once your car policy claim has been approved after an accident, your insurance company will issue a check to pay for the repairs. But what happens to the money is n’t constantly straightforward .
The most coarse scenario after you ‘ve made a cable car insurance claim is that your insurance company will send you a settlement check immediately, then you ‘ll cash it and use the money to pay your machinist once they ‘ve finished the rectify. But there are exceptions .
several factors, such as whether you have a rent or lend on your vehicle and whether your policy company encourages you to work with a prefer machinist, influence how the summons works and can change how much control condition you have over how the car policy assay is spent .

Your insurer might send the check directly to a repair shop

many car indemnity companies encourage their customers to work with one of their choose or direct referral Program car body repair shops. You can normally choose whichever repair denounce you like, but if you go with a favored shop, your insurance company will likely pay the haunt shop directly. In other words, you ‘ll never receive an actual car policy title see ; you ‘ll only be responsible for paying your deductible to the mechanic.

>> Learn More : Choosing an car haunt shop A benefit of going with a preferable car repair workshop is that your indemnity company and the patronize will cover any extra work for free if something goes wrong or it turns out there ‘s more study to be done than originally thought. This can help increase the speed and efficiency of the haunt work. Plus, you wo n’t have to worry about acting as a mediator between the shop and your car indemnity company .

You may need permission from your lienholder before cashing the check

A common necessity in car leases and loans is that you must keep the car in good sour order for the term of the agreement with the rent or lend ship’s company. If you have a lease or loan on your car, you probably have certain indemnity requirements, and a common one is that your caller is named on your indemnity policy. As a consequence, you may find that the claim check issued to you by your policy company has both your name and the name of your loan caller on it. >> Learn More : insurance requirements for a leased car
If that ‘s the case, you will need the finance company to sign off on the policy check before you can cash it. The amount of oversight your loan company will want through the claims process can vary well, and it ‘s basically up to the loan company how much dominance it takes .

  • Sometimes a representative will just verify that the accident occurred, sign the check and send you on your way.
  • It’s also possible that your loan officer will require you to sign the car insurance check over to the company, and it will pay the repair company on your behalf.

Things are a morsel different if you were involved in a crash where the other driver was at fault and their indebtedness coverage is paying the claim. This is called a “ third-party ” claim : You are the one-third party and the at-fault driver and their indemnity company are the first and second party, respectively. The other driver ‘s insurance company would not know if your car is financed or not and does n’t have a contractual obligation to your finance caller. As a leave, the colony check will typically be made out directly to you.

But regardless of whether the loan company ‘s mention appears on the crack, you ‘re required by the terms of your lease or loan to keep your cable car in good condition, so it ‘s best to repair your car according to the terms of your lease. otherwise, you could be hit with a punishment at the end of your lease or even get your car repossessed .

When you don’t have to use insurance claim check money to repair your car

If you own your car outright, and your policy party cuts you a check after you file a claim, you can technically do whatever you want with the money, like go on vacation or buy a modern television receiver. You ‘re not technically required to spend the money to fix your car. But there are some considerations to keep in mind whether you try to find a mechanic who will fix the car for less, try to fix the problem yourself or ignore the issue all in all and use the money for another determination .
The biggest drawback to using your car policy claim check money for another determination is that you ‘ll be creditworthy for any extra costs if the vehicle ‘s problem gets worse .
Regardless of whether it ‘s because you ignored the issue and it worsened over time or the malfunction was exacerbated during the course of an unprofessional compensate, your car policy ship’s company wo n’t pay for extra wrong. You ‘ll be on the hook for any farther costs. additionally, car indemnity companies wo n’t provide coverage to repair things more than once and are leery of people committing imposter by submitting the same claim multiple times .
so if you experience the same issue again — like if your car is damaged by hail multiple times — your policy ship’s company will investigate thoroughly to make certain you ‘re not committing imposter. There ‘s besides a full opportunity it ‘ll deny the car indemnity title if there ‘s evidence that the damage was preexisting, evening if the wrong was primarily due to a second gear incident.

Can you keep any auto insurance money left over?

ampere long as you own your car outright, you can do whatever you want with the title money you receive from your insurance company. This means that you can keep any leftover money from your call. however, it is very crucial to never intentionally overestimate the cost of repairing your car. We recommend getting estimates from a trusted reservoir, such as a repair shop .

State laws regarding claim checks may vary

For the most part, insurance laws in the United States are set at the submit grade — it ‘s a big part of the reason indemnity rates vary therefore a lot country to express. So there may be specific requirements for how you and your policy company cope with indemnity payouts .

  • For example, in Massachusetts, insurance companies are required to make the check out to the person covered by the insurance policy unless the insured person specifically requests otherwise.
  • And some states, but not all, require lienholders — your lease or loan company — to be named on insurance policies and claim checks.

Double-check your state ‘s laws regarding policy checks to make sure you and your policy caller are both in conformity with the law .

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