Auto Insurance Claims: Valid police report, damage insurance, apartment building

Question
Hello.  About a month ago my car was hit in the parking garage at my apartment building by the lady that parks next to me.  She did not make me aware of this accident.  I took pictures of both cars damage and filed a police report.  After talking to her husband a few days later, he agreed to pay cash for the damage -- insurance companies would not get involved.  Now (over a month later) I have not received the cash and want to get my car fixed through insurance.  Is the police report still valid over a month later?  Or do I just contact the insurance company to get the ball rolling?


Answer
Hi Ryan,

Assuming that you already have an estimate to repair your car, you should contact the husband one more time. Tell him that if he does not pay you within 3 days that you will contact his insurance company to file a claim. Then if he does not pay go ahead and file the claim with his company. And your the police report wil still be valid however, it will likely not be considered by the insurance company since the police officer did not actually witness the accident. The police report is simply an account of what you told the police officer. The insurance company will take statements from you and the other driver and will decide liability based on those statements. If the other driver denies that they hit your car you may need to send them the pictures to show the damage to both cars.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh