuries in the car accident, it is highly recommended that you still file a police report following the incident. You may eventually decide to claim compensation for property damage or other losses. The average settlement for non-injury car accidents depends on the extent of the damages that resulted from the crash, so having a police report ready can make a significant difference in your car accident claims. 

Contact The Experienced Personal Injury Attorney At Adam S. Kutner, Injury Attorneys, Today

If you’ve been in a car accident, contact our skilled Las Vegas accident attorneys today for a free consultation of your case. We are eager to guide you through the legal process and help you obtain the maximum recovery you deserve after a car crash in Las Vegas.