5 steps to help you make a successful car insurance claim.

Author: Tejal Joshi

Indian roads are extremely perilous - a combination of poor infrastructure and haphazard drivers result in thousands of accidents every day. In such conditions, it’s very important you plan and prepare for an incident well in advance. If you never meet with an accident, well and good, but if God forbid you do, at least you’ll know what to do. Keeping this in mind, the following article will detail the steps you should take after meeting with an accident to ensure a hassle-free claims process with your car insurance.

Step 1: Keep calm.

An accident is an overwhelming experience; the stress of which could cause you to make poor decisions that affect your claims process. Therefore, after an accident, the first thing you should do is gather yourself, take a few deep breaths and face the situation logically and rationally. If you feel an imminent threat of a fire breaking out or other vehicles colliding into the accident scene, make sure you get yourself and any others to safety first.

Step 2: Take stock of the situation.

After the initial haze of an accident, try and evaluate the situation. Try and take some pictures of the accident spot, especially if you can capture the fact that you weren’t at fault. If it’s a minor incident, move your vehicle to the side of the road and make sure all involved in the accident are all right. Call for medical help if anyone has been injured. See if there are any witnesses and take their contact information.

Step 3: Call the police.

In case of a major accident, it’s required by the law that you inform the police. Wait till they arrive at the scene and be patient with the officer. Describe what happened and accompany them to the police station, if required to file an FIR. Remember to be as precise and truthful as possible when describing the events leading up to the accident.

Step 4: Inform your insurer.

After you’ve spoken to the police, it’s best you to inform your insurer about the incident and file a claim. Provide them with the details of your car insurance policy and tell them about the incident. There are some time frames before which you need to contact your insurer in cases of an accident and delaying the call to your insurer might cause problems.

Step 5: Take your vehicle to a network garage.

After you’ve made a claim, proceed to take your vehicle to a network garage. Before the work can begin, the car insurance company will send someone to evaluate the damage. If possible, try and to present when this evaluation is done. Post this, things will move forward and you should expect the repaired vehicle delivered to you soon.