Insurance companies typically request that a claim be made promptly and within a reasonable amount of time. Some states might have a law or statute that regulates this and thus dictates that the claim must be made within a certain time period which is typically 1 to 3 years. However if you delay making a report to your insurer and there is not a police report filed to back up your description of when and where the accident took place than you will need to explain why you delayed reporting the incident to the insurance carrier and their investigation can take longer due to your delay in reporting the accident.
State laws vary also vary on how long one can take to make a claim (or file a lawsuit) once an accident is reported. If there is no statute of limitations that a state mandates then an insurance company has their own internal guidelines that one must follow to place a claim within a prescribed time period. To give you a very generalized time limit for making claims it would normally be required to be done within a year or 2 for physical damages to a vehicle.
Most all insurance contracts contain provisions stating how long you have to file a claim or suit against the company. This is known as a Contractual statute of limitations. If you do not file a claim or a lawsuit within this time period, you may lose all rights to recover for your claim.
For example, your policy may state that you have one year from the date the claim arose (the date the injury or accident occurred), or from the date the claim was filed, or from the date the claim was denied, to file suit.
It is a good idea to report an accident and file your claim as soon as you can. If you wait to place a claim with your insurance company or a third party claim with another insurer, you will need to explain on why there was the delay as we explained earlier. Also the adjuster may want to take a more comprehensive look at your vehicle to make sure no other damage was done after the accident and before the claim was placed.
You should contact your specific insurance carrier's claims department to find out additional details on the time limits there are to report an accident and make a claim according to your company's guidelines and the terms of your policy.
As for Pennsylvania law, in some situations, you must report an accident to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. You are required to complete and submit a Driver's Accident Report within 5 days of an accident, if the following apply:
- The accident was not investigated by the police.
- The accident resulted in death or injury to any person or;
- There is severe damage to any vehicle which means it cannot be driven under its own power in a customary safe manner so that without further damaging the vehicle or the roadway and therefore requires towing.
The statute of limitations in Pennsylvania for filing Property Damage and Liability type insurance claims is two (2) years. Also any personal injury action must be filed within two (s) years of the date when the injury occurred. The PA insurance regulator can give you more information on specific Pennsylvania laws regarding the filing of auto accident claims and the length of time you have to place a claim and how soon the insurance company should respond to your claim, etc.
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