Procedure to Claim Car Insurance After An Accident?
When someone buys a new car it is always advisable to take car insurance policy. It results in avoiding heavy loss arising due to an unfortunate accident or happening.There is a proper procedure to claim car insurance in India.
When you buy a new car, additional expenses also come along with it. Meeting up the maintenance cost and operating cost are two of the those additional expenses that come along with it. Unfortunately, if your car met with an accident then you have to bear double expenses.
Now in order to protect yourself from such unfortunate and uninvited financial losses,you should always choose best car insurance plan for yourself. This will enable you to pay off all your expenses without burdening your own pocket.
Procedure of Claim Car Insurance In India
- Contact the insurance agent or insurance company right after the accident. Even though the accident is caused by someone else.
- Stay in contact with your insurance agent and take his advise on how to proceed further for claiming car insurance. Also ask for what all documents are required to support your claim car insurance in India.
- The insurance company will ask you to present “proof of loss”. Under this you will have to present repairing bill, medical bill and even FIR copy. Present all such documents to the agent so that your claim can be processed smoothly.
- Keep record of all the documents related to the expenses arising due to accident. As the all the amount will be reimbursed depending upon the type of policy taken.
- You must even keep copies of all the paperwork done. As this can be used in future for reference.
Though filing a claim is very easy process but it is very important to follow claiming process carefully. If you miss some point then entire claim may become null and void. This result in cancelling the car insurance policy claim.
Points to Remember While Making Claim
Given below are certain points that one should always remember while making claim.
1. No Claim Bonus
It is often seen that the companies offer bonus to those who have opted for a car insurance policy but have not claimed it till date. The bonus amount can vary from one company to another company. It is great if you do not encounter any accident or damage and did not applied for the claim. But you can even enjoy a claim free year even if you have met with an accident by not filing for the claim.
Now you must be thinking why would a person will not file claim even when he or she has opted for insurance policy. Let me explain this with an example. If you took a car insurance policy. You have to pay first renewal, of the car Insured Declared Value is of Rs. 4 lakhs with damage premium of Rs. 12,000. Now the policyholder is entitled to receive discount of 20%, if he has not made a claim in a year. So the premium will now be Rs. 9,600. The policy holder will saves Rs. 2,400 by not claiming every year. Hence the money saved on Own Damage premium will keep on increasing every year and the discount will increase annually.
2. Voluntary Excess
There is a very simple theory that higher will be the excess then lower will be the premium. Basically Voluntary Excess is a small amount of money that the insured person agrees to pay from his pocket in case of an accident. While the rest amount will be payed by the insurance company.
Several times it is seen that the amount to payed after the accident is lower than the excess amount. In such case it is advised to pay the amount from your pocket rather then filling the claim. However if the amount is higher than the voluntary amount then you can obviously apply for the claim.
3. Cost of Damage
Before sending your car for repairing after the accident, you must take an idea like how much the repairing will cost? As with the you will get the exact figure required. Finally you can easily come to the conclusion whether you need to file claim or not.
Obviously, if the repairing cost will be higher than you should file for claim. While if the cost is nominal then you must pay it from your pocket. As with this step you will receive some discount on the next premium that you will pay.
