Vehicles

What to do if Your Car Insurance Will Not Pay a Claim

Car insurance is required by law, however if a person goes get into an accident, many times they find that the car insurance company will not pay the claim. Despite the fact that the insurance companies are supposed to be keeping the customer in mind and what will work best for them. Unfortunately, this is not rare. Car insurance companies are businesses and when they are forced to pay claims they lose money. Hence, the reason many insurance companies will tie up a claim for years and refuse to pay.

Who Denies the Insurance Claim

Most auto insurance companies have a person who analyzes the risk of clients. These people will actually determine what the chance of going to court would be if the claim is denied and not paid. If the insurance company believes that they are in the right, then they will not pay a claim. This is horrible since everyone pays their premium each month to prevent this sort of thing, however, it does happen.

Ask Questions to Ensure You Understand the Policy

There are a few steps that people can follow in order to make sure that they are prepared to come up against the big insurance company. The first step is to be prepared. This means that you need a copy of your policy. You need to review that policy and check for any loop holes that may be present. Ask yourself a few questions:

1. Is there anything specifically related to the type of claim that you initiated?
2. Is there specific information on how to report a claim? If so, did you do this properly as it was suggested?

Call the Company to Make Sure the Problem is Known

Still try contacting the insurance company from time to time. Actually, the more you bother them the better. You do not want your case to disappear and be filed incorrectly which could lead to even more months or even years of delay. Instead, call them everyday to find out what is going on.

Be careful and do not lose your temper. If they say no, you still have options to get your claim. Remember, that most phone calls are monitored, if you do lose your temper there is a good chance that the insurance company could use it against you if you go to court. Instead, be calm, ask questions. You need to know the specific reasons as to why the claim is being denied.

You may also want to ask to speak to someone who is a supervisor, just to make sure that the decision to deny your claim is unanimous.

Organize Your Files on the Incident

Once you have reviewed the policy and contacted the insurance company on a few occasions, you then need to gather a few other things to have in a file for your case. This includes:

• Copy of your insurance policy
• Photos of the damaged vehicle
• A copy of the police report if the car was damaged in an accident

Times and dates of your contact with the insurance company related to the case. This may include phone records or just a simple written time on your end. You will also want to include all the information that you were told as to reasons why the claim is being denied.

Contact the Proper Authority

The next step involves contacting the Insurance Information Institute. They can be reached in one of two ways, online at www.iii.org or by phone at 1-800-942-4242. Once you contact these people they will give you your rights and what options are available to you in order to get your claim paid. They can also provide information on the insurance company that will not pay your claim such as if they have had similar disputes in the past or whatnot. You can also contact your Department of Motor Vehicles and they can assist you with who do you contact and information on the insurance company.

Your Options for Further Action

When it comes down to it you have two options to choose from in order to get your claim filed. You can choose arbitration or a lawyer. Each has benefits as well as disadvantages.

Arbitration is the use of neutral third party to get your claim paid for. The arbitrator will look over your case and then take it to the insurance company and begin civil negotiations. This is an excellent option for those who would rather keep the case out of court. However, it should only be used for those who know their policy inside and out. When a decision is made it is final, just as if the case had gone to court. The drawback to this is that sometimes the amount of the claim is reduced. However, even if the amount if lower at least it is better than nothing.

Hiring a lawyer is also an option. Though this may be more expensive, it is more times than not the route that people take. Usually the payouts are larger when a lawyer is hired, however after paying a lawyer the costs usually equal out. Insurance companies do not like to have to go to court, and many times they will stall a case for months or even years.

In this case it is important to find a lawyer who has had previous experience with dealing with the insurance companies and will fight for your case. It is also wise to choose a lawyer that only gets paid if you do win the case, just for your own protection as they will be more willing to fight harder for your case.

If you have been in an accident and have suffered damage, and when you filed your claim it was denied, there are still options. There is no reason to give up just yet. There are some any law practices and arbitrators out there who specifically deal with these kinds of problems on a daily basis. They will be able to help you get the matter resolved and out of the way so you can restart your life.

This article was written by our partners at CarInsuranceComparison.com