How the handle a late claim for car damage?
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How the handle a late claim for car damage?
While vacationing about 3 months ago, I drove on a major highway en route to finding gas and coffee. As my car sputtered, I moved to the median. The vehicle ahead of me pulled off as well and it is possible that my bumper touched his. The police arrived immediately. The officer concluded that I didn’t look well and insisted that I go by ambulance to a local hospital to be checked out while my car was towed. The officer asked the driver whether he wanted to report an accident and/or there was any damage to his vehicle. The driver responded
Asked on October 27, 2018 under Accident Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Your offer to pay is not a contract unless the other side accepts it as is within a reasonable time, so you are not yet obligated to pay this out of pocket. Until they other side said they were seeking money, there was no pending claim, so it may not be too late to report this to your insurer: while we do not have your policy to review, generally, the obligation is to report potential claims once you become aware of them (you can check the policy language to see what is your obligation): if the other side said there was no damage, there was no reason at the time of the incident to think there would be a claim, only once they contacted you. If you still have time to report it, then you should: you pay for insurance for a reason, so let the insurer handle this.
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