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Dos and Don’ts to Follow When Filing a Car Insurance Claim

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Published on June 3, 2019. EST READ TIME: 5 MIN

The purpose of a car insurance policy is to ensure financial security in an event of an unlikely accident involving your car. The loss to vehicle could be due to damages caused to your car due to other vehicle, object, natural calamity, theft or even legal cost incurred due to third party or property damages, All you need to do is to intimate your insurance company about the loss occurred to your car to register a claim and the insurance company will immediately start processing your claim..

Insuring your car with a car insurance policy not just helps you financially but also gives peace of mind. However, your claim can be rightfully rejected by the insurance company if you are unaware about the basic actionable in case of an accident or loss. Read the following dos and don’ts which are to be kept in mind when registering a car insurance claim.

Dos to follow when filing a car insurance claim:

File an FIR: The very first thing you need to do when you are involved in an accident is to file a “First Information Report(FIR)” at the nearest police station. Filing an FIR is a mandatory requirement as the insurance company would ask for the same and also gives you an upper hand in case there is any legal proceedings Filing an FIR is necessary in case of theft(full or partial), third party ,property damage, damage caused due to riot, strike, terrorist activity or others.

Inform the insurance company at the earliest: Insurance companies always insist on early claim intimation to restore your accident losses.. Even if you are responsible for the accident, then too inform them about the same as it helps your insurance company to help you in taking optimum measures to safeguard your vehicle from further damages and also help you take necessary precautions in case of any legal proceedings. Any unjustifiable or unreasonable delay in claim intimation may steer your claim towards repudiation.

Collect photographic/video evidence: At the accident scene, collect photographic or video evidence as it will help you support and catalyse your claim processing. Remember, a picture/video is worth a thousand words

Be honest: Never hide anything from the insurer as they can outrightly reject your claim if the information provided by you is misleading. Rightfully explain to them the whole situation and disclose the facts to avoid any soupy situation which could get your claim rejected. Remember, the insurance company only honor genuine claims.

Keep all the documents handy: When filing a car insurance claim, keep all the original documents such as the driving license, car insurance policy papers, registration certificate, aadhar card, etc handy as the insurance company would request the same.

Don’ts to follow when filing a car insurance claim:

Do not run away from the accident scene: Even if you are the one who is at fault, then never choose to run away from the accident scene as you will further fall more into legal trouble. Offer medical help to the injured party. And if the crowd gets violent rush to the nearest police station for support and incident reporting.

Do not drive under the influence of alcohol: Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is illegal and can lead to instant claim rejection. Remember, even if the other party was responsible for the accident and if your identified even lightly drunk your claim would be rejected and you could land up in legal trouble.

Do not fill out wrong information: When filling out the insurance form, do not give out any wrong information related to the driver details, accident cause, policy details, credentials and others as even a minor mistake can lead to unnecessary questioning and verification or in worst case rejection of the claim.

Do not make out of court settlements: Even though the third party would offer you on the sport or out of court settlement, do not make the mistake opting for any in absence of your Insurance company as the other party may totally deny the settlement if not handled properly in presence of your company appointed lawyer. It’s always a good idea to raise a claim to keep yourself away from any legal trouble in the future.

So, simply follow the above dos and don’ts and be confident and prepared when faced with a scenario you need to claim on your policy and ensures that your claim is processed and settled smoothly without any objection by the insurance company. Before buying the policy, understand the claim process of the company and if still in doubt call them to understand the same.

And most important of them all read the policy documents carefully to understand what your policy covers.

This blog has been written by

Mukesh Kumar| Motor Insurance Expert |36+ years of experience in insurance industry

A veteran in the insurance industry, Mukesh Kumar has the expertise of handling various functions like Business Development, Underwriting, Claims, Human Resources, Quality Management and Marketing. With rich knowledge of the industry, he loves to share his views on topics of insurance sector and takes special interest in educating people on advantages of having insurance.

Mr. Mukesh Kumar recommends "getting your two wheeler insured from HDFC ERGO, a brand serving more than 1 crore+ customers. With overnight repair services and more than 7,600+ network garages, you can be assured of help in event of any damage to your vehicle".

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