At this time, an individual is expected to file a claim on the car insurance immediately after the accident, and this may be quite overwhelming on those high and strung nerves. Knowing the steps to follow helps make it easier and quicker. Here is a step-by-step process to help you go through the car insurance claims process.
Step 1: Make sure everyone is safe after the accident; call emergency services if there’s a need to. After ensuring nobody is hurt, it is essential that you take photos of the scene. Take pictures of your vehicle damage and those of another or other vehicles involved, of the scene of the accident, and visible injuries. These pictures will be very helpful for you in filing your claim. Also, gather information from the other driver(s): his or her name, number, insurance information, and the number of the vehicle. If there are any eyewitnesses, get some contact information from them, as their statements may also become useful in the process of your claim.
As the second step, contact the insurance company; however, this again must be done only after every detail at the scene of the accident has been appropriately documented and all the requisite information gathered. You have to do this even if the accident was minor, immediately. Most of the insurance companies have a time frame within which the accident should be reported; therefore, timely notification is very important. This is in most cases found on their website, in their mobile app, or by contacting their claims department. You’ll no doubt be asked to provide information about the time, date, and location of the accident and briefly describe how it occurred. Give honestly and truthfully all information provided since small inconsistencies can easily complicate issues with the claim at a later date.
Contacting your insurance company, once the contacts have been made, it should respond by sending a claims adjuster to your case. The job of the adjuster will be to investigate the accident, evaluate the damage, and then determine the percentage of your coverage. They can thus contact you for more details or clarification, which translates to mean that you must respond promptly to their requests. An adjuster may schedule an inspection of your vehicle as a way to estimate the extent of damage. Depending on the damage, the adjuster will either recommend repairs or rather announce that a vehicle is a total loss when repair costs are compared to the value of the car.
Finally, based on assessment of the nature of damage, the adjuster will give you an estimate of either repair costs or the value of the vehicle in case there is a ruling of a total loss. If one agrees with this given estimate, an insurance company will have the claim settled. If it’s repairable, the insurance company will either use one of its direct connected repair shops, or you can choose your own. The insurance company then covers the cost of repairs minus any deductible you, the policyholder, will owe. If your car has been judged to be a total loss, the insurance company will write you a check for the value of your automobile less any deductible.
Keep every record of correspondence—e-mails, letters, and telephone calls—with the insurance company. This can become important in keeping yourself saved and on point in case some kind of problem happens.
In other words, making an insurance claim for a car accident involves the steps: safety and documentation of the scene, follow-up notification to the insurance company, working with an adjuster, and, lastly, claim settlement either by way of repair or settlement. Having these steps organized in a sequence will give you the confidence to know exactly what to do about the claims process to assure your claim is taken care of in an effective and efficient manner.