"If you change auto insurance companies, can you file a claim on an old accident with the new company?

your new insurance company is going to know you had the preexisting damage so they will not cover the damage. so no...you can't file a claim with your present carrier. you may be able to file a claim with your prior carrier. any police report?...this will verify the date of loss which will prove you had an active policy when the accident occured. if you don't have a police report you can still attempt to file a claim with your prior carrier under the policy that was active on the date of loss but there are no guarantees they will accept. part of "your duties" in your policy states you must file a claim in a reasonable amount of time. however, if you want the damaged covered it's still worth a try to report it.

Let's say your new insurance policy will go into effect June 1st. Your new company will only cover accidents that happen starting June 1st. So, yes, it is like having a pre-existing condition. The only way around it would be to lie (which I do not reccommend) but then you subject yourself to insurance fraud if caught.

I had the same problem once - the company that was insuring the vehicle at the time of the incident is who is responsible for covering it. Even if you canceled a policy, if you had something happen before the date the coverage ended, they should cover it.

Sure you can.. but it is called Fraud. If you change your insurance company they one they issue you is valid from a certain date.. and not before. This isn't like health insurance where they take care of itcy rash that you had last week no matter how or when you got it. You can, however, still make the claim under the old policy, so cowboy up and take the $500 hit. At least you will have your car fixed. .

you absolutely positively cannot claim it on your new insurance. Thats like if someone had no insurance... hit a small family.. and then go insurance the next day and expected it to cover the medical bills of the family they hit.. how would that be fair? No one would get insurance until they needed it... Insurance is only for accidents that happen within your policy period. You have to claim under your own policy..

You cant claim it on your new insurance. Your new insurance company is going to take pictures of the car. Any pre-existing damage on your vehicle wont be covered... Want a tip on how to weasel you way out of it. File a claim with your current insurance company and as soon as you get the check, switch companies. Usually it will take 30 days for the claim to show up in the claims database so your new company wont know about it. ..meaning they wont charge you for it. your welcome : ) Oh.. and PS (for all of the people that are gonna give me crap) there is nothing illegal about doing what I said. It's not your fault that the the claim isnt showing up in the system.

you have to file with the company that insured your car at the time of the accident, even if you have changed companies. There is a time limit on how long you can wait, but just changing companies doesn't effect coverage.

That would have to be filed under the old insurance. The new company is not going to pay out on an accident you had before you moved the coverage. Yes, it is kinda like a pre-existing condition.

You can only file a claim with the insurance that covered you on the date and time of the incident. And depending on how long ago this happened, it may be too late to file, especially if you are no longer a customer of the company.