Auto insurance can be a great relief after your car accident. The insurance company will pay for all the collision repairs, and this can be a comforting feeling.
Unfortunately, it’s not always as easy as that. Sometimes it can be very hard to get your insurance company to pay for repairs you think should be covered. Here are a few tips to help you get the compensation you deserve from your insurance company.
Understand Your Coverage
Always Be Polite and Professional
Your insurance adjuster is a human being who is trying to do their job. Being rude and angry at them is more likely to turn them against you than to make them inclined to give you what you’re asking for.
Identify Who You’re Talking to
It’s important to understand who you’re talking to. Most insurance adjusters know how to make a consistent front, but sometimes one might give you inaccurate information. On the other hand, if you get good service, it’s nice to know who to praise if you’re asked for a review.
Don’t Reveal More than Necessary
This is more important when dealing with another insurance company, but it’s still good advice when dealing with your insurance company. You should describe the circumstances of your accident in basic terms: the events that happened as they happened. Don’t talk about your state of mind or speculate about the state of mind of any other drivers.
Take Notes
Take notes during or immediately after your call to make sure you accurately record all that you were told by the adjuster. Speaking of recording, Colorado is a single-party consent state, so you can record your calls with the insurance company without telling them.
Don’t Accept a Settlement Before You Know All the Damage
Sometimes an insurance adjuster will try to get you to settle your claim as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the full damage report to come in. This may be because the company doesn’t want to pay for all the damage, or it might just be because they want to get this claim off their desk.
No matter why they are trying to get this from you, it’s important to hold off on any settlement until you know the full extent of the damage. This is true even if you think it’s likely that the claim will “total” your car.
Let Us Handle It
On the other hand, if you’re not relishing the thought of working with your insurance company, you could let us do the negotiations. We deal with insurance companies literally every day. We have built good relationships with them, and we speak their language. It’s easy for us to convey your car’s damage to them. We understand how insurance policies work, which makes it easy for us to figure out your coverage and apply that to your car’s damage.
Part of Our Focus on You Service™ System
Our willingness to work with insurance companies is just one of the many things we do in our Focus on You Service™ system to make your auto repairs as convenient as possible. In addition to this, we will work around your schedule, letting you drop off your car when it’s convenient for you. We will also give you a guaranteed date for your repairs to be completed – and a guaranteed cost, so you won’t get any surprise bills after repairs are finished.
To let Accurate Auto Body deal with your insurance company so you don’t have to, please call 303-344-2212 or use our online form to schedule your free estimate at our shop in Aurora.
