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Auto Insurance Claims Procedure

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Auto insurance claims often turn out to be a very costly affair. Insurance companies spend a lot of money on maintaining their client's good reputation. However, a large percentage of insurance claims are fraudulent. It is thus important to make sure that you do not fall prey to any such fraudulent claims and face unnecessary expenses. Click to read more now.


Filing A Claim: When you file an auto insurance claim, you must ensure that you file the claim right away. Just because it is mid-afternoon, does not mean that you can simply walk into an insurance office and start filing claim forms. You will need to first submit a request for claim form, which is available online, at your local insurance company's office. Insurance claims adjusters are also usually only hired to initially investigate such claims, so consider a private detective who has to fact-check each aspect of the case to prove the other party at fault.


Gathering Evidence: Evidence is absolutely essential when filing an auto insurance claim. It is not sufficient to merely have suffered a slight accident. Rather, you must gather tangible evidence like the name of the at-fault driver, the registration documents of both cars and witnesses, etc. The more evidence you have, the better your chances of success. Click here to read more about this.


Gathering Information: When you call up your car accident claims specialist, ask him/her how long it will take him/her to investigate your case. Also, ensure that you provide as much information as possible to your auto insurance claims adjuster. Remember that the adjuster is a lawyer, so you should treat him/her with respect and avoid being combative. Instead, allow the adjuster to do his job, gather facts and evaluate them to determine your eligibility.


Negotiating the Settlement Offer: Once the adjuster determines that you are indeed eligible for a settlement offer, he/she will seek out the help of your insurance agent. Since agents profit from your claim, they may not always offer the best settlement offer. In some cases, the agent may even recommend an adjuster over a lawyer. If this happens, you can be sure that your claim is being handled improperly.


After you have decided on your insurance agent and have decided on the settlement offer to be made, you will now have to wait until your claims associate receives his/her paperwork from the other party. There are no set timings; however, it is usually best to wait anywhere from one to four months before making a decision about your case. During this time, your insurance agent and your claims associate should develop an honest and objective plan that will serve both your best interests.


To read more about this, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance.

 

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