What to Do if Unhappy with Vehicle Insurance Claim Handling?

Naturally, you will find many pages on websites about how they can save you money on premiums but not much information on how they handle customer grievances. Most policyholders are good at paying in time and they expect the same from carriers. So, what could they do if they are not happy with the way their auto insurance claims are handled?

Companies are well aware of the limited space on websites. Most people don’t scroll down or go to inner pages to find out things. So, you would find that top half of them are dedicated to selling. It is used as an advertising board. Also, some of the car insurance company official websites are pathetic in providing helpful guidance. They hardly offer any information and when they do it is not detailed enough.

Surely, it would be useful to lay down the procedures to follow when customers aren’t happy with handling or outcome of a claim. Either they assume you will contact them anyway or they are scared to bring up the topic.

This topic is covered in detail in one of our posts titled; what to do if a vehicle insurance settlement is unsatisfactory. Perhaps you should continue reading on that page.

However, you would want to resolve the issue with them before taking it any further. There are a few people to talk to and the first one would be the adjuster, who is appointed solely for the purpose of bringing it to an agreeable completion. Failing that claim handling departments would be the next to discuss it. Finally, you would want to find someone higher up and possibly in a different department. They would have to let you know who their supervisors are.

Supervisors would know the problems they are having and should aspire to solve them. Hopefully someone will get to the bottom of it and give you the answers you need. Solving it with them directly is the least painful and quickest solution.

If all fails, you can check if there is an ombudsman scheme available to you. They are the negotiators that try to find an amicable solution by listening to both parties. You should keep in mind if you agree to it that their decision is usually final.

Depending on the size of losses and suffering you may want to take a legal advice. Luckily, there are a few no win no fee lawyers who may be interested in having a crack at it. The only problem with this route is that it can be slow and painful to go through. But you may have to take it when all the other avenues you took were dead ends.

In smaller cases, it may be more prudent to talk to an independent loss adjuster and see if they are confident to handle this for you and try to get the compensation you deserve. They have enough experience to know your chances. Also, try to find one that will work on a commission bases. Otherwise, you keep throwing good money after bad and end up with large bills on top of not getting a fair settlement.