The time just after a car accident is the most disturbing period during which making an insurance claim is one of the most important things to do. Understanding how an insurance claim works helps smoothen the process and enhances your chances of getting a fair compensation for your losses.
Each company, although similar in general sense, may do things a little differently. Generally speaking, all these situations are similar in nature as far as the steps are concerned. Understanding what to expect and how to go about things will help to eliminate unnecessary frustration and procrastination.
How to File the Claim
This is the first step to follow-up-after informing your insurance company of what happened. Of course, a late report can result in a denial of your claim since most, if not all, insurance companies give a grace period for reporting: it can be from a few days up to a few weeks.
While making the report to your insurance company, have the following important information handy. These include the date and time of the accident, and where it occurred and a detailed description of how the accident occurred. You need to be as precise and truthful as any contradiction will create problems.
If police were at the accident scene, you may obtain a copy of the police report in order to corroborate your claims. Generally the report will contain the various statements of the parties along with any testimony of witnesses and the officer’s opinion of fault determination.
Dealing with an Insurance Adjuster
If the claim is filed, I, the insurance company, would send an adjuster who, within no time, upon a case filing, would review the extent of damages and liability. He would go into investigating the accident and reviewing police reports of vehicle damage and interviewing witnesses, if needed.
Even though an adjuster works for an insurance company, a non-partisan estimate of your claim is usually expected from an adjuster. Nevertheless, loyalty belongs to procuring the minimum payment on the part of an insurer. Whenever you feel diminished regarding your injuries or damages, then you have a right to object to his estimation of an adjuster with regards to any kind of loss and damage you sustained.
Keep all the receipts along with every other document pertaining to the car repair, the medial treatment one is getting or has received along with every expense because of one’s accident. This helps and presents strong evidence. Such a situation is capable of making most settlements easily verified.
How to Negotiate a Settlement
After the investigation, the insurance company makes an offer. This may be below what is needed to pay for all of the expenses hence caution is needed before the offer is accepted.
If the opening offer is way too low, then you can always bargain. Most insurance companies expect some form of negotiation; thus, it is only right that you can make a counter with certain facts to substantiate your claim. These include several repair estimates from different mechanics, medical bills, and loss of wages records.
In this regard, an insured sometimes consults with an attorney who can assist him through the process, especially in those cases where the insurance company is acting in bad faith or offering less than adequate compensation. Such legal assistance helps in complicated negotiations for due compensation.
Processing of Compensation
The insurance company pays once there is a settlement, which may be directly to repair shops and medical practitioners or by reimbursement against out-of-pocket expenses.
It is naturally very important that any such agreements are put into writing, get all communications, any offers of settlement, and the actual agreement in writing to avoid later disagreements. Where there is disagreement over an item and negotiations break down, and a dispute ensues, there are perhaps other avenues to settle the dispute by mediation or arbitration. Bringing a lawsuit could be one option, though this is generally an absolute last resort.
Issues Common to Claims Process
Not all insurance claims go that smoothly; rather, a series of issues may occur at any point in the process.
Contested liability would be an issue where the insurance firm may claim that you are liable or partly liable, thus reducing a payment.
In the process of making the claim, there are those where there could be follow-up questions or extra questions. Other times, there are low-ball settlement amounts presented to them that do not even seek to meet their needs and then negotiate those.
Claims can be refused at times for lack of evidence on the insurance company’s side or due to limitations in the policy’s coverage. Knowledge of one’s rights combined with persistence will be able to clear such impediments toward assuring a more positive outcome.
Conclusion
Although complicated, once everything is known about the insurance claim process after an accident, it becomes simplified. All that makes the process easy while ensuring fair compensation is timely filing of claim, knowing one’s policy, and keeping good records.
While insurance adjusters look out for the earliest possible settlement of the claims, it is very important that a policyholder presents his or her case and, wherever required, negotiates. In cases of dispute, facility for legal consultation or mediation acts as added help.
Being prepared and knowledgeable about your rights is often all that’s needed to receive full compensation after an accident.
