After a car accident, the parties involved must report the incident to their insurance companies as soon as possible. That is, the policy holders involved in the incident must immediately file for an insurance claim to their insurance company.
When a policy holder’s car is damaged in an accident, there are two insurance claims that the policy holder may file. These two common claims are the collision claim and the comprehensive claim.
- A collision claim is an insurance claim made by the policy holder when the damage on his car is due to the car hitting or colliding with another car or another object like a light post, a building or a tree.
- A comprehensive claim, on the other hand, is an insurance claim wherein the car of the policy holder is damaged by other incidents besides it hitting another car or another object. The damage done on the car may be due to fire, hail, flood, vandalism or theft. Comprehensive claim also consider accidents wherein the car of the policy holder hits an animal on the road.
In filing for an insurance claim, there are three possible methods that a policy holder may do to file for an insurance claim.
- A policy holder may contact his insurance agent as soon as possible. This is the most common method done when filing for an insurance claim. The insurance agent is the one who connects a policy holder to the company. It is the agent’s job to serve as a communication line for the policy holder to the company. The agent also provides business service to the policy holder in behalf of the company. The agent would interrogate the policy holder about the details of the accident and the damages on the car.
- If a policy holder does not want to contact his insurance agent, he may contact the insurance company directly by calling them. Insurance companies make sure they place their contact details on a policy holder’s bills, proof of insurance cards and on their websites so that their customer would easily contact them in case of car incidents.
- The third method of submitting an insurance claim is through the World Wide Web. As technology further advances, insurance companies make sure to follow these advances to provide an easier and faster service to their customers. So a lot of insurance companies allow their policy holders to submit their insurance claims through their websites or through electronic mail requests.
