Everything You Need to Know About Car Insurance Claims For Total Loss

Car insurance becomes evident when you have to make a claim. Third-party coverage takes care of your legal and financial liabilities towards another person in the event of an accident. Meanwhile, a comprehensive policy covers your vehicle against damage caused by circumstances such as natural or man-made disasters, accidents, and theft. The comprehensive policy also has a third-party component along with its own damage coverage. And in order to settle your claim, the policy comes with a conceptual value of your car. This value is known as the “Insured Declared Value” or IDV.

For a new car, the IDV is likely to be the same as the selling price of the car. However, in the case of older cars, the depreciation causes them to lose their value. Since two people do not use and manage their cars in the same way, insurance companies allow you to choose your IDV and charge premiums accordingly. The IDV is only paid in the case of a total loss of a vehicle. If you file a claim on your policy, there will be a maximum amount that the company will pay based on the car’s IDV specified in the policy.

What is total loss of vehicle? 

A total loss is a situation that insurers consider as a result of an accident or any other mishap. If, as a result of any accident, your car is damaged beyond repair, this situation is known as a “total loss of vehicle.” You should know that coverage for the total loss of a car only applies to comprehensive car insurance policyholders. If only have third-party coverage, you will not have the benefit of own damage coverage, thus have no benefit for total loss of cover. As mentioned earlier, the IDV of an insurance policy is the maximum limit that an insurance company can pay you for repair and replacement of various parts of the car. There are two conditions that are considered a total loss of a vehicle. These two include:

• Theft of car 

As major as such an event is, the theft of a car is very common in the country. As the overall population of the country and the number of car thefts that happen is very high, the police fail to locate the car in most cases. Once the police have failed to find the car within a certain amount of time, the insurance company will treat it as a case of total loss. *

• Damage to car beyond repair 

Similar to car thefts, car accidents caused by natural or man-made causes are very common in India. Natural disasters include earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc. and man-made disasters include riots, strikes, etc. If the cost of car repair through the garage is calculated to be greater than the car’s IDV, the case will be considered a total loss. Hence, it is important to select your IDV wisely. You should use tools like a car insurance calculator to ensure that you select the right IDV. *

* Standard T&C Apply

Process of claiming for total loss 

In the case of total damage, you have to follow a very simple procedure. In general, the following steps will help:

• In the event of car theft or catastrophic damage to the car, notify the insurance company immediately.
• Collect repair cost estimates from the garage, preferably the network garage.
• The insurance company sends an authorized inspection official to assess the loss. Once they survey the car, they collect the assessment report along with the total loss certificate.
• If the car is stolen, file an FIR with the police and submit a No Trace Certificate.
• File a total loss insurance claim with all the paperwork and wait until the claim is credited to your account.

* Standard T&C Apply

No one wants to lose their car completely. There are definitely a lot of memories attached to your car. Therefore, the total loss of these memorable moments is a huge blow to your life in multiple ways. So, before you consider it a total loss, find out if you can save your car in some way. 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.