Is there any time limit to make insurance claim against a 3rd party?

misterbarlow

We have been away, and on return my daughters car which is parked in the street has bad damage to the rear bumper. We live near a primary school.

I scanned though our cctv and after a while I have found the vehicle in question, which comes up the street and pulls in to park behind ours, but comes in too tight and scrapes his side all along our rear corner, our car lifts in the air slightly and there is an audible bang and scrape noise, he knows its happened as gets out checks his own car, has a quick glance at ours, looks about then gets his daughter from the car walks her to the school, comes back 5 mins later and simply gets in and drives away.

I can clearly see the colour, make and model, and the driver, but no angle shows the VRN clear enough to make out. I have checked with neighbours and all of theirs only target their own drives so nothing catches it.

Ordinarily I would just wait until the next school day and confront them but this happened on the last but one day of term so I am not going to be able to find this car  now until school starts again in six weeks.

Can I still claim from them after this time??

SiliconChip

Yes, your daughter (not you) has 6 years to claim in England (I think it may only be 3 for an injury claim) although the longer she leaves it that harder it'll be to prove the case, but 6 weeks shouldn't be a problem. She should report it to her insurer now anyway and tell them that she expects to have more details on the vehicle later.

DullGreyGuy

misterbarlow said:

We have been away, and on return my daughters car which is parked in the street has bad damage to the rear bumper. We live near a primary school.

I scanned though our cctv and after a while I have found the vehicle in question, which comes up the street and pulls in to park behind ours, but comes in too tight and scrapes his side all along our rear corner, our car lifts in the air slightly and there is an audible bang and scrape noise, he knows its happened as gets out checks his own car, has a quick glance at ours, looks about then gets his daughter from the car walks her to the school, comes back 5 mins later and simply gets in and drives away.

I can clearly see the colour, make and model, and the driver, but no angle shows the VRN clear enough to make out. I have checked with neighbours and all of theirs only target their own drives so nothing catches it.

Ordinarily I would just wait until the next school day and confront them but this happened on the last but one day of term so I am not going to be able to find this car  now until school starts again in six weeks.

Can I still claim from them after this time??

The law of limitations is 6 years for property damage (5 in Scotland), if the property is owned by a minor then it could also be considered 3 years from their 18th birthday if that gives a longer timescale. 

Bodily injury is 3 years but again counted from their 18th birthday for a minor. 

Note that the "limit" is for filing court proceedings, if they are filed after this date then the third party has a statutory defence that the claim is time barred.

misterbarlow

thanks both..

Mr.Generous

Wonder if they will swap the car over summer?

Nasqueron

Mr.Generous said:

Wonder if they will swap the car over summer?

Or over 6 weeks, have it repaired and deny it was them, "must be a co-incidence guv'nor, my car hasn't been hit"

Or the kid has moved school and they never come back

Not that will do anything but you could report it to the police and see if they are bored enough to follow the CCTV. Do any of your neighbours have car dash cams that could have recorded it?

Herzlos

Report it to the police and insurance now, providing the video. If the driver is visible it'll be hard for them to claim it wasn't them even if they repair the damage or change car.

You can always post the video to a local community facebook group to see if anyone recognizes it, or have a drive around because assuming it's a primary school the parents will likely live within a short distance.