As per the auto insurance policy, you should report accidents immediately. There are a number of reasons for insurers insisting on this. The first and foremost reason is because the carrier wants to see your vehicle as quickly as possible in order to evaluate the extent of damage to your vehicle as well as the other vehicle in case of a collision. Even if it is just one vehicle and where there is no money involved, the carrier still wants to be sure if it is the same vehicle that is insured with them. After the damage, the vehicle will have a different estimated value. The appraiser can easily recognize an old damage from a fresh one. The insurer also has the right to know the state of the insured vehicle.
If there is two or more collision, your insurance provider will have to speak with you at the earliest. This is done to ensure that your carrier as well as the carriers of the other vehicles that were involved in the crash has to know each side of the story. If you don’t make your point clear with your carrier, they will only base their decisions on the version that they have heard from the other party.
After you have done all of these things and filed your claim. You will have to wait for a stipulated period of time and if you fail to get any response, you should follow it up. First of all, you must document when and whom you had spoken to. Ideally, you should have documented every conversation after the first report of your claim. You could call up the claims office of the adjuster and enquire about the progress with regard to your claim. If you don’t get a convincing answer, let them know that you will have to speak to their supervisor. Give it a day’s time and if you hear nothing from them, then call the claims office again and tell them that you wish to speak to their supervisor. After you have explained your situation to the supervisor, give it another day. If nothing else happens then you should ideally call the state’s insurance department. Even if you don’t get your settlement quickly, you can be rest assured that these complaints to the supervisor and the insurance department will be taken very seriously.
Insurance companies normally like to settle claims quickly as they want to prove a point. They are also aware that happy insurers mean more business for the company.
