Deadline to Claim Damage From a Backing Vehicle

Attorney Answer

Two years. In Texas the deadline for a claim about damage to your vehicle is the same as the deadline for a personal injury claim, and it runs from the day the cause of action accrues rather than from the day you finish dealing with the insurer. That is the outside boundary, though, and it is far longer than the practical window — the evidence and the repair estimate are worth handling in the first weeks.

The statute is Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a): "Except as provided by Sections 16.010, 16.0031, and 16.0045, a person must bring suit for trespass for injury to the estate or to the property of another, conversion of personal property, taking or detaining the personal property of another, personal injury, forcible entry and detainer, and forcible detainer not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues." Texas is simpler than some states here: property damage and personal injury share one period.

Because you were struck, the information you need came from the other driver at the scene. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.023 requires the operator of a vehicle involved in a collision resulting in injury or death, or in damage to a vehicle that is driven or attended by a person, to give the operator's name and address, the registration number of the vehicle they were driving, and the name of their motor vehicle liability insurer to the operator, occupant or person attending the other vehicle, and to show a driver's license if requested and available. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.022(a) requires stopping at the scene and remaining until those requirements are met. Whether those duties reach a collision on private property is a genuine question, because the traffic laws are written primarily for operation on a highway; if you did not get the other driver's details, that is a point worth raising with a lawyer rather than assuming.

Behind the claim there should be a policy. Tex. Transp. Code § 601.051 requires that financial responsibility be established for every vehicle operated in this state, and § 601.072(a-1) sets the minimums at $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person, $60,000 for two or more persons, and $25,000 for damage to or destruction of the property of others in one collision. A repair costing more than the other driver's property-damage limit has to come from your own coverage or from the driver personally.

One caution about the insurer's response. If the other driver's carrier disputes fault or is slow, you have less leverage than people expect: the prompt-payment rules in chapter 542 of the Insurance Code are written for first-party claims, and chapter 541's settlement-practice duties run to insureds and beneficiaries, not to a claimant pursuing someone else's policy. If you carry collision coverage, using your own policy is usually the faster route, and your insurer then pursues theirs for what it paid and for your deductible.

What you can do

1. Photograph the damage and, if you can still do it, the position of both vehicles and the surrounding lot. Do this before any repair.

2. Make sure you have the other driver's name, address, plate number and insurer. If you do not, check whether the property owner has camera footage and ask in writing that it be preserved.

3. Get a written repair estimate from a body shop rather than relying on a spoken figure.

4. Open a claim with your own insurer as well as the other driver's, even if you expect theirs to pay in the end, and ask whether you have collision coverage and rental reimbursement.

5. Keep receipts for towing, storage and any transportation you pay for while the car is being repaired.

6. If the other insurer disputes fault, ask it in writing for the basis of its position, and keep the reply.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) allows two years from the day the cause of action accrues, covering property damage as well as personal injury. When that period began in your case depends on your facts, and no page can date it for you. If the claim stalls or the insurer denies it, have a Texas attorney review the dates well before the second anniversary rather than at it.