Choosing the right car insurance company
Before you choose your insurance company, there are a couple of things that you should consider. The reputation of the auto insurance company, and the percentage of approval they have.
People make the mistake to use the cheapest auto insurance company that they can find. And, they are choosing the cheapest option. But, the moment that they are in a car accident and claim for injuries or for car damage, they are struggling to get it approved. After the trauma of a car accident, the last thing that you want is to struggle with the auto insurance company as well.
- Research
- Med Pay
- Know your limits (bodily injury, and property damage)
- Complaints with insurance commissioner
This is why you should do research about all the different available insurance companies. This includes PIP/ Med Pay insurance as well. Make sure that you are using one of the best insurance companies with the best reputation. You should know that an insurance company isn’t really your friend. They are friendly and helpful until you need to claim. Then, it may become a real problem.
Why people are always struggling with getting the approval for claims
There are many reasons why so many people are always struggling to get the approval of claims. This includes PIP claims, bodily injury and car damage claims. They might not do the process correctly, and they are then struggling to get the claim approved. For injuries, they might not have seen the right doctor or waited too long before they were going to the doctor.
Insurance companies don’t like to pay out claims after a car accident, they are in the business of making money. And, this is why you should make sure that you are doing everything according to the books, so that they can’t decline your claim. This is especially important to make sure that you are doing everything correctly when it comes to bodily injury claims.
Cheaper insurance companies
In some cases when you have cheap auto insurance, they may not fix your car the way you want it fixed. They may write an estimate for aftermarket or used parts. You may want them to paint the whole car, this will never happen with any auto insurance company. If you have Med pay, they may fight you on the benefits. They may point to the fine print in the policy. Its important to read your policy, if you are like me, you just chunk it in trash.
Claiming for injuries and car damage after a car accident
We always hoped that we don’t need to claim for injuries after a car accident. However, this isn’t always possible. And, when it happens you need to make sure that you know everything there is to know about claiming. This is the only way that you can be sure that your claim is going to be approved without any hassles or serious problems. The more you know about claiming after a car accident, the better the chance of getting the claim approved.
Hiring the right attorney might be helpful
Something that you should consider, is to hire an accident or personal injury attorney. They will be helpful and assist you with your claim. They will also be able to give you names and numbers of accident doctors that you can call for the injuries that you sustained.
You should just know that you should make sure that you are hiring the right type of attorney as well. You don’t want to end up with an attorney that doesn’t know the process of claiming for vehicle damage or injuries after a car accident. The moment that you are using the right type of attorney, you will have someone that will fight with you, to get the claim approved.
What you may not know is there are two claims
Property Damage Claim
Property damage claim is the damage done to your property, car, etc. Most attorneys do not assist with property damage or they may charge a fee to help resolve the property damage. There are a few personal injury attorneys that will assist with the property damage for free. These attorneys recognize the need to help people resolve these property damage claims. You are hiring a personal injury attorney for your personal injury, not your property damage.
Claiming for injuries. Personal injury Claim
There are a couple of things that you need to know about claiming for injuries that you sustained during a car accident. If you know that you are going to claim for any injuries, you need to see an accident doctor as soon as possible.You should also make sure that you are going to all your appointments and that you are doing everything the doctor is telling you. Every mistake that you are making can count against you when the insurance company is investigating your claim.
Diminished Value
It’s hard to explain what diminished value is. It’s the difference if i want to buy your car but find out its been involved in a car accident. The car down the street for the same price looks way more attractive at that point than yours, because yours was involved in a car accident. There is a formula for this, its a certain percentage of the damage caused to the vehicle. It only applies to vehicles that are fixed in a car crash, not vehicles that are totalled.
The other thing that you should consider, is that you should get to an accident doctor as soon as possible. The longer you are waiting, the more chance there is for the claim to be rejected. They might say that you weren’t really seriously injured. This, of course, only applies to the personal injury portion of your claim.
The sooner you are claiming, the better chance of a positive outcome
There isn’t really a timeline wherein you should start the claim. However, the sooner you are filing a claim, the better chance of a positive outcome there will be. It is also important to phone the insurance company immediately after an accident and let them know about the accident and the possible injuries that you or passengers might have.
It is also important to make sure that you have the case number of the police report at hand when you are claiming for injuries or vehicle damage after the accident. the last thing your insurance company wants to hear is that you had an accident and it was two weeks ago, this make you look really bad.
Honesty is the best policy
Don’t lie to the insurance company. Making your injuries look more serious than what it actually is. Or, trying to get more compensation for the damage on your vehicle than what there is. The moment that you are lying to your insurance company, they will say that you aren’t reliable. This will result in a claim that may be rejected immediately.
Devil’s Advocate
Honesty is the best policy if you are dealing with your insurance company. Some attorneys will tell you to never give a statement to either. However, you pay your insurance company to protect you. If it’s your insurance company, i see no reason why you should not speak with them about your auto accident, you can always fire them. On the other hand if you were in a car accident that was not your fault, you may not should speak the at fault party’s insurance company unless:
- You have no bodily injury
- You do not plan on making a bodily injury claim
- Your attorney tells you its ok
Even speaking with them about property damage can be troublesome. They may go by the accident report, but many auto insurance companies go by what there policyholder tells them happened. If they are lying, it could be a big problem for you, they may deny you claim just based on their policyholders statements.
Things to consider before you decide not to make use of an insurance company
If you are living in a State where PIP and car insurance aren’t a must, you might consider not making use of insurance companies. But, before you decide not to make use of an insurance company, there are a couple of things that you should know.
When you are in a car accident and you don’t have insurance, you are going to liable for your own vehicle’s damage. Even if you didn’t cause the accident at all. If you were the guilty one in the car accident, you will need to repair all the vehicles involved in the accident yourself. In cash. The same goes for injuries that you or other people might sustain during the car accident.
We don’t really like paying monthly fees for our insurance companies. Especially, when you are claiming and they aren’t hesitant to pay for the damage to your car or injuries that you might have sustained. With all this mentioned information about the car and personal injury insurance claims, you will know that when you need to claim for car damage and injuries, that you don’t have any problems with getting the claim approved. Then, you can just focus on getting better, and find a new vehicle and not have to struggle with insurance companies that are making things worse for you.
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