November 7, 2011

Tips For Making A Successful Comprehensive Coverage Claim

When you have car insurance, you have some amount of comprehensive coverage. If you're involved in an accident, negotiating car insurance claim tips can prove very useful when trying to get the insurance company to pay for the damage. Your company's definition of comprehensive coverage as well as exactly what happened will effect whether they actually pay or not.

Negotiating car insurance claim information begins with knowing exactly how your car insurance company defines comprehensive coverage. Most companies specify that it is something having to do with damage to your car that didn't actually involve your driving capabilities.

This includes things as hitting an animal, a hit-and-run inside of a parking lot, a falling sign, forces of nature and other things. These types of claims don't affect your insurance rates because they are unavoidable. If it didn't happen to your car, it would have happened to someone else's car.

This kind of damage is considered to not be your fault. If the damage is found to be your fault, then the comprehensive coverage claim will be denied and you'll likely be covering all of the damages on your own. The only other way that you can get the insurance company to cover the costs is through a collision claim, which is usually as a result of you hitting another car or other item.

You need to review your story carefully in your head before you call the insurance company. This way you can make sure you don't say anything in the heat of the moment that would allow the insurance company to count the incident as something that you caused.

Write down all of the details of exactly what happened. If it was absolutely nothing that you could have prevented, then you're ready to file a comprehensive claim. Make sure when you're speaking with a claims representative that you use words that focus on things being out of your control and not your fault. This will help express to the company that you were unable to do anything about the damage.

Since the company wasn't at the event, they must go based on what you tell them as well as the damage to the car to tell the whole story. As long as you present it in the right way, the insurance company will successfully accept your claim.

Once the claim is accepted, you will only need to pay the deductible on your claim. This will be a fraction of the total cost you would have otherwise had to pay. You may then get your car fixed and go on about your life without an increase in your premium.