How (and why) a car insurance company examines the basis for your car accident claim.
Getting into a car accident is frequently a nerve-racking feel, and the ensuing car policy claim process can be about as unpleasant. Depending on the type of claim you ‘re filing, and the facts surrounding the crash, the insurance company ‘s investigation summons can take anywhere from a workweek to several months to complete .
In this article, we ‘ll take a expression at :
- why investigation is necessary to the car insurance claim process
- what the insurance investigation process entails, and
- what happens if you don’t cooperate with the investigation.
Why Do Car Insurance Companies Need to Investigate a Car Accident?
There are two major reasons why cable car insurance companies will investigate your accident after you file a claim.
first, they ‘re protecting themselves against cable car policy fraud. According to the Insurance Information Institute, more than 15 percentage of all car claims payments made in 2012 were the leave of a deceitful claim .
To protect themselves, car insurance companies will ask their insureds and third-party claimants to provide attest to support their cable car accident claim, and will besides send adjusters or investigators to gather their own evidence about the cause of the accident and the claim damages or injuries .
second, the car indemnity party is trying to properly assess your call. There could be confusion as to the cause of the car accident or the extent of the resulting vehicle price and/or injuries. The lone way to get to the bottom of issues like this is to gather equally much information and detail as possible .
broadly speaking, the car policy caller is not trying to find a reason to deny or delay your claim. Most claims adjusters want to process claims as efficiently and fairly as potential. The car indemnity company ( particularly your own ) besides does n’t want adjusters denying claims without proper investigation, which could lead to a “ badly faith ” policy lawsuit .
Get the basics on the function of insurance in a cable car accident case .
What Happens During a Car Insurance Claim Investigation?
The answer here depends on the type of car indemnity claim you ‘re filing, and any electric potential crimson flags your claim might raise. If the accident involved no injuries and your vehicle damage fell below a certain dollar brink, the probe might take a few days and be resolved once you answer a few questions over the telephone and submit an appraisal from a local car repair shop .
If your claim involves significant car accident injuries, the probe can become more necessitate. not only is there potentially far more money at bet on, but the claims adjuster will need more information to confirm the nature and extent of your injuries and resulting aesculapian discussion.
This means you may need to answer more questions about your injuries, provide ( or authorize access to ) aesculapian records, and obtain a copy of the police report for the adjuster. then the indemnity adjuster will likely talk to other individuals involved in the accident, and any witnesses. other fact-finding tools at an adjuster ‘s disposal admit :
- taking a recorded statement (beware if it’s the other driver’s insurance company asking for this)
- requesting your cellphone records
- visiting the scene of the accident
- conducting a background check
- reviewing your social media presence, and
- obtaining medical authorizations.
indeed the more losses you ‘re claiming, the more thorough the investigation by the cable car policy company. But sometimes a more intensive investigation means the policy party has identified a potential problem with your claim .
When the Adjuster Might Conduct a More Thorough Investigation
If the indemnity company suspects a deceitful car policy claim, they ‘ll seek information on potential motivation to commit imposter, and attest that the claim might be bogus .
For exemplify, the investigation will check to see if you ‘re in fiscal perturb ( looking for any liens against your place, or holocene bankruptcy filings, for example ). They might besides take a count at your sociable media presence to confirm the truth of what you already told the adjuster .
so, if your title includes a large medical bill for an injure shoulder, but the day following the accident there is a video of you on social media playing an intense game of basketball, the car policy company will probably suspect imposter. Or possibly you said the car accident occurred on a certain date, but your sociable media feed shows you were on a cruise at that time .
Requests for cellular telephone records are becoming more platitude, specially when it comes to determining fault for a cable car accident. Because the consumption of electronic devices is one of the major causes of car accidents, your policy company may look into the hypothesis that your earphone manipulation caused or contributed to the accident. cellular telephone records can confirm ( or disprove ) that you were using a device around the time of the accident.
Cooperating With the Insurance Company’s Investigation
One thing to keep in mind during this investigation process is that you are under no legal duty to provide the data requested by the insurance company. Unless your claim has moved into the lawsuit stage and there is a court ordering saying so, an policy company has no legal way to force you to provide the data they ‘re asking for .
This does n’t mean it ‘s a beneficial theme to blow off the claims adjuster ‘s investigation. While your own car insurance company is contractually obligated to pay a valid claim, this obligation hinges on your taking reasonable steps to cooperate with the company ‘s investigation. By failing to cooperate with the investigation, it ‘s about assured that your claim will be denied. There ‘s besides a risk they will drop you as an insured. If you ‘re filing a third-party call with the at-fault driver ‘s cable car insurance company, and you decide not to cooperate in the investigation, do n’t be surprised if the adjuster comes to the table with a lowball settlement offer .
A car indemnity company is n’t typically out to get you, but if they can find a plausible rationality to pay you less than what you ‘re asking for, they normally will. That ‘s one reason why it ‘s a thoroughly theme to consult an lawyer after a cable car accident .