Auto Insurance Claims: auto accident, reporting accident, reporting to insurance

Question
I was involved in a auto accident 3 months ago where a person hit the right rear corner of my car while I was stationary. I called the police and when the officer arrived he said we could handle it amongst ourselves if we wanted to.  The other gentleman wanted to handle it between us because he didn't want his premiums to go up but it has been 3 months and he still has not taken care of the damages for my car.  Is there a statute of limitations for filing a accident claim in the state of Virginia?  I would like to not deal with him anymore and file the claim with my insurance company, is that still a option?

Answer
If you have collision coverage on your car that was valid at the time of the loss, then you can certainly file under that coverage and pay the deductible that you agreed to upon purchase of the policy.  I'm sure that you are well within the statute of limitations in any state as they are measured in years, not months.  Your insurance company may be able to go after the responsible party for reimbursement and if they succeed, they will attempt to collect and refund your deductible.  

However as this claim was not reported promptly your insurer may not have any luck collecting from the other party.  This is why accidents should be reported the day they occur, not 3 months later.

The other option is that you pay a relatively small fee and file a small claims suit against this guy for the damages.  Maybe he'll actually have valid insurance and will then report the claim and have his insurance company take care of things.  However, as he will have also waited 3 months, you may or may not get results from his insurer.

Good luck!