What Happens When Your Car Insurance Company Denies Your Claim?
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What Happens When Your Car Insurance Company Denies Your Claim?
Let’s face it being in an auto accident, just plain stinks. And when your claim is denied by the insurance company overwhelming feelings of anger and frustration can bubble to the surface. What makes a car insurance company deny your claim and what can you do when it happens?
Car Insurance Claims
There are thousands of car accidents on our country’s roadways every day. Meaning the chances of getting in a fender bender are likely. And you have a 50% chance of being the cause of the accident. Let’s face it, most of us are distracted drivers, whether it’s the Monday morning meeting on our minds or skipping the song on our Pandora, we aren’t the best at paying attention when behind the wheel.
Denied Insurance Claim
So, what happens when you rear-end the person in front of you on the way to a sales meeting or perhaps you are on the way to the job site when it the accident occurs, and your insurance company denies your claim. Of course, your first thought would be one of shock, you pay your bill every month, so how can they deny paying for your claim? Well, there are many scenarios that come into play resulting in a big fat no from the insurance company, here are a few.
Reasons Your Auto Insurance Claim May Be Denied
Before learning what you can do after your claim was denied, you must understand why it was denied. An auto insurance policy is made up of a few different coverages. Namely liability insurance which is required to drive, then you have your physical damage coverages and then your extras. If you were the at-fault driver and your insurance carrier is denying the claim, it could be due to the following reasons:
- The damage was under your deductible.
- You do not have collision coverage on your policy.
- Your policy was not in force because you were late on a payment.
- You were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the accident occurred.
- Lastly, if you use your vehicle for business and have a personal auto policy, they can deny the claim because most policies exclude business use.
Now, these are just a few reasons an insurer may deny coverage. Insurance policies have a whole list of exclusions, and if you carry a commercial auto policy, there are even more. If you need help to better understand your car insurance, please give us a call.
So now that you know some reasons you claim could be denied, and the insurance companies must give you a reason for the denial, what can you do about it?
Claim Denied, Now What?
Depending on why the claim was denied, you have a few options. If the denial came because you didn’t have the coverage, there is nothing you can do about it this time. But you may want to consider adding the missing coverages to protect you in the future. Same is true if the claim was denied because of business use. If you use your vehicle for business like ridesharing or you are a contractor using your truck, you need a commercial auto policy to protect you. When the damage comes in under your deductible, you should pay it. It also keeps an accident of your driving record, in turn keeping your rates lower.
If you were doing everything right and still feel your claim was denied unfairly. You can contact the claims adjuster’s manager. Adjusters are human and make mistakes too. Maybe getting a different perspective will help. If you have talked to everyone in the claims department and still feel like you are getting nowhere, you can contact your state’s insurance commissioner.
We are also here to assist in any way we can. You can reach our insurance experts at (800) 641-7488.
