Insurance Claims 101
There are few things as frustrating and nerve racking as
filing an insurance claim. It never happens at a good time in life and usually
we are not thinking very clearly at the time. Here are some brief pointers on
how to properly file and insurance claim.
How many of you have ever had to file a claim with your
personal automobile insurance agency? I'm willing to bet that only about half
of you have had the wonderful opportunity to experience the claim process. Most
of the customers that come into the office after an accident do not know the
steps they need to take in order to file a claim.
The most important thing to do before you ever even get into
an accident is... make sure you have insurance, and that that insurance is up
to date. The easiest way to make sure that your coverage doesn't lapse is to
set up automatic payments through your agency from your checking account. I
know that sometimes life happens and stuff comes up and paying your insurance
bill isn't always at the front of your mind, let me give you an example.
One day a woman came into the office to report an accident.
She had just recently lost her niece and had let her daughter borrow her car to
help make preparations for the funeral. While her daughter was driving the car,
she got hit by another vehicle that ran a red light. With everything that had
been going on in her life lately, she had neglected to pay her monthly
insurance bill. As a result, we were unable to file a claim and get her car
repaired. Now, if she had been set up on EFT (automatic monthly bank drafts)
she would have been covered. Being on EFT also would have given her a monthly
discount on her premium.
That being said, if you know that you have coverage and that
your insurance policy is up to date, the next thing you need to do is file a
police report. Do not leave the scene of the accident (unless of course you
need medical attention), call the police, and let them write up the report. It
will take anywhere from 5-7 days to get a copy of the report for yourself. In
the mean time, call your insurance carrier and let them know what happened.
Their number can be found on the insurance ID card that you keep in your
vehicle. Once you get your copy of the police report, send a copy of it to your
insurance provider. Depending on the company, you claim should be closed
anywhere from 7-14 days from the day that they get the police report. No matter
what kind of accident that you get into, or what kind of damage is done to your
vehicle, a police report is the one thing you need in order to ensure that your
vehicle will get repaired. Without it, insurance companies will not pay for the
repairs on your damaged vehicle.
I hope that I have helped you understand the steps that you
need to take to make the claim process as painless as possible.
Nicole Whiting specializes in writing New Mexico car
insurance. She is an insurance professional with a passion for making sure
that people are properly covered under their New Mexico auto
insurance policies.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_R_Whiting
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