If your car is completely destroyed in an accident and you have to file a claim, there are certain things that you should know. It’s important to have an idea of what the car insurance company will ask you up front, so that you know your story and don’t have problems answering their questions.

Both insurance companies involved will ask questions like

• What happened?
• Where did it happen?
• Who was behind the wheel?
• Who were the passengers? (you’ll need names, ages, and contact information)
• Were the police involved, and was there a police report?
• What vehicles were involved? Make, model, year, color, and names of owners registered will be required.
• Did anyone get hurt?
• Was an ambulance called?
• Witnesses?
• Did the other person have insurance? With what company?

You might get a different kind of attitude depending on whose insurer you’re talking to. Your own insurer could be difficult, but mostly they just need the facts and will cover you up until where your coverage runs out. With the insurance company of the other guy, they know that they might end up having to give you quite a bit more money than your own company would, so they go about things a bit more carefully and tend to be more skeptical, especially about medical costs. They might also ask you

• what body part of yours was injured?
• have you been injured or treated on that body part before?
• when was the last time?
• what did your doctor diagnose?

They don’t want to get caught on the hook for anything that might not have to do with the accident, so don’t ruin your credibility by reporting an old injury.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.