Auto Insurance Claims: CA STATUTE of Limitations for filing an auto insurance claim, state farm insurance, auto insurance claim

Question
hi

16 months ago a woman back into my car with her car as she was leaving an event.  i was not in the car a the time and she left her contact information on the car door.  she said she didn't want to go thru her insurance company because she was sure her rates would be raised.  i told her, i would cooperate;  she said for me to get two quotes from the repair shop.  i did.  she was not happy with the repair shops i chose and asked for 3 more.  i finally got a quote to her that she liked.  but over the course of several phone calls, i forgot about it because of work [yes, i put off doing anything for over a year...got a little distracted].

i admit i did not follow through like i should have.  now i am ready for the repair and she has agreed to it, although she will not pay for my rental car [it will take 4 days to get the repairs finished].  

now that 16 months has gone by, should i just swallow my pride and go carless for 4 days [this is a major loss of money for me], or can i still file a claim?  i have state farm insurance in california.

thanks for any guidence you can offer.

michael

Answer
Hi Michael,

The Statute of limitations in California for this type of claim is 3 years.

You are entitled to the cost of repairs and the cost of a rental car. You should tell her that if she does not pay for both that you will contact her insurance company and get them to pay for both.

You need to be careful with the cost of repairs. If the estimate you ar basing the cost on was done over a year ago, the costs may now be higher. There is also the possibility that once the repairs begin, the shop may find hidden damage which will also increase the cost of repairs. You should bo back to the body shop to get a current estimate and then get her to pay for that. Plus the rental car of course.

I hop this helps.
Richard Hixenbaugh