Car Insurance Claim Steps
The process for filing a car insurance claim can often be confusing, and you need to take it slowly and surely, because how you go through with it could have a big effect on your future car insurance rates, as well as the obvious effect on the kind of check you will get from the car insurance company. There are several steps that you should walk through when going through the process, which is a process that starts as soon as your vehicle collides with another. Keeping the claims process always at the front of your mind while you are going through all of the other steps of dealing with the process will keep you on the right path.
1. Do you even need to make a claim?
There are several things that you need to look at here. First of all, remember that every time you file a claim with your car insurance company, they put it into your record. That’s the thing that they can always see, and if you go to another company, that company can see it as well. In order to have something on that record, it ought to be worth it. So, whose fault was it? Think about how the accident happened and whether or not it is likely that the other person will file a claim with he car insurance company. Often, you can determine whether that will even be necessary just by figuring out just how much repairing the damages will cost. If you can take it out of your own pocket, then there’s no need for you to file a claim. If it’s for less than the deductible, then there’s no need. Anytime that there is an injury involved, though, the car insurance companies should be involved as well.
2. File the claim right away.
If you have determined that you do need to file a claim, then you need to get on it. First of all, if it was an accident in which you were at fault, then you need to be the first one to inform your car insurance company, not the other driver. Even if it wasn’t your fault, you still need to get on it, so that your car insurance company knows your story before it has time to wonder why the other driver called and you waited. Waiting to long to call and inform and let your car get examined makes them more suspicious to the possibility that some of the damages that you claim to have resulted from the accident might have occurred afterwards. That’s also a good reason to take pictures.
3. Be ready for your phone to ring.
If there isn’t surety of who was the cause of the accident, then the insurance company of the other driver is probably going to give you a call. They’ll want to know what you say happened. Your documents of the actual accident and pictures should come in handy here. You should also keep track of what you tell them and who you are talking to, so that they cannot come back later and say that you said something else.
4. Fixing your vehicle.
After you get the call from the other company, you’ll probably get one for, your own as well. This is only if you have collision coverage. If you do, they will get in touch with you to determine a time to send out someone to inspect your car so that they can make sure that the damages your claiming are legitimate and so that they can get them fixed.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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