There isn’t anything worse than being in a car accident. It can be scary, painful, and stressful.

At Inside Insurance, we may not be able to change the scary and painful part but we try our hardest to reduce your stress during this dramatic experience.

Our main focus (and really the whole purpose behind what we do as insurance agents) is making sure you are taken care of in case of a car accident. This article here is to explain the Car Insurance Claim Process, so you know what to expect after filing a claim.

Check out our article called What do I do after a Car Accident to learn what you need to do at the time of an accident.

Car Insurance Claims Process

  1. Call the insurance company. If you were at fault in the accident and accept the blame, you will call your insurance company to file a claim. If you feel like the other party was at fault, you will want to call their insurance company to file the claim. The number to call will be on your and their insurance cards.
    • If you want to work with your insurance company even though you feel like the other party is at fault, you can. The thing that changes is if you go to your own insurance company you will have to pay a deductible to get coverage for your car. Through their insurance company, you wouldn’t have to pay a deductible (if they agree it wasn’t your fault)
  2. On this first phone call, the person you talk to most likely is a call center employee who is responsible for taking down your information. That data will then be sent to an insurance adjuster. The adjuster is the person who will work with you on your claim. So after you make this initial phone call, you will wait to hear from an adjuster on what to do next. At our agency, we expect the adjuster for the companies we work with to be on the ball. If you do not hear from an adjuster by the end of the next business day after you call the insurance company, please let us know.
  3. Provide as much information as you can to the adjuster. When the adjuster calls they will want to get as much information as they can to help them do their job right and quickly. The more you can give them about witness information, police report, pictures, and anything else you gathered will be beneficial. You will also want to ask as many questions as you can during this first conversation. Where is best to take the car? How long should I expect it to take to repair? When will I hear from you again? What is the best way to contact you? Where can I get a rental car? Any questions you have, feel free to ask in this initial conversation.
  4. Waiting game. It is not fun to hear, but investigating accidents and repairing cars both take time. Once this initial contact with the adjuster has taken place and you do as they instruction you to, then patience comes into play. Your claims adjuster will get back to you regarding payment for your totaled car, or when your car repair will be done. In most cases it will not take more than a week to figure out the car portion of a claim. So if it is taking longer than that contact your agent to see what’s up.
  5. Follow up. At our agency, we check in with you weekly after we know you have filed a claim. We do this to make sure you are getting the answers you need from the adjuster, and to make sure you are happy with how things are going. We want to know if we need to step in and help push the process along.

Having a basic knowledge of the claims process can eliminate any undue stress or confusion about filing a claim.