Insurance Claims – Procedures And Terminology
Short term insurance policies are as much part of our lives as breathing, eating and sleeping! If you think of car insurance is usually the most obvious type of short term insurance you think of. The simple fact of the matter is that most insurance claims processed result from automobile accidents and thefts.
When you’ve been involved in an accident, or if your vehicle has been damaged or thieved, the first thing you need to do is put in an insurance claim so that your insurance provider can pay to fix the damages or replace your car. There are various phrases linked to insurance car companies and claims, let’s take a look at a few these:
A reported claim is pretty self-explanatory. As soon as you’ve been involved in an incident or accident, you need to notify the insurance firm of the loss or damages that occurred.
The insurance firm will then assist you with quotations from various service providers (for example panel beaters) and try to resolve your claim as quickly as possible. Once a claim has been settled by the insurance provider, and their customers are satisfied and back on the road again, this is seen as a closed claim. Done and dusted, time to move on!
Your claim frequency is the number of times that an insured has claimed against his/her policy in a certain stretch of time. If you have a claim frequency of 12 per year, you will be viewed as a high risk client and you will most likely be reprimanded with increased monthly premiums. Following a financial year, an insurance company will take a look at the number of claims that they processed in that stretch of time. This will then be divided into the total number of policies that they manage to give them an average claim frequency. For example, if an insurance company has 100 clients and they process 200 claims, their average claim frequency will be 2.
When an insurance company reports on their claims experience they are speaking about the number of claims that they have dealt with during a certain period. If a company has a high claims experience, you can usually rest assured that you will be in good hands once you need to put in an insurance claim.
Different insurance providers have different claims methods. Keep in mind that when you have to put in a claim against your insurance, you will not be in the very best of moods. You might have been in a car accident or even involved in a hijacking, therefore it is important that you entrust your car insurance policy with a company with a good claim reputation. Make sure that your premiums are always paid up and you have quick access to all your papers and records before getting in touch with your insurance company for assistance with a claim. Always report the incident or collision without delay, typically starting at the police station to get a case number and hopefully to find the guilty parties in the event of a hijacking or stolen vehicle!
Claiming from your insurance is not a struggle – just make sure that you have all your ducks in a row!
For more information about insurance car claims visit the website http://www.quantisure.co.za