How To File a Commercial Auto Insurance Claim

Important things to know before you file an insurance claim are that you will need to get the names of the person or people that were involved in the accident and exchange insurance information with them.  Be sure to file a police report and to take pictures of the area, the vehicle location, and damage.  When filing your claim all of this will be helpful for your insurance company.

The first step you will need to take when filing a commercial auto insurance claim is to find out whether the driver, the accident and the vehicle are covered by your policy.  Make sure you read the coverage and exclusions sections thoroughly in your policy book.  For a commercial auto insurance claim, it is important to remember that most of the time one must be working in the line of business that the policy was written for, in order for the insurance to cover the costs.

The next step is to notify the agent or insurance company.  You can do this by either calling or going to the website as some insurance companies have links or buttons on their website that will lead you through the claim filing process.  When you call to notify them they will either take your information or give you detailed instructions on how you can file the claim.  You will need your policy number, driver’s license, employer’s information, and vehicle registration available.  Be sure to report your accident right away to avoid any delays or denials because of failure to report within the time they have given you.  In your policy it will tell you how much time after an accident you have to report it.

The insurance agent should now be setting a time and day when they can view the vehicle.  When the agent comes to assess the damages it is the time to tell them all of the details and maybe even show them the site of the accident.  The depth of the investigation will depend on the accident and the amount of damage.

Finally, the most important thing to do is to keep records of everything relating to your accident including the contact you have with the insurance company. File all of your records in a safe place for future use by your attorneys and your insurance company.