What is the process of an insurance claim on a single car accident?

Question

When someone has a single car accident and there is no other vehicle or person's property that is damaged, how does a claim proceed, if the owner decides to file a claim?

Say a car avoided a deer or object in the road and ends up in a ditch or blows a tire and hits a tree or such and the vehicle is still able to operate. Is a police report mandatory? Does the location have to be exact if this occured in a VERY rural location? What steps would an insurance co. take after being notified?

Thanks.

Answer 1

First you will need to know what you have on your policy..You can still fill out a police report because it is likely needed fill in the infor you have..ex FM 2288, about 1 mile down the road on the left. I swerved to miss a deer and hit the oak tree on the side, I was ok and had no passengers my left quarter panel was damaged.  This occured at around 1030 on Sunday..If you have comprehensive it will genrally be paid under that coverage minus your deductible and you can choose shops and or follow your companies suggestion.

1). Collision (this has a deductible and pays only for damages to your vehicle, carry it if you have a lien on the vehicle). This pays for majority of most types of damages.

2) Comprehensive( this has a deductible and pays only for damages to your vehicle, carry if you have a lien on your vehicle). This pays for your vehicle if it is stolen, in most cases if you hit an animal, have hail damage, rock/glass damage (most states).

3) Liability. They are sperated by property and medical..Most states have minimums YOU USUALLY HAVE TO CARRY STATE MINIMUM. This ays for damages to the other car if it was your fault. Carry as much as you can afford to be sued for. If you hit 2 Jags and you only carry 15,000 you may be sued if the damages are over your policy. If you run into a house at the end of a curb and destroy the living room window and the sitting homeowners are hurt ..you may be sued because this is also part of your auto liability if you don't have enough coverage.

4. Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and or Medpay..This covers you and your injuries and your passenger's injuries if any..most not dependent on your fault or not your fault..check with your carrier and your states laws..(not required in most states but reccomended)

6. rental..common snse one..covers for a rental usually only up to 30 days..so if your vehicle is sitting at a shop 45 days..you may still be out of pocket for some of the rental bill..you usually choose your amounts for the car 20 24 30 50 etc per day coverage.

You need to know what your collision deductible is. generally 250, 500, 1000..Generally you will need to get estimates..Your insurance company generally have body shops to recommend, use your company's shops unless uyou personally know of a good shop, most companies back 100% any repairs from shops they inform you of..THIS IS IMPORTANT if they mess up paint or the work, they will be required to fix it without another claim or a cost to you..After repirs pay the shop the deductible and your company should handle everything else with you...Your deductible is what you have decided to be responsible for if you are in an accident. You will need to pay the deductible to get the car repaired if you are using your own policy. Anything above the deductible your insurance will pay. DEDUCTIBLES are paid regardless of fault, and sometimes may be waived based on your companies policy.

Hope I could help..sorry so long..

Answer 2

Most insurance companies require a police report for such a situation.  How do you know the police won't respond ?

Answer 3

Call your insurance company.  Each state and ins company have different procedure.

Good Luck...

Answer 4

The claim process is very similar to a multi-car accident. The insurance company will have you bring the car to an adjustment center (one of their body shops or offices) or have an agent come to your house/place of work to inspect the car's damage. They then determine how much it will cost to fix the damage. Depending on your insurance policy, they will either give you the $$$ for the repair or you can arrange to have the body shop fix the car an deal directly with the insurance agency. If you opt for the prior, you can do as you wish with the money and not even get the car fixed- but the claim will show up on your car's title should you wish to sell the car later on. If you opt for the latter, you will pay the body shop your deductible but the rest of the cost is handled between the insurance company and the body shop.

Answer 5

You should be fine. Most of the time there is not a police report necessary. Call them up, give them the area where it happened, and they should fix your car less your deductible and that should pretty much be the end of it. You probably dont need an exact address, especially if it is a rural area. You just probably have to say something like "Accident happened on Hwy 123 about 5 miles south of town X" or something to that effect. They are not going to go out and look at the location where your car was involved in the loss.

Answer 6

You collect the persons insurance info, if it is the other persons fault.  You only need the faulters ins. info.  Then you can call their insurance company and tell them what happened.

If there is a police report than you can send them that, which makes the process alot easier if you have one.  Then the insurance company will send out someone from their company to view the damage and assess how much the repairs will cost.

Then the insurance company cuts you a check and you can do what you like with the money.  Thats about it.