Legal Question in Traffic Law in New York

Re: liability

If you caused any property damage to the other car, you had an obligation to leave your information for the owner. Failing to do so constitutes Leaving the scene of an incident without reporting under section 600(1)(a) of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. It is punishable by a fine of up to $250 and/or 15 days in jail (an unlikely event). Here, the person probably would just want you to pay for the damage.

Re: liability

While the law requires you to report any motor vehicle accident that results in property damage, a mere 'touching' of another vehicle not creating any damage need not be reported.

That is the law and you can see that it is very vague. It does not define 'damage' very closely. A mere scratch on my car would concern me not at all. But that's me. Another driver may feel differently.

You can quite easily mitigate any consequences to you by reporting the fact of you scratching another car to your local police precinct. Rarely do injured motorists report such things to the police and this would help you meet your duty to 'report' such motor vehicle accidents.

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