Time limit to file insurance claim?

sparkyswife

Hi all,

I am seeking advice after being contacted by a person who's car I scraped in a car park nearly 2 years ago. I offered to pay for the damaged at the time and gave my phone number. They didn't get their car fixed (this was in Feb 2009). It was not reported to either of our insurers, and we did not exchange policy details, as the damage was minor I was just going to pay for it.

I don't want to have to pay more for the damage as it's worse after such a long period of time. Where do I stand with regard to going through insurance? could they still file a claim after such a long time?

Many thanks in advance!

emmell

Probably not the legal answer, but I would tell them to take a running jump.
ML.

sarahg1969

They have six years to file court proceedings. However, this late in the day, it will be difficult to assess precisely how much damage you caused.

sparkyswife

Hi there,

Thanks so much for your help this far.

There were no photographs of the damage, but there was a witness as I had a passenger in my car. The other car was parked next to mine, and the driver was not there at the time.

Our insurance is with Privilege, and I am a named driver on the policy. My husband is the main policy holder.

Thank you!

Quentin

sparkyswife wrote: »

Our insurance is with Privilege, and I am a named driver on the policy. My husband is the main policy holder.

You need to deal with the insurer you had at the time of the incident.

iamana1ias

sparkyswife wrote: »

Hi there,

Thanks so much for your help this far.

There were no photographs of the damage, but there was a witness as I had a passenger in my car. The other car was parked next to mine, and the driver was not there at the time.

Our insurance is with Privilege, and I am a named driver on the policy. My husband is the main policy holder.

Thank you!

You can't use a witness that was in your car as they are extremely unlikely to be impartial.

Your insurers should have been informed at the time.

sarahg1969

iamana1ias wrote: »

You can't use a witness that was in your car as they are extremely unlikely to be impartial.

Just because they're not independent doesn't mean you can't use their evidence. It's perfectly standard practice to use evidence from other passengers. It's up to the Judge to decide who he believes.

sparkyswife

Thanks for your advice.

Does that apply to their insurance also? I mean, if they went to their insurance company now, would they pursue the claim against me? or would they also have difficulty as they did not register the incident at the time.

Quentin

For whatever reason, the third party seems happy to now pursue you direct, (if they are convinced you are liable, then they have no need to make a claim off their own insurance which would involve them paying their excess then still having to pursue you to get it back).

As already advised the third party has six years to pursue a damage claim, so whether or not they use their insurer is irrelevant.