The experience of a car crash can be traumatic. Car accident victims might be inclined to skip the report altogether, but there can be legal ramifications for doing so. Failure to file a written police report with the DMV can result in fines, jail time, and criminal charges.
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This applies even if you do not need to make a claim. Since every traffic incident you get into is listed on your driving record, it affects your insurance premiums and insurers want to be updated on them. Depending on which state you live in, you have anywhere between one and ten years to file a claim. This time limit depends on the government statutes that each state follows. The time limit for making a bodily injury claim is typically shorter than the time limit for making other claims vehicle damage, property damage, etc.
Bear in mind that your insurance company does not decide the time limit for filing a claim. The final word is always the government statute in your state. After an accident, some damages or injuries do not become apparent until days or weeks later. If you think this may be the case with you, it may be a good idea to wait to file a claim.
If you file later than the time limit, the insurer has the right to reject your claim. The longer you wait to file a claim, the more likely it is that your insurance company might be suspicious. For instance, if you file a bodily injury claim three months after an accident, the insurer might wonder if the damages were because of the accident or because of something that happened later.
This could lead to an investigation and end up in a denied claim. Filing late could also lead to diminished evidence and make it harder to establish your case.
If you are wondering how long after an accident you can file a claim, the answer is that it varies from one state to another. Each state has its own statute of limitations, which insurance companies have to abide by. The following are the limitations in each state:. One of the first things that needs to be done after an accident is informing the police and it should ideally be done within 24 hours of the incident.
Lawsuit deadlines are strictly enforced and are set by state laws called statutes of limitations. Get more details on car accident lawsuits and deadlines. The precise deadline—or, more accurately, the wording pertaining to when a claim must be filed—will vary depending on your particular car insurance policy. Most policies do not provide a strict deadline or window of time 30 days, 60 days, etc.
Instead, you are usually required to make your claim "promptly" or "within a reasonable time. Some states especially those that follow a no-fault car insurance system have passed laws that specifically address this issue. For example, New York, which is a no fault state, requires that you file your claim within 30 days of the accident, unless you have a good reason for not doing so.
To answer this question, we'll ignore states like New York that have an explicit deadline for filing a claim, or car insurance companies that have actual claim filing deadlines written into their policies. To answer this question for everyone else which will be most drivers , we need to understand that the basis for any time requirement is to protect the car insurance company's ability to investigate your claim , including the specifics of the underlying accident.
Your insurance company may have an obligation to pay you for a covered loss, but you as the policyholder have an obligation to take reasonable steps to help them confirm the claimed damages and get to the bottom of key issues like fault for the car accident.
As long as your delay in reporting the claim in no way prevents your car insurance company from investigating your claim, then you can probably report the claim as long as you have existing coverage. For example, let's say your car door got badly dented while you were shopping at a grocery store. Upon discovering this damage, you took plenty of pictures and even got a copy of the grocery store's surveillance tapes showing another driver parking next to you and slamming his door against yours, clearly causing the dent.
Let's also assume the surveillance footage is time-stamped to prove when the damage occurred and even shows the other driver's license plate number you recognize the license plate as belonging to your neighbor. For whatever reason, you decide not to immediately file a claim with your car insurance company. However, several months later, the dent starts to bother you, so you call your insurance company and report the damage. Did you file your vehicle damage claim in a timely manner?
Your car insurance company will probably think not. They might argue that you waited too long and therefore, the company's ability to assess the damage and identify the responsible driver is now compromised.
As a result, they can try to deny your claim. Always check with your personal provider. This is usually referred to as a notice period. In any case, always report an accident as soon as possible. We recommend reporting within 24 hours regardless of who was at fault. When you notify your insurance, they will give you an exact date regarding other claim deadlines. In nearly every instance, the clock begins to run starting from the date of the accident. By reporting in a timely manner, an agent can talk you through what may be a stressful and even traumatic moment.
The provider can walk you through the next steps and course of actions. The agent will also examine the details of your case and inform whether you have grounds for a claim.
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