Seven Steps to a Successful Car Insurance Claim
A car accident is a traumatic experience with a lot of stress involved, even without any injuries. You’ve got damage to the car, possible injuries to yourself, and now you have to look forward to getting a successful claim out of your insurer, who will make you wonder why you even bothered.
Insurance companies are in the business of making money; reducing outlays (paying claims) is part of how they do this. If you end up in an accident, you need to be prepared, and a lot of this preparation should be done before hand, not after.
Here’s a few tips to help you be prepared should the worst happen:
- Use your mobile phone to call in case of an emergency. If anyone is injured or if there is extensive damage, call the police immediately and report the accident. In particular, if you’re a woman, call the police before you leave the car.
- Have a pen and paper handy. Write down EVERYTHING. Most people, shortly after an accident, have a greatly heightened mental image of what went on. Look for things like speeds, what lane you were in, what lane the other car was in, and so on. Document this, and make sure your insurer knows you’ve documented it. This can be critical for determining who’s at fault, and ultimately, who pays.
- If your mobile has a digital camera, use it. If you don’t have a digital camera, put a disposable one in your glove box. Just like you take notes, take pictures of everything. This evidentiary chain is critical to getting a good experience out of filing your claim.
- Move the cars to the side of the road as soon as possible – there’s no need to create a hazard for other drivers while you’re swapping insurance information.
- Be intimate in your knowledge of your insurance policy. Keep an abbreviated form of it in your car – finding out at the accident scene that your policy doesn’t cover the cost of towing, or the cost of a rental, is a disaster in the making.
- Be sure to trade contact and policy information with the other driver. Include name, address, phone number, insurance information, license number etc. Take down a complete description of each car – year, make, model and color at the minimum.
- Never admit fault, to the other person or the police. It is not your duty to determine fault, that’s up to the insurance auditor. Admitting fault is tantamount to saying that you’re going to get hit with the bill.
You can find more information on claiming on your car insurance from the British Insurance Brokers Association website at http://www.biba.org.uk/consumer/support/products/car.html.
Choosing the Right Insurer
All insurers promise low premiums and great service to new customers but not all deliver on this promise. Just read a few of the many online car insurance reviews written by real customers who have claimed and not received the service they expected. You can find a directory of customer car insurance reviews at http://www.uk-insurance-index.co.uk/car-insurance-reviews-1.html.
Whilst value for money is important to all of us, it’s not just price you should be considering when comparing policies. What level of service is promised if you make a claim and who will you be dealing with? Many well know car insurance brands are actually acting as brokers or marketing fronts for less well known insurers or underwriting agencies.
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