Cashless Car Insurance in India: Step by Step Claim Process
A car insurance policy is something that is mandatory by law. The Motor Vehicles Act requires all vehicle owners to have an insurance cover. Be it a car or bike used for commercial or private purposes, all of them must be insured with a motor insurance policy.
When buying a new car, the auto dealer generally offers a couple of car insurance plans to choose from. These options are few and with the assistance of the dealer, it can be easy to pick a policy. But at renewal, you have a plethora of alternatives among which you need to shortlist for a suitable insurance plan. This can often be confusing as there are many plans that offer different features. Further, these various policies can be classified in two types based on its mode of claim settlement — reimbursement plans and cashless plans.
Reimbursement plans, as its name suggests, is where the insurance company compensates for the repairs that are required to your car in case of an accident or other damages.
On the contrary, the insurance company directly pays for the repairs to the service garage. A caveat for cashless claims is that you need to carry out the repairs only at one of the network garages which is when the cashless settlement is possible.
To simplify the concept of a network garage, it is a service garage that is affiliated with the insurance company. These cashless plans have an advantage over reimbursement plans that you need not pay for its repair costs upfront. Instead, the insurance company settles the repairs that are admissible as per the policy terms.
Here’s a step-by-step walk through elucidating the cashless insurance claim process:
Step 1: The first step in raising a cashless insurance claim is to intimate your insurance company of the damages. This can either be done by calling them or sending an email. Some insurance providers even allow you to raise a claim via their dedicated mobile application. *
Step 2: Every insurance company has a different procedure to raise a claim. After informing the insurance company, you need to follow these steps as required. Depending on the type of damages, it may even require an FIR and also share other supporting documents. *
Step 3: Once you share the necessary documents, you can take your car to the nearest network garage where the insurance surveyor will estimate the extent of damages. This inspection by the surveyor is a crucial process as only after this step, any repairs can be made on the car. *
Step 4: Once the inspection is complete, any necessary repairs to your vehicle can be carried out, the service garage will report to your insurance company the cost of expenses. The insurance company settles all costs that are covered by the insurance terms and you will be required to pay only for the deductibles and other costs that are outside the policy’s purview. *
Step 5: After the bill is settled by the insurance company, you can drive home your car without any major payment for its repairs using the cashless facility. *
This is how a cashless claim helps smoothly handle the insurance claim process without any hassle of making an upfront payment for repairs. When deciding the right policy among the myriad insurance policies, use a car insurance premium calculator that helps to narrow down a policy with not only affordable premiums, but also the right coverage. *
* Standard T&C Apply
Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms and conditions, please read sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.
