Car damaged in the winter storm? Insurance experts tips to get claims approved
Tips to file insurance claim after ice storm
Hundreds of crashes occurred due to the winter storm from icy roads. FOX 26's Heather Sullivan offers advice to filing insurance claims and spoke to Richard Johnson from Insurance Council of Texas on how you can make sure those claims are covered.
HOUSTON - If your car was damaged in an accident during this week's snow storm, you may need to file an insurance claim.
But Texas has one of the highest rates of denied auto insurance claims in the country, according to a new study.
A recent study by accident attorneys Anidjar & Levine reveals that 5-15% of all auto insurance claims are rejected each year nationwide.
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The report reveals California, Texas, and Florida lead the nation with the highest denied claims. Texas ranks second with 4,200 complaints.
How to avoid auto insurance claim denials
If your car was damaged driving on the ice this week during the winter storm, you may need to file an insurance claim. Texas has one of the highest rates of denied auto insurance claims in the country, according to a new study, and FOX 26 Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan has you covered on how to avoid claim denials.
Common grievances in Texas, they found, include claim handling issues and low settlement offers, which can leave policyholders receiving less compensation than expected.
The study revealed common reasons for denials, including insufficient or inaccurate information, policy lapses, exclusions in the policy, reporting the accident late, disputes over fault, and inadequate coverage.
Filing a successful claim
We talked with an insurance expert, Leslie Kasperowicz, of Insurance.com about how to avoid denials when filing winter storm related accident claims.
"You can run into issues where insurance companies are having a disagreement about who’s at fault, and who should pay. So it's really important that you take photographs after an accident, that you record everything that happened so that you can give the details to your insurance company in order to prove that you were not at fault," explained Kasperowicz.
And she adds, "Finding a witness is always a good thing to do if it's on a city street and there are other people around. Getting their contact information, and, of course, filing a police report is a really important thing to do."
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Insurance.com offers more tips for filing winter storm related claims.
What you can do:
Here are some tips from attorneys Anidjar & Levine to help prevent claim denials:
- Report any accident to your insurance provider as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours.
- Provide accurate and complete information. Gather photos, police reports, witness statements, and repair estimates, to support your claim.
- Ensure timely premium payments and consider setting up automatic payments to prevent your policy from lapsing.
- Review your policy’s exclusions and make sure you have both collision and comprehensive coverage to protect you in different types of accidents.
- And follow traffic laws. Claims may be denied if a driver violated the law in the course of the accident.
The Source: Information in this article is from the law firm Anidjar & Levine, as well as Insurance.com.