Do you know how good your insurer is about paying a car insurance claim? Be honest. How could you possibly know? The ads of the big insurance companies mostly focus on them having the best price. Some companies make statements about having the best claims handling service. However, the supporting evidence is missing. The bottomline is that we all know advertisements are complete fabrications of truth and reality. Billions of dollars are spent annually on these fabrications to make them memorable. Through this process these fabrications also become believable.
Click the button below to get a rating on your car insurance company and/or homeowners insurance company. Find out just how good a value they really are.
If you didn’t click the button above, you may be in for a rough ride when you file a car insurance claim. By following this seven step process you can protect the value of your claim and maximize the amount of money you recover.
Do You Need to File a Car Insurance Claim?
When an accident occurs, sometimes it’s difficult to know if you will need to file a claim. That’s where our seven step process starts.
Step 1) Call a Policeman
If any of the following conditions are true, call a policeman to the scene of the accident.
- The other party does not have insurance
- You suspect the other party has been drinking or taking drugs
- There are injuries
- Your car has been damaged
If you have any question about what to do, call a policeman. The party at fault may try to convince you a policeman isn’t needed. When this happens, be suspicious and call the police. An easy way to call the police is to call from your car, or have a passenger call, before you get out and meet the other folks in the accident.
There can be unexpected benefits from calling the police. For example, when an uninsured driver is at fault, some companies will cover the cost of your deductible if you had a police report filed. That’s a nice reward for simply being cautious.
Step 2) Get Injuries Checked by a Doctor
If you or your passengers have injuries, get them checked immediately. Never wait more than 24 hours to get injuries checked. The longer you wait the more likely you are to face difficulty in recovering money for the injuries. The reason for this is that waiting implies the injuries weren’t serious. If they aren’t serious, why would you deserve any compensation for the injuries? That’s a question an insurance company will ask that can be difficult to answer convincingly.
Step 3) Decide if You’re Going to File a Claim
Before notifying your insurance company, decide if you’re going to file a claim. If not, don’t notify them at all. The reason for this is many insurance companies often submit your information to a shared database. Simply calling and asking about the process for filing a claim can result in you being entered into the database. Unfortunately, the result of being in the database can be that you pay higher rates in the future. Another possible consequence of being in the data base is that you will have more difficulty finding insurance coverage going forward.
Step 4) Notify Your Agent and Your Insurance Company
Once you’ve decided to file a claim you need to move swiftly. Most insurance companies require notification within 72 hours. Generally speaking, the sooner the better. For the notification process, we recommend doing it through your agent, if you have one.
You need to be prepared when notifying your agent. Many agents get a bonus from insurance companies for having a small amount of claims (known in the industry as losses). This puts the agent in a conflicted position. The agent gets a commission on the sale to you. The commission serves to make them interested in supporting your needs. However, the bonus for a small number of losses incentivizes them to want to convince you not to file a claim.
This often plays out as follows: When you call to ask about filing a claim you get some immediate push back and reasons why you shouldn’t file a claim. Reasons include higher rates in the future. Reasons could also include loss of discounts for which you currently qualify. Be prepared for this. However, once you make the decision to proceed forward, the agent should be on board with helping you get the best possible resolution.
When filing the claim, if you had a police report filed you will likely need to get a copy of the report and provide it to the insurance company or your agent. The insurance company should be able to handle nearly everything from that point forward.
Step 5) Find Out the Insurers Car Insurance Claim Handling Performance
Until now, car insurance claim handling performance was not possible to know. That’s changed. Now claim handling information is available on nearly every car insurance company in the country. This is important information to have when you’re filing a claim.
The claims handling process starts out as a very friendly, helpful interaction. Until it’s time to cut a large check the insurance company is your best friend. However, as the time for the check to be cut approaches, things can rapidly change. On a large claim, you can go from friend to foe in an instant. The larger the dollar amount are, the more difficult the claims process will become.
Finally, you can find out the claims paying characteristics of the company with which you are dealing. It doesn’t matter which company is paying the claim. It might be your own insurance company. Alternatively, it might be another drivers insurance company. Either way, you need to know the claims payment history of the company responsible for paying the claim.
You already got a rating on your insurance company. However, if the other drivers insurance company is the one that will be paying the bills, you should get a rating on them as well.
Step 6) Only Talk to Your Own Insurance Company
When you file an insurance claim, you have no obligation to talk to any insurance company other than your own. If another drivers insurance company owes you money, they will want to talk to you. If they owe you a large amount of money they will likely be very aggressive about trying to talk to you. They want to talk to you so they can gather information about what happened. The information they are looking for is anything that will minimize what they owe.
For example, if you say you’re not badly hurt, but file a claim for bodily injury, your claim is invalidated by your statements. The other party wants to get you to say you’re okay. Alternatively, they may try to get you to confess the accident was your fault. If there’s no police report, fault is unknown. A statement from you that it was your fault could eliminate any money the other parties insurance company owes.
There is only downside, no upside, in talking to the other parties insurance company. Don’t do it.
Step 7) Don’t Sign Any Documents Without Understanding What They Mean
With any insurance claim, insurance companies want to get a release stating they do not owe any additional money. Be cautious. Once you sign a form like this, you will not be able to collect any additional money.
Less reputable insurers will often offer a small amount of money, much less than is due, quickly. They know that most consumers are strapped for cash. If they can get you to take a small amount of money quickly, that benefits them.
Don’t be tempted by quick settlements. The condition that comes with these settlements is that you will never be able to collect the fair amount that is due to you. If the insurer wants you to sign a document. Make sure you understand what conditions the document imposes. If you’re not sure, get an expert opinion.
The Car Insurance Claim Process
If you’re dealing with a high quality insurance company the claims process should be swift and easy. However, if you’re not dealing with a high quality insurance company, it can be a very difficult process. The car insurance claim process becomes increasingly more difficult as the dollar amount of the claim becomes larger.
Find out who the best car insurance companies and home insurance companies are in your state. Just click the buttons below.
Consumers have tremendous power. The power comes from the fact that we all get to vote with our money. If we leave the companies selling poor quality insurance in favor of companies that honor their promise to protect, the industry will undergo market based reform that benefits all consumers. Start today. Switch your insurance to one of the best companies in your state.
Accident Claims That Include Bodily Injury
Bodily injuries significantly complicate the car insurance claim process. I know. I lived this nightmare. Being forced by creditors to pay for my medical bills because insurance companies refused to pay is a painful process. Spending years of my life working to recover physically was worse. Probably worst of all was continuing the fight, even beyond the physical recovery, to recover financially.
If you’re in a situation where serious bodily injuries are involved, I recommend a book I wrote on the topic. The book is titled Injured Money and can be found on Amazon. Injured Money contains much more detailed and specific information about what to do than the summary version in this blog post.
NOTE: ValChoice does not get paid by insurance companies to grade them. We also do not sell your contact information to insurance companies so they can market to you. We are independent and unbiased, with a mission to help consumers find the best insurance.
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