Is there a time limit when making a claim on a full coverage insured car?

Question

Duz it matter if its been a week since the incident? No foul play avoided hitting racoons on the highway and ended up in a ditch bent the radiator support, bumber,cracked the radiator and scrached the paint on the hood due to barbwire fence.

Answer 1

A week is no problem.

But this IS going to be considered an at-fault accident for the driver.

I always tell someone, it's cheaper (for you) to hit the animal, than to swerve to avoid it.  If there's no blood and/or fur on the car, it's a collision loss, the collision deductible applies, and surcharges will occur.

Answer 2

You are fine.

Go ahead and report the claim.

You don't want to wait too long because parts prices change. The insurance company owes you the price of parts at the time of the accident. So, if you waited 2 years to report it.....then you would end up paying more than your deductible out of pocket b/c of price increases.

Also, any additional damage that happened b/c the damage was not repaired in a timely manner (such as rust) would not be covered ...if you waited too long.

Answer 3

As the previous answers have said a week is definitely no problem.

Also as a previous answer stated that the damage would be covered under a section of your policy which is called Collision or Upset. This would indeed result in your premiums rising were you to file a claim. Depending on where you live also may require you to file a police report. In NL the damages have to be over 1000 dollars, but that may vary from province to province. Also, in some provinces even if you pay for the damages yourself you may still have to pay increased insurance premiums as the accident may be considered chargeable despite paying for the damages yourself.

You might want to run it by your broker to see what the definition of chargeable accident is in your province. If it isn't chargeable when you take care of it yourself and the damage is less than 1000 dollars I might be advised to tell you to do so as accidents charged on insurance policies can affect you for many years to come.