Owning a car in India is not a simple affair. Not only does it require immense maintenance and care, but you will also need to get the necessary documentation and insurance for your vehicle. This is not just for your sake but also in the case of any third-party liability.
Not only is it mandatory to own one under Indian law, but it is also preferable to have one in the case of any unforeseen incidences and damages to your vehicle. In the past, filing a car insurance claim took a lot of time, effort, planning, and paperwork, but today, getting car insurance online is as simple as clicking a button.
But what after it, what would you do once you have car insurance and are faced with one such incident?
What is car insurance?
Car Insurance in India is known by its broader title of vehicle insurance. Vehicle Insurance is mandatory for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles in India. The insurance provides financial protection from any unforeseen situation for your car.
This includes third-party liability, physical damage, or personal injury from traffic collisions and other incidents.
How to get an insurance settlement online?
1. Gather essential information
You must gather all the necessary information before contacting or filing an online car insurance claim for a hassle-free experience. This includes your policy details, contact information, car’s make, model, and registration number, which can be easily retrieved from your insurance download app, along with the date and time of the incident, where it happened, and a detailed account of what happened.
2. Contact Your Insurance Provider
Once you collected the required information, contact your insurance provider. You can speak with your dedicated customer service manager or use online portals to report claims where you can manually input the details.
3. Upload Supporting Documents
As part of the procedure, you must upload several supporting documents to the website of the provider of your car insurance online. We will discuss which specific documents you will need in the next part. Ensure you have taken a scan or photographed them properly for easy upload.
4. Follow-up and Documentation Verification
You may be assigned a claims officer who will review the submitted documents and request additional information once you have submitted the application form. They will review and verify the claim’s veracity and approve your request.
5. Vehicle Inspection and Assessment
In some instances, a claims officer might require certain additional information to pass your claim forward and approve it, which is why they may assign a surveyor to assess the damages to your vehicle who might visit your location or ask you to take your car to an authorised garage for the assessment.
6. Claim Settlement
Once the assessment for your claim is complete and all necessary documents are verified, the insurance company will determine the settlement amount based on the policy terms and conditions.
What are the documents required?
The documents you might be required to provide to your insurance provider might vary due to the type of claim you request. But these are some of the most common documents asked by insurance providers.
- Copy of your car insurance policy
- FIR or a police report if there is any vandalism, threat, or accident.
- A filled and signed claim form if you are doing it offline
- Copy of your driver’s license
- Registration certificate (RC) of your car
- Invoices or repair estimates from authorized garages
- Detailed photos and videos of the damage
Conclusion
By following the above guide, you should be well on getting your settlement claims approved quickly and hassle-free. You must ensure that you provide accurate information that can be verified. Even the slightest attempt at trying to cheat the provider may result in them denying your claim and accusing you of trying to commit insurance fraud.
These are the steps I took to get my claim settled through Bajaj Finserv. They were very helpful and supportive in getting my car repaired and getting me back on the road after an assessment at their networked garages, where I got a cashless settlement from the best car insurance in India.
