by Susan Tanner
Submitting a car insurance claim can be a very stressful experience. You’ve probably just been in an accident, which is stressful enough, and now you are worrying about getting everything right so that your claim is approved and you can get back to your normal life. While nothing can make the stress of a claim disappear entirely, insurance companies, especially those offering cheap auto insurance, have made this a much smoother and easier process than it used to be.
Now, the very first thing you need to do after an accident is to make sure that you and anyone else involved receives medical attention, if necessary. The adrenaline is flowing, but you need to take stock of your body, take some deep breaths, and make sure the car is the only thing damaged. If that’s the case, then take another moment to be thankful for everyone’s good health. If there is a medical need, get that taken care of immediately, and then turn to the next step.
* Get information about every car that stops at the scene of the incident. That includes make, model and license plate. Even if they weren’t involved in the accident, get this information; they could be valuable witnesses.
* Each driver who is actually involved in the incident should provide their name, address, phone number, and their insurance information. Look at their insurance card and copy down all the information on it, especially the company name, policy number, and company phone number.
* Ask any witness to the event to give you their name, address, and phone number. Also, try to get a brief account from each of them. These can be very helpful later on when the insurance company assembles their account of what happened.
* Write down your own account of the accident, giving as much detail as you can, and working through the events in order, if you can. You can start with the date, time, and where the accident happened. Important details include which lane you were driving in, whether there were any unusual conditions, such as construction or heavy rain, the level of traffic, and so on. Then try to recall the events before, during, and after the accident as accurately and completely as you can.
* If you have a camera available, take as many pictures of your car and the incident scene as possible. Take pictures of damage to any vehicle, skid marks, obstacles in the road, obscured road signs-anything that might be relevant to the accident. Keep a disposable camera in your glove compartment for this purpose; if your phone has a camera, you can use that as well.
* Call your insurance company as soon as possible after the accident. They have been through the process of submitting a car insurance claim hundreds or thousands of times before. They will have a set list of questions for you to answer. Just take your time and answer as clearly, completely, and honestly as possible.
* If there are police officers at the scene, they will also have a list of questions for you, and will fill out an incident report, either at the scene or shortly thereafter. You should get a copy of this report, and make sure a copy is sent to your insurance company.
Once the actual incident is over, make sure you follow up on everything your insurance company is doing. The whole claim filing is now often taken care of by phone on by mobile insurance vans. Still, you need to follow up. Calling the insurance company once a week to check wouldn’t be a bad idea and, obviously, return any call from them as soon as possible. Finally, check to see whether your cheap auto insurance quote will change because of the claim.
There’s no way to completely alleviate the stress of being in an accident, but you can make the process easier if you stay calm and make sure to get all the information and follow all the steps. Take care to get it right, and you’ll find your claim process is much faster and easier.
Posted: August 26th, 2008 under Business.
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