Buying auto insurance is something you should do before you have an accident, not after.

But a 23-year-old Butler County man is accused of trying to defy that basic consumer precept.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office last week charged Cory W. Alter of Jefferson Township with felony insurance fraud in the scheme to obtain coverage post accident.

Investigators said Alter caused a rear-end collision about 10:30 a.m. Aug. 27 on Saxonburg Road in Jefferson Township. No one was insured and neither driver was hurt so police were not notified.

But the other vehicle sustained about $1,800 in damage. Alter admitted to the other driver that he was at fault, according to court documents.

Both drivers exchanged information with Alter turning over what he claimed was his SafeAuto policy number.

By then, however, the defendant’s policy had lapsed, authorities said. Alter, apparently knowing that, within the hour obtained full coverage with Esurance for his car, while at his workplace in Butler.

Eventually, the suspected scam unraveled and Alter acknowledged, to a point, wrongdoing, documents said.

“(He) stated that due to unresolved health and mental issues at the time of the accident, he unfortunately does not remember much about what he said to the driver of the other vehicle or Esurance when they called him concerning the accident,” a police affidavit said.

In addition to insurance fraud, Alter was arraigned Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of attempted theft by deception. He is free on his own recognizance. A preliminary hearing is set for June 30 at the office of District Judge William Fullerton in Butler.