Involved in an Accident? Know the Process to Claim Car Insurance

Car insurance is a legal mandate to drive a car in India. Having one not only provides compliance of legal requirements, but also financial protection from damages and accidents. When you are buying a car insurance policy, there are two types of plans to choose from – a third-party policy or a comprehensive plan. A third-party policy is the one that provides protection from legal liabilities that may arise in the event of accident or damage injuring a person outside the contract of insurance, i.e. a third person which is why it is also known as liability-only plan. However, it has certain limitations as it does not offer coverage for own-damage to your vehicle. For that, you can opt for a comprehensive policy. This policy protects you against any repair costs that might be required in the event of an accident or damage. A comprehensive policy has three components - third party cover, own-damage cover and personal accident cover that together make up a comprehensive plan. * Standard T&C Apply With the help of a car insurance policy, damages to your car as well for third person can be covered under the insurance claim. This article mentions an elaborate guide on the steps you need to take to raise an insurance claim.

Intimation to the insurance company

Informing the insurance company is the first step that you need to take in the event of an accident. Since the timelines are set to submit your claim, it is critical to inform about such event to the insurer. Failing this, the insurance company can reject your application too.

File an FIR

FIR or first information report is a legal report that needs to be filed reporting the accident with the governing police jurisdiction. The FIR stands as a legal document that takes a note of the events like theft, accidents, fires, etc. In cases of accidents where a third-party is injured, it is essential to file such FIR for any compensation to be paid to such third person.

Record the evidence

With a smartphone by your side, you can take pictures to record the evidence of such accident; be it to your car or such third person as it is critical to accumulate the evidence of the accident that took place and claim compensation for it. Further, you must also note the vehicle details of such other person as it will be required to be mentioned in your insurance claim.

Submission of documents

Once you have filed an FIR and accumulated necessary evidences concerning the accident and its damages, you need to submit them along with other documents like copy of your insurance policy, copy of driver’s license, copy of registration and PUC certificate of your car to the insurance company. Once all these documents are submitted with your claim form, only then the insurance company proceeds with estimating the pay-out based on damage.

Repairs to the car

Depending on the type of insurance policy, i.e. cashless plan or a reimbursement plan, the repairs need to be carried out. For cashless policies, the repairs must be done at one of the network garages where an insurance surveyor will visit to assess the damage and only after which the repairs can be undertaken. The same for reimbursement claims will require you to repair the car and then submit the invoices along with the documents mentioned above. These are simple steps to make a claim from your insurance company. Although each insurance company has specific steps that need to be followed, they are more or less similar to the above-mentioned ones. Among the two types, it is bare minimum requirement to purchase third party car insurance, online or offline. So, take advantage of the benefits offered by the insurance cover and get yourself a suitable insurance policy today!  Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms and conditions, please read sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.