How long do I have to make a car insurance claim?

How long do I have to make a car insurance claim?

How long do I have to make a car insurance claim?

An important factor in making a claim for car insurance is the time you make the claim. In general the following is a rough guide: A claim should be made as soon as you know the damage occurred. However if you do not know for sure when the damage occurred the best policy is to get an estimate from your car repair/garage/insurer.

The more time passes before you make a claim the less likely you are to get a fair settlement. The sooner you make a claim and provide evidence the more likely you are to get a fair settlement. You should always be cautious in making claims because it can cost you time, money and hassle. Insurance companies will ask for you to make a claim even if there is a clear answer to the accident so they can use this against you at a later date. A better way to proceed would be to follow these tips for dealing with insurance company car claims.

What to do. Contact your insurers/car dealers/garage or anyone else involved immediately. Keep receipts and evidence of everything related to the claim. Do not start making unnecessary payments and do not pay out money until you have proof that you are owed the money. If the person you have engaged to make the claim for you does not supply receipts and evidence you are required to follow the 'no quibble' method. When doing your own car repairs you need to be very careful when quoting prices as you can inadvertently miss costs and give more than you have been told.

Make an official statement of events and send it in writing. Wait for the insurers to contact you. Negotiate a settlement. As long as you are reasonable about what the insurers can offer you then this is normally an easy process. Try not to go over each point in the settlement at once and stick to general amounts. A good example would be, 'the insurer owes me 800 to replace my headlight lens' - do not go on and explain what you paid for the headlight lens, they just want a figure.

Accept the settlement and sign on the dotted line. What should you avoid. Don't sign anything for the vehicle until you have completed negotiations with the insurer and agreed on a final price for the repair or repair work. This avoids any further arguments and haggling.

Can a closed car insurance claim be reopened?

This is the question a Northumberland couple are asking after a new policy was discovered when they went to renew their auto and home insurance. The new insurer, The Phoenix Insurance Group Inc., claims that the claim, which was settled in December 2023, cannot be opened.

I didn't read through it, he recalls. It was quite strange; the price hadn't changed but the insurer had changed. As soon as I realised what was happening I called Phoenix back and asked if we could have this looked into further. They said yes and now here we are in early April.

It's frustrating but it doesn't take away the stress. If we get this sorted there's no chance of getting any money out of the car, so it's a major issue.

The dispute is not so much with Phoenix Insurance Group Inc, whose claims department is very responsive - the Roberts were given a call within 24 hours and now have an appointment in York next week. However, it is with the North East car insurance firm who sold them the first car policy for a third year in the previous month.

Their answer was, 'We sold them insurance on the 16th of October but when it came to renewing it, they weren't told to give notice, Mrs Roberts explains. So according to them, they wouldn't reopen it unless we did something wrong. They basically went back to the very same situation again.

Phoenix does not deny that, and says that Mr Roberts might not have needed to give three months notice but only two as the company does not offer cover in the latter part of the year.

WMCW Admin

Reporting on news on topics such as used car industry prices, automobile recalls, site news and updates, opinion pieces about the used car market, and other appropriate automotive information.

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