Car insurance is the best way of protecting your four wheeler financially against unforeseen loss or damages. Car damages can lead to major monetary losses if your vehicle has been severely damaged. Be it accidental damages, fire damages, theft loss or third party liabilities, car insurance can help you to deal with the resultant expenses. All you need to do is raise an insurance claim with your motor insurer as soon as the adversity takes place and follow the claim procedure.
By raising a car insurance claim, you inform your motor insurance company about the damages or losses caused to or by your car in an unpredictable event. Once you have fulfilled all the formalities, your car insurance provider will pay the claim amount to you.
However, the claim process varies for different kinds of claims. For instance, the claim procedure for theft claims is not the same for third party claims. Hence, you must follow the correct claim procedure to avoid getting your claim rejected.
Check out the step-by-step procedure for different kinds of car insurance claims below.
Claim Process for Third Party Car Insurance Claims
Follow the steps given below to raise a third party car insurance claim:
- In case you have caused injuries or damages to a third party person or property, inform your motor insurer as soon as you receive a legal notice to pay compensation. You can call on the toll-free number of your insurer to inform them. Do not interact with the third party for an out-of-court settlement or make any financial commitments before discussing with your insurer.
- Submit the requested documents to your insurance company, including photocopies of the legal notice, Police FIR, the car’s registration certificate as well as your driving license.
- Your insurer will verify the submitted documents and investigate the accident.
- A lawyer will be appointed by the insurance company if the accident investigation is found satisfactory.
- The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal will hear the accident case and give the verdict. If the court directs you to pay compensation to the third party, your insurer will do so on your behalf.
Claim Process for Own Damage Car Insurance Claims
Take a look at the steps for raising a car insurance claim for own damages to the vehicle:
- Inform your car insurance provider about the damages to your car at the earliest by calling on their toll-free number or by sending an email.
- Your insurer will send a surveyor to assess the damages sustained by your car.
- Fill up a claim form of your insurer and submit it to the surveyor along with other requested documents, such as the car’s RC, policy document, etc. You can get the claim form and the list of documents on the insurer’s website or by visiting their office.
- The surveyor will prepare a report based on the vehicle assessment and submit it to your insurance company. The insurer will decide to accept or reject your claim based on the survey report.
- Take your car to a network or non-network garage for repairs.
- Once the repair work is complete, your insurer will pay the bill amount to the garage and provide a Delivery Order (or DO) in case of a cashless claim. Pay for any non-covered expenses and take your car home.
- In the case of reimbursement claims, you will have to pay the car repair bill amount after the car has been repaired. Take your car home and submit the repair bill and payment receipt to your insurer. The insurance company will pay the claim amount as per the terms of your policy.
Remember to submit the car repair invoice to your insurer as soon as you collect your car from the garage. If you delay submitting the bill by a few days, then your insurer may deny your claim.
Car Insurance Claim Process for Car Theft Claims
Steps to raise an insurance claim for a stolen car is as follow:
- Inform your motor insurer about the theft of your car immediately
- File an FIR with the Police and submit its copy to your insurance company
- The insurer will appoint an investigator to probe the theft of your car. Make sure to cooperate with the investigator and provide all the requested information.
- After you receive the Non-traceable report by the Police, submit its copy to your insurer.
- Once your claim has been approved by your insurer, submit the RC of the stolen car to them along with the duplicate car keys. You will also have to submit a subrogation letter and a notarized indemnity letter on stamp paper to the insurer.
- The insurance company will verify the documents and pay you the claim amount.
Summing It Up
Raising a timely claim is important to get your car damages or losses covered by your insurance provider. Make sure to follow the correct claim process as per the type of adversity faced to avoid getting your claim rejected.