Three Clocks Start at the Moment of Impact

This page is general information rather than legal advice, and where a deadline could actually affect you, a lawyer is the right person to confirm how it applies to your facts. With that said, here is the shape most people are never told.

Clock one: the policy's notice requirement

Your own policy requires you to notify the carrier of a loss promptly. This is the shortest practical clock and the one entirely within your control. Tell your insurer even if you do not intend to claim, because late notice is a problem you create for yourself and it is completely avoidable.

Clock two: the statute of limitations

For personal injury, California's Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 generally sets a two-year period to bring an action. Claims for damage to property run on a separate, longer period set elsewhere in the same code. "Generally" is doing real work in that sentence — there are circumstances that change the calculation, and that is exactly the kind of question a lawyer answers rather than a website.

Clock three: the government claim deadline

This is the one that catches people. Where the party you would claim against is a public entity — a city vehicle, a transit bus, a road maintenance issue — a much shorter claim presentation deadline applies before any lawsuit can proceed. It is commonly six months, and missing it can end the claim outright. If any public agency is involved in your collision, get legal advice quickly rather than eventually.

And the one that is not a legal deadline

Vehicle Code section 16000's report to the DMV, which is due within ten days of a qualifying collision. It is not about compensation at all — it is the financial responsibility requirement, and it applies regardless of fault. People conflate it with claims deadlines constantly.

What waiting costs you

Evidence, mostly. Vehicles get repaired or scrapped. Camera footage is overwritten within weeks at most businesses. Witnesses move and forget. Whatever the legal deadline is, the practical window for gathering what proves your case is far shorter, and it closes quietly.

The short version

Report to your insurer immediately. File the DMV report if the collision qualifies. Talk to a lawyer early if anyone was injured or a public entity is involved. And keep your own evidence from day one, because nobody else is preserving it for you.

If this has surfaced a gap in your own coverage, we will review it with you — no obligation either way.