Why Car Insurance Claims Are Rejected

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The money you spend on your car insurance premium every month can go a long way in assuring you peace of mind. As you are parting with your hard earned cash on such a regular basis, the last thing you would want to hear is that your claim has been rejected. There are many reasons why an auto insurance company will reject your claim application. You need to get to the root of the reason so that you can try and rectify it. In one instance, your claim will be rejected if the loss is in relation to the theft of your motor vehicle. If the insurance company finds you to be at fault for the theft of your vehicle, whether through negligence or another reason, then they will not pay out. The same goes if you are unable to show them proof of purchases on your vehicle, such as the receipt for your car radio and so forth. Naturally, if the insurer finds that you have provided them with details that are incorrect or untruthful, then they will not have to pay out. This is why it is imperative that you always tell the story exactly as it happened. Insurance investigators are ruthless, and will often look for any loophole in the claim process. They rely on cold hard fact, and anything that dabbles in a grey area could contribute to your claim being rejected. In some cases, your car insurance claim could be rejected due to it not meeting all the details of the clauses in the policy. On the other hand, your policy could contain a clause which deems your claim invalid. This is why it is imperative that you always read through your policy carefully. In addition to this, it is vitally important that you keep records of all correspondence between yourself and the insurance company. This includes receipts, emails and even possibly photographs of the damaged vehicle. Regardless of the reason for your claim being rejected, remember that you can dispute it at any time. This is why insurance ombudsmen are in business. They will handle the rejected claim for you, to ensure that you have been fairly dealt with. You can only deal with the ombudsmen once you have a final letter rejecting your claim.

They will analyse the claim and deal with the insurance company directly. If you are lucky, the insurance ombudsman will be able to resubmit your claim and sort the problem out. They will usually find the root cause of your claim being rejected, so that you can prevent a repeat in the future. Unfortunately these cases may drag out a bit, and it can be devastating to wait without a motor vehicle. This is why it is always a good idea to have a savings plan aside for these sorts of situations. If you are left without a motor vehicle for some time, you will need to use your own money on your unexpected transport costs. It is always upsetting when an insurance claim is rejected. If you follow the correct procedures, then hopefully you will be one of those whom the ombudsman is able to save.