A Guide To Claiming On Your Car Insurance Following An Accident

A lot is written about the benefits of car insurance and shopping around to try to get a better deal but how many of you know what the claims process is if you have been involved in an accident? The answer is probably “not many of you”.

Car insurance claims departments are their to help you

Although car insurance companies will have their own specific guidelines, the following information should prove useful when you need to start the claims process.

Reporting your car insurance claim

At what is probably a stressful time, the sooner that you pick up the phone to your car insurance provider’s claims department the better as they will be able to talk through what you will need to do and the information that they will require.

Should the accident take place outside the normal opening hours of the claims department they will no doubt have an accident recovery helpline that is available 24 hours a day to provide some assistance.

You will be asked to provide such things as your personal details, how the accident occurred, what damage has been caused, is the car driveable, your location, third party details of others involved in the accident, witness details, passenger details in any cars involved in the accident and were the police called and if so the crime reference number.

What do the car insurance claims department do next?

They will explain what your car insurance policy covers you for answering any of your questions. Having established that all parties involved in the accident are safe and well or are being cared for they will look to get your car repaired as quickly as possible through a network of reputable repairers. A replacement car may be available whilst any repair works are carried out.

If the car is not repairable an assessment will be made as to its market value that you may then be offered. They will look to establish whose fault the accident was. They will explain any impact on your no claims discount. They will assist you in respect of any injury claims.

Finalising your car insurance claim

When your car is repaired you will be able to collect it having paid any excess under the policy.

Depending upon the circumstances surrounding the accident, you may find that your car insurance premium at renewal may be affected.

Hopefully, the above has provided you with an indication of what is involved should you wish to make a claim following an accident.