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Filing the motor insurance coverage declare offline had been the norm for years earlier than on-line channels existed.
The on-line submitting involves your rescue as it’s sooner, extra handy and most significantly, clear.
A daily wet morning in Bengaluru didn’t go as anticipated for 32-year-old Rahul driving his new automobile to the workplace. The moist street led him to lose management of his car and crash right into a pole. While he emerged unharmed, the identical couldn’t be mentioned for his automobile – the bumper was broken and the headlamps have been shattered. The silver lining? He remembered he had motor insurance coverage.
However, because the preliminary shock wore off, uncertainty crept in. He had no expertise of submitting a declare earlier than this. How would he file the insurance claim? Did it contain visiting the insurer’s workplace, navigating by way of tedious paperwork, or ready endlessly for approvals? Could your entire course of be achieved on-line or over the cellphone? Rahul realised he didn’t absolutely perceive the steps to file a motor insurance coverage declare, leaving him questioning what lay forward.
Now he isn’t alone. His dilemma is shared by many individuals. We are sometimes conscious that we’re protected by insurance coverage, however we attempt to discover out concerning the actual means of submitting a declare solely once we encounter an accident. Does one do it on-line or offline? How does the method differ? Let’s discover out.
End-to-end comfort with on-line course of
Most individuals are conscious that your entire means of buying insurance has change into on-line. While one can nonetheless go the standard route and call an agent, it’s wiser to check insurance coverage on-line after which buy the one that’s proper for them with just some clicks. The complete insurance coverage expertise has change into digital and this has disrupted the standard processes within the motor insurance coverage business. This applies to claims too.
So sure, one can file a declare offline. And one can file a declare on-line as properly. The distinction is the time it takes to file and course of the declare, the extent of comfort and your entire expertise. Let us first perceive how one can file a declare offline.
Offline Claim Filing: Filing the motor insurance coverage declare offline had been the norm for years earlier than on-line channels existed. It is usually a tedious and time-consuming course of. First and foremost, quickly after you might be concerned in an accident, it is advisable intimate the insurance coverage firm. This entails calling them after which visiting their bodily workplace to submit a duly stuffed declare kind. You would additionally have to take photocopies of all related paperwork and submit them to the insurer.
You may even be required to deliver your automobile to a workshop and get an estimate of the extent of damages. The insurance coverage firm may even assign a surveyor who will bodily examine your car and put together a report. This report might be assessed by your insurer, based mostly on which, your automobile might be despatched for restore. After the automobile is repaired, you’ll have to submit the cost receipt and bill for the declare to be reimbursed. There can also be an possibility of getting your automobile repaired at a community storage, which can make the declare course of cashless. This means the restore prices might be immediately paid to the storage by the insurer.
Now as now you can perceive, this complete course of can take days, at greatest, and even weeks.
Online Claim Filing: Just like different points of insurance coverage, declare submitting may also be achieved on-line. Semi-online modes have existed for a very long time the place policyholders may inform the insurer through e-mail and obtain the types from their web site. But the remainder of the method remained offline. Lately, although, digital applied sciences have revolutionized the claims course of as properly.
Yes, you continue to should intimate the insurer and you continue to have to get your car inspected. However, your entire course of can now be achieved by way of your cell phone in a couple of minutes. Most insurance coverage firms and on-line aggregators have apps for declare submitting whereby you possibly can intimate the corporate and fill the claims kind (which additionally comes considerably pre-filled) in a single go. Moreover, many firms now don’t require bodily verification and you’ll merely click on photographs of the broken car by way of the app, or go for a video inspection. The extent of harm is immediately reviewed and the declare course of begins virtually there after which. It takes just a few hours for the choice to be made & making certain every little thing goes easily.
Companies are even providing end-to-end claim-focused help now. A devoted claims supervisor, and on-ground assist group that can assist you with car pick-up, restore and supply. Also, some supply their very own set of storage networks that make the method even smoother and sooner. Essentially, in just some minutes, you possibly can file the declare and reside in peace as your car will get repaired and delivered to you.
The cherry on the cake is that on-line claims additionally supply unparalleled transparency. Policyholders can observe their declare standing within the app in real-time. This is in distinction to offline claims the place policyholders typically stay in the dead of night, and should make follow-up calls or visits to verify the progress. Today, even when one just isn’t tech-savvy, one can nonetheless file on-line claims as a result of the method is fairly easy. The on-line submitting involves your rescue as it’s sooner, extra handy and most significantly, clear.
-The writer is Head of Motor Insurance at Policybazaar. Views expressed are private.
