How to Negotiate with Car Insurance Surveyor

Whenever your car meets with an accident, you have to inform the car insurance company in relation to the accident and submit all the necessary documents. The car insurance company then sends a surveyor who submits a report to the car insurance company on the settlement amount to be given.

If you have made a claim of Rs 1,00,000 but the car insurance company gives you only Rs 75,000. You then get the incident investigated by your own surveyor, he/she reports that you are entitled for a higher claim. In this case, the steps that you can take are discussed below.

You can approach the car insurance company with your arguments, if that does not materialize then you can approach the insurance ombudsman, then Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). If you are still not satisfied with the result then you can take the legal route and approach courts.

In such cases, a resolution is not easily forthcoming. As per law surveyors need to be appointed for all claims above Rs 20, 000 which relates to vehicle or building damage. IRDAI allows either the policyholder or the car insurance company to appoint one and it is common that policyholders do appoint surveyors. They are independent authorities who can work either on appointed by policyholder or car insurance company.

It is not binding that the car insurance company accepts the report from surveyor appointed by the policyholder. The steps policyholder can take in such a scenario includes

Leave the Accident Site Untouched
You need to leave the accident site untouched, it is better to get things repaired only after surveyor completes the investigation of the incident. If you use the car then the insurance company may reject your claim. In case of accident of your car don’t tow the vehicle.

Present a Completed Claims Report
Your claims report should be thorough and needs to have proper justification. In case of damage to your car, you would have to describe the damages properly, if you leave out to mention about some dents and submit them as a separate claim then the car insurance company can reject it, in cases of accident always submit copy of FIR especially if there is injury to the third party, photographs of incident, your injuries and statement of witnesses would help your case.

Saving Records of Dealings
It is suggested that you have a copy of the discussions that you have had with an insurance agent and surveyor. All the emails should also be saved. If surveyor changes report later then these documents can come in handy.

Differentiate between old and new damage
While making a report for a claim, it is your responsibility to prove the latest damage on insured. If you don’t report new damage on time then the car insurance company would say it is an old claim and reject your claim.

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